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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9034</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-archives-L-4-W3-2026-25-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>An ML-supported Pipeline for the Mapping of Urban Densification Potentials</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Budde</surname>
<given-names>Lina E.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dorra</surname>
<given-names>Tobias</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Krämer</surname>
<given-names>Michel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Klien</surname>
<given-names>Eva</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Brauner</surname>
<given-names>Johannes</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Klein</surname>
<given-names>Felix</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD, Fraunhoferstr. 5, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Technical University of Darmstadt, Karolinenpl. 5, Darmstadt, 64289, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Stadt Münster – Vermessungs- und Katasteramt, Albersloher Weg 33, 48155 Münster, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>29</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>L-4/W3-2026</volume>
<fpage>25</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Lina E. Budde et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W3-2026-25-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W3-2026-25-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W3-2026-25-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/L-4-W3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-L-4-W3-2026-25-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Using densification potentials for urban development is one of the current challenges in urban planning. An important prerequisite is an up-to-date GIS data basis, which contains potential densification sites. Existing data is often based on manual acquisition, which is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, the value of such data depends on the effort of creating and updating it, which can be improved by automatic data collection. We developed an ML-supported pipeline containing a deep learning model and 3D point cloud processing. This pipeline addresses two important densification potentials: infill sites and vertical extension. Integrating the automated processing into QGIS as a plugin provides users an easy-to-use tool to generate a data basis for densification potentials for their decision-making process. We evaluate the effectiveness of our approach using real-world data from two different cities. The results show its usability in practice and the possibility of transferring it to different locations.</p>
</abstract>
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