MAPPING LOCAL CLIMATE ZONES WITH MULTIPLE GEODATA AND THE OPEN DATA CUBE: INSIGHTS OF DOMAIN USER REQUIREMENTS AND OUTLOOKS OF THE LCZ-ODC PROJECT

Abstract. Rapid urbanization and climate change are intensifying the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon across cities worldwide. There is a pressing need to implement evidence-based mitigation and adaptation strategies as well as to develop tools for effectively measuring the impact of such actions on UHI patterns. In this context, the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) concept is a well-established classification system commonly used for the assessment of UHI. With this in mind, we present here the LCZ-ODC project aiming to develop a methodology for LCZ mapping in the Metropolitan City of Milan (northern Italy) by leveraging multiple geospatial data and cutting-edge software tools, including the Open Data Cube (ODC). A key aim of the project is to develop user-oriented solutions facilitating the exploitation of the generated LCZ maps for different application tasks. In this paper, we first present a brief overview of the methodologies and data sources used in the literature for LCZ mapping. Then, we introduce the LCZ-ODC project, with a focus on the end-user requirements which were gathered through a questionnaire distributed to a sample of potential stakeholders. The primary objective of the survey was to collect insights and consolidate requirements related to the key features of LCZ maps that will be produced within the project. The outcomes of the survey play a pivotal role in guiding the project’s development phase, ensuring that the project outputs will effectively address the identified end-user needs.