Hungary

Budapest, 18 September 2025 – The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its UN-SPIDER programme, joined global experts, scientists, and disaster risk managers at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Global Flood Partnership (GFP), held from 15 to 17 September at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). The conference, focused on the evolving challenges and opportunities in flood protection, brought together over 70 participants from across five continents.

As a long-standing supporter of the GFP, UNOOSA co-sponsored this year’s meeting alongside the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The event served as a vital platform to strengthen international collaboration in flood disaster risk reduction, an area where space-based data and geospatial technologies continue to play a transformative role.

In his opening remarks,…

UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER is supporting two summer courses at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary this July. The application deadline for both courses is 15 March 2015.

Bridging ICTs and Environment - Making Information Talk and Technologies Work will take place from 6 to 10 July 2015 and is co-sponsored by UNOOSA's Programme for Space Applications. The course is furthermore supported by Esri, with support from the Eye on Earth Initiative and United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Global Universities Partnership for Environment and Sustainability ( GUPES). It aims to bridge the gap between decision- and policy-makers and ICT technologies (e.g. GIS, remote sensing), making data and emerging technologies more accessible, usable, and relevant for decision-making. It is focused on the application of ICTs in water management and security and is a preparatory activity for the Eye on Earth…

Satellite technology allows to assess the quality of water on Earth through the visualization of pollution levels otherwise invisible to the human eye, as a recent study shows.

An international team of researchers from the University of Leicester, the Hungarian Academy of Science and industrial partners, has used the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument hosted on the ENVISAT satellite to measure pollution levels in lakes. These methods were not available for lakes until now due to the complex optical environments defined by a mix of different natural substances in the water.

The research focuses on Lake Balaton in Hungary, a popular tourist area especially vulnerable to environmental and meteorological changes that could result in the build-up of algae. Professor Heiko Balzter, Director of the Leicester Centre for Landscape and Climate Research in the University of Leicester's Department of Geography and co-author of the study, highlighted the…

In early June this year, Hungary, along with Austria and Germany, was facing the largest-ever flood of the Danube. UN-SPIDER's Hungarian Regional Support Office (RSO) at Károly Róbert College, Gyöngyös, helped to manage the situation by processing archive satellite images, lidar data, highly precise orthophotos and hyperspectral and thermal data collection during the flood. The fellows of the RSO covered over 1200 km dyke of Danube and localized leakage by on board processing of the collected data, and the result was transmitted to the operative center of the National Directorate of Disaster Management. This activity was highly appreciated by the Head of Directorate.

In the context of the flood, the International Charter Space and…

A scientific workshop about finishing the project “Establishment of an environmental monitoring and remote sensing laboratory at Károly Róbert University College” was held at the College at the end of 2012. This new laboratory provides an excellent opportunity for students to get information about the most recent Remote Sensing technologies and methods. Students working with these sensors (LIDAR, hyperspectral cameras, etc) will have an advantage when applying for higher quality jobs after finishing their studies over other applicants with similar qualifications. In addition, this laboratory extends the possibilities of scientific research and co-operation, too.

This laboratory is the only one in Hungary which has active and passive sensors and both software and hardware capacities for processing hundreds of gigabytes of data produced by these sensors. From 1st of January 2013, the laboratory operates at full capacity. The project was funded by the…

In cooperation with Galileo Group, UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office in Hungary, the Karoly Robert University College, participated in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight operations and hyperspectral data collections for a NASA sponsored project to map sea grass beds and coral reefs in the Florida keys. Hyperspectral data collections can play a crucial role in environmental mapping and monitoring. The Galileo Group is an American technology company specializing in applied hyperspectral imaging.

The information contained in the hyperspectral data sets is used to establish sea grass bed location, extent and its photosynthetic production, and can play a key role in monitoring changes over time relating to environmental conditions. Over 320 gigabytes of mission data was collected over the deployment. Working together,…

UN-SPIDER’s Hungarian RSO, the Károly Róbert College, was the winner of the Hungarian national competition „Digital Hungarian Maps 2011”. Their wining database was set up to monitor the impacts of catastrophes on the environment, such as the 2010 Kolontar red mud catastrophe, the biggest environmental disaster in Hungary in recent years. The database contains laser scanned data and hyperspectral values for different objects.

Furthermore, delegates of the Károly Róbert College held a series of presentations at the University of Baia Mare in Romania. Prof. Tomor was talking about the applied scientific methods used for the management of catastrophes in Hungary in the last few years. His presentation showed how to take advantage of GIS and remote sensing technologies in the case of natural disasters. His presentation was very welcomed by the Romanian experts, as they face similar tasks in and after cases of emergency.

On 7 February 2012, during the Forty-ninth session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), UN-SPIDER and the Karoly Robert University of Hungary signed the cooperation agreement to incorporate the Research Institute of Remote Sensing (RIRS) of the Faculty of Natural Resources Management and Rural Development in Gyongyos, Hungary, as the newest Regional Support Office of the UN-SPIDER Programme. RIRS conducts basic and applied remote sensing research, focusing on the applications of state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS systems and on the development of techniques to enhance the usefulness of these systems in environmental applications. The Institute also offers a team of experienced professionals in the integration and deployment of various sensors, in remote sensing through LiDAR-, thermal- and hyper-spectral imaging technologies as well as in computer sciences (digital image processing and analysis). The…

The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary is organizing a workshop in July 2016 in cooperation with the  Bureau for Policy and Programme Support  of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).  The workshop focuses on Geospatial Technologies and Remote Sensing for Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

This workshop provides a timely opportunity to get updated on the latest advances in geospatial technologies and remote sensing, and their application to the monitoring of SDGs. These technologies can be applied to many of the 17 SDGs. 

For further information on…

The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary is organizing a workshop in July 2016 in cooperation with the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).  The workshop focuses on Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction. 

The workshop will highlight recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how they are empowering both decision-makers and citizens to play a proactive role in managing disaster risks and providing more effective disaster response.  The program will cover a number of themes, including ICTs for DRR, innovations in climate risk management (CRM) and disaster preparedness…

Geospatial technologies and remote sensing offer a crucial location element to the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals and their corresponding targets and indicators.

The unprecedented “power of where” allows for unbiased observation and analysis across borders, administrative boundaries, and nations. The workshop, run in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), provides an opportunity for water professionals to get updated on the latest advances in geospatial technologies and remote sensing, and their application to the monitoring of water related SDGs. The lectures and practical sessions are conducted by representatives of world leading organizations in geospatial technologies and data-driven decision making.

The workshop target group includes: National Focal Points of international organizations, environmental practitioners, and researchers involved in water and SDG-related issues. No prior experience in geospatial…

The Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) workshop will highlight recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how they are empowering both decision-makers and citizens to play a proactive role in managing disaster risks and providing more effective disaster response. This joint UNDP and Central European University (CEU) workshop will combine regional UNDP experience, ICT industry expertise, and accumulated first-hand knowledge from a global network of organizations, offering both theoretical and practical skills in disaster risk reduction, monitoring, and recovery.

The program will cover a number of themes, including ICTs for DRR, Early Warning Systems, disaster preparedness and response, smart cities, and integration of relevant innovative solutions into sectoral and municipal development. A range of technologies will be presented including remote sensing, GIS, big data, citizen science, mobile solutions, and more.

The workshop is…

The Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) workshop will highlight recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how they are empowering both decision-makers and citizens to play a proactive role in managing disaster risks and providing more effective disaster response. This joint UNDP and Central European University (CEU) workshop will combine regional UNDP experience, ICT industry expertise, and accumulated first-hand knowledge from a global network of organizations, offering both theoretical and practical skills in disaster risk reduction, monitoring, and recovery.

The program will cover a number of themes, including ICTs for DRR, Early Warning Systems, disaster preparedness and response, smart cities, and integration of relevant innovative solutions into sectoral and municipal development. A range of technologies will be presented including remote sensing, GIS, big data, citizen science, mobile solutions, and more.

The workshop is…

Geospatial technologies and remote sensing are valuable resources to monitor the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their corresponding targets and indicators. They allow for unbiased observation and analysis across borders, administrative boundaries, and nations. Furthermore, geospatial information and technologies are particularly critical to strengthening urban and rural resilience, where economic, agricultural, and various social sectors intersect. This is particularly reflected through the mission of SDG-11 – to "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable".

However, there is still a gap between the tremendous potential of these technologies and the world of environmental decision- and policy-makers.Not only can the immense realm of geospatial technologies seem daunting, but it is also difficult to keep up with the ever-evolving applications of geospatial technologies.

The “…