Assessing GeoAI methods' accuracy for wetland detection in the region of Stockholm
Funded by Region Stockholm, 2025
For decades, there has been growing momentum to protect and restore wetlands for the vital ecosystem services they provide, including habitat for endangered species, water purifica on, flood preven on, and carbon storage. However, wetlands continue to be lost, primarily due to urban development. Sweden’s national environmental goal, supported by a dedicated budget, aims to restore and protect wetlands, but recent data shows that losses from urbanization and infrastructure development outweigh restoration efforts. Thus, integrating urban development with wetland protection is critical.
A major challenge is the fragmented and limited knowledge of wetlands in urban areas, as highlighted in a 2022 pilot study performed by a project team member. Traditional wetland mapping methods, like field surveys and aerial mapping, are resource-intensive, which led the Swedish national wetland inventory (VMI) to exclude wetlands smaller than 10 hectares in their surveys. This leaves out small wetlands in urban environments, despite their significant ecosystem services and their presence in the Stockholm region. Moreover, existing local inventories are fragmented and rarely digitalized, hindering the proactive inclusion of wetlands in urban planning. Recent advances in remote sensing technologies and Geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) offer possibilities for accurate ecosystem detection and new means for improving the consideration of wetlands in urban practice and policy.
This project responds to the urgent need for better knowledge about urban wetlands by evaluating the accuracy of existing AI-based wetland detection methods using geospatial data. It will assess the performance of Geospatial Foundation Models (GFMs) in the Stockholm region, using reference data from field-surveyed wetlands to ensure the accuracy of the methods, including their capacity to detect wetlands smaller than 10 hectares.
Project members: Andrea Nascetti, Ioannis Ioannidis och Lina Suleiman, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH.
