Student Team Wins Geospatial Competition

A team of undergraduate students from Kyrgyzstan Space Information and Earth Geography University has won first place in the International Geospatial Data Analysis Competition held in Berlin, Germany. The team, consisting of four students from our Geospatial Engineering and Space Information Science programs, competed against 28 teams from universities around the world.

The winning team members are:

• Aibek Tursunov (Geospatial Engineering, 4th year)
• Meerim Kanatova (Space Information Science, 3rd year)
• Dastan Orozov (Geospatial Engineering, 4th year)
• Aigerim Baktybekova (Space Information Science, 3rd year)

The competition challenged participants to develop innovative solutions for urban planning challenges using geospatial data. Our team's project, "GeoUrban Kyrgyzstan," used satellite imagery, GIS analysis, and machine learning to create a comprehensive urban development model for Bishkek that accounts for environmental constraints, infrastructure needs, and population growth projections.

"We are incredibly proud of our students' achievement," said Professor Bolot Asanov, who served as the team's faculty advisor. "Their success demonstrates the high quality of education at our university and the exceptional talent of our students. They represented not only our institution but also Kyrgyzstan on the international stage."

The team received a cash prize of €5,000 and an opportunity to present their project at the upcoming Global Geospatial Forum in Singapore. Their winning solution will also be featured in the International Journal of Geospatial Innovation.

"This experience has been transformative for us," said team leader Aibek Tursunov. "We applied the knowledge and skills we gained at KSIEGU to a real-world challenge and competed against top universities. We're grateful for the support from our professors and the university administration."

The university will host a special reception to honor the team's achievement next week, where they will present their winning project to the university community.