On October 26, 2018, in Riga Technical University (RTU) Design Factory was organized a 24-hour hackathon. The teams were asked to research possible solutions for different problems in relation to climate and environment while applying Copernicus satellite data.

This year participants were asked to solve several Latvian government defined problems such as the spread of pollution in the urban environment, the assurance of water drainage during floods, and the problems caused by the transport movements on the main streets and coastal erosion. Local governments that provided their challenges: Cēsis, Jelgava, Liepāja, Ogre, Salacgrīva, and Valmiera.

During the first part of the hackathon, the participants were introduced to the challenges. Throughout the practical part, the participants, while considering their mentors’ opinion, worked in teams in order to find practical and applicable solutions to the respective problems.

Specialists Roberts Ķēniņš and Nils Bērziņš of VeUAS VIRAC remote sensing department also participated in „Copernicus Hackathon and Climathon Riga 2018”.



Roberts Ķēniņš and the team that he was a part of searched for possible solutions in order to solve the coastal erosion problem in Salacgrīva. Because of this erosion, many roads are being washed out and sea coastline is getting dangerously close to the living area.