Innovative and interdisciplinary analyses in the field of GI sciences and Earth observation are indispensable to evaluate the transformation of economy and society in general and the transformation of metropolitan regions in particular. Interdisciplinary GI science can be understood in an integrative manner as it combines the utilization of terrestrial, aerial- and space-based measurement techniques and its mediation possibilities. The heterogeneous fashion of the utilized sensor technologies enables researchers to derive current local terrestrial measurement results and current areal conditions at a glance, leading to a comprehensive overall perspective of coupled human-environmental systems and their highly varying and distinguishable sustainable developments.

In this special issue, we present three articles that address interdisciplinary approaches on GI Science and Earth observation reaching from education, disaster risk management to health research. The paper of Hodam et al. tests the capabilities of an online environment that facilitates pupils to work with Earth observation data in a way that reduces the given complexity while still offering the possibility to draw conclusions from images that are comparable to professional software solutions. The second paper of Graw et al. analyzes two landslide monitoring methods using Sentinel-1 data for the Rio Coca in Ecuador. Finally, the paper by Ortwein et al. highlights a modeling framework for the large-scale spatial distribution of asthma prevalences and the detection of interconnections with environmental factors in the area of the metropolitan region Ruhr.

This special issue is dedicated to a special person: Prof. Dr. Carsten Jürgens, founder of the Interdisciplinary Center of Geoinformation at Ruhr University Bochum (IZG, www.izg.rub.de). Prof. Jürgens studied Applied Physical Geography in Trier and Salt Lake City before graduating on the “Use of Satellite Remote Sensing for an Operational Procedure to Control Permanent Fallow Land of the EEC-Temporary Set-Aside Arable Land Program” in 1992. Seven years later, he habilitated on the “Application of Remote Sensing and GIS-Techniques for a Comparative Modelling Approach of River Discharge Rates in Mesoscale River Catchments” before he became a full professor for remote sensing at the University of Regensburg (2003) and one year later he was appointed at the Ruhr University Bochum where he still actively supervises and guides students and young researchers. Despite his physical geographic background, he became an internationally recognized expert on urban remote sensing. Accordingly, he is not only the author of many significant textbooks and publications but also the founder, organizer and scientific chair of the biennial Joint Workshop on “Remote Sensing of Urban Areas” in the frame of the Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (JURSE). Since 2003 he is the speaker and co-founder of the “Arbeitskreis Fernerkundung” of the German Society for Geography. Last but not least, he was the editor of this journal from 2003 to 2012.

As a teacher, he influenced the life and careers of hundreds of students who are thankful for his humor, authentic humaneness, direct and precisely organized nature as well as his emphatical and caring leader- and mentorship. Accordingly, it is no coincident that nearly all authors are or have been his mentees. For his 60th anniversary, we and our colleagues are very happy to conceptualize this special issue in cooperation with Markus Gerke, Jochen Schiewe and Wolfgang Kresse as a peer-reviewed gift for his academic engagement and as a gratitude for his tireless support for PFG.

Wir wünschen Dir von ganzem Herzen weiterhin einen hohen Wirkungsgrad, lieber Carsten!