The Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography participates in the implementation of a prestigious international research and implementation project CitCom.ai (AI Testing and Experimentation Facility for Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities). The project is one of four European AI test and experimentation facilities (AI TEF) – a flagship initiative of the European Commission as part of Digital Europe. The CitCom.ai project is implemented by 34 partners from 11 European countries. It brings together universities, R&D units, municipal organisations, test centres and technological companies. It is coordinated by IMEC – a leading European research centre in the field of nanotechnology and digital technologies based in Belgium.

Warsaw University of Technology team develops AI tools for cities

The Warsaw University of Technology, represented by the Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography, plays an important role in the CONNECT component for local infrastructure and integration of inter-sector services. Work is done by the Centre for Geospatial and Satellite Analysis (CENAGIS), supported by modern computational clusters.

The WUT project leader is Agnieszka Wendland, PhD. The team also includes Professor Robert Olszewski – expert in the area of GIS and geographical information modelling, Kamil Choromański, MSc – spatial data analyst and AI solutions integrator, Paweł Czernic, MSc – expert in the field of machine vision and spatial data processing. All team members represent the WUT Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography.

The WUT team concentrates on a few key research problems:

• social geoparticipation – development of tools enabling residents to participate in spatial planning using GNSS, augmented reality (AR), gamification, and multi-agent systems.
• big data and spatial data analysis – development of AI-based tools for analysing large urban datasets, including community-contributed VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information), and predicting the impacts of revitalization.
• spatial information modelling – application of machine learning for knowledge extraction from spatial data, both official and community-sourced.
• supporting sustainable spatial management – development of predictive models to support decision-making in land use and spatial development.

At present, the team is developing and testing prototype AI solutions. The challenges include, for example, integration of data from various sources, ensuring interoperability between the platforms and adapting AI models to a complex city context.

– The Warsaw University of Technology plays a unique role in the project as a hub combining geospatial technologies with human-centric AI – points out Agnieszka Wendland, PhD, project leader. – Our team brings interdisciplinary competences in spatial data collection and analysis, information technology and participatory projects, which allows to design future cities oriented towards the needs of the residents.

From lab to city 

The results of the project can be applied both in city policies and in small and medium companies, start-ups, and R&D institutions. Cities implementing smart city solutions, public institutions, AI and robotics companies can use the project outcomes.

The main objective of CitCom.ai is to accelerate the development of ethical, transparent, and sustainable AI solutions for smart cities, while strengthening European technological sovereignty. The project will result in the creation of an infrastructure that enables companies and institutions to test and certify their solutions in realistic urban scenarios, including areas such as mobility, environment, spatial planning, public participation, and crisis management.

The budget of the whole project is almost EUR 40 million, of which EUR 294 678 for the Warsaw University of Technology. The project is cofinanced by the European Union under the project Digital Europe and from the funds of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the programme International Cofinanced Projects. The project is planned to end in December 2027.

More information on the official project website CitCom.ai.