{"id":768688,"date":"2025-10-21T06:22:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=768688"},"modified":"2025-10-21T08:30:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T15:30:35","slug":"how-one-spanish-region-revolutionized-mapping-with-ai","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/how-one-spanish-region-revolutionized-mapping-with-ai","title":{"rendered":"How One Spanish Region Revolutionized Mapping with AI"},"author":671,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1741,20382,493210,10332,271],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478532,491392],"esri_blog_department":[478172,478212],"class_list":["post-768688","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-ai","tag-cartography","tag-change-monitoring","tag-imagery","tag-mapping","esri-blog-category-analytics","esri-blog-category-environment","esri_blog_department-mapping","esri_blog_department-resilience"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"Cantabria, Spain's mapping team uses AI to reveal patterns, guiding visitors away from crowded spots to protect the landscape.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"The Government of Cantabria's Cartography and Geographic Information System (GIS) Service uses AI-powered mapping to guide millions of visitors toward sustainable choices while protecting the region's beaches, forests, and natural heritage from overuse.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>A six-person team in Spain uses AI to map an entire region, proving small teams can achieve what once required dozens of specialists and big budgets.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Computer vision reveals surprising environmental stories about Cantabria such as forests that have doubled and beaches under pressure.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Cantabria looks to digital twins to make complex land use decisions and extend understanding to everyone.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Along Spain\u2019s northern coast, where the Cantabrian Mountains meet the sea, lies a region that draws millions to its beaches, forests, and historic towns. But the popularity threatens the landscape it celebrates.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gabriel Ortiz and his team of five cartographers at Cantabria\u2019s regional government, map this beloved landscape\u2014serving as both guides and guardians. Using computer vision trained on decades of aerial photos, they see what others can\u2019t: which beaches will overflow on summer weekends, where invasive grasses are spreading, where forests have doubled in 60 years.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are constantly using AI to make society aware of the problems and why those problems happen,\u201d Ortiz said. Their maps and data-driven analysis guide visitors and help officials protect fragile places from overuse.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Summer Beach Algorithm<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When COVID-19 raised concerns about crowded beaches, Ortiz\u2019s bosses asked for a map. He counted the people instead.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Training AI to detect beachgoers in aerial photos was difficult \u2013\u00a0people appear as faint shadows, barely distinguishable from towels and umbrellas. His team labeled images and taught the model to recognize patterns across five aerial surveys from 2002 to 2017.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[768699,768694,768695,768696]},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_ba5asort","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results changed beach management. On sunny summer holidays, about 76,000 people visit Cantabria\u2019s 104 beaches, but the distribution is uneven. Eastern beaches like Brazomar and Sardinero carry the heaviest crowds, while western beaches like Gerra offer similar beauty with far fewer people.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you are looking for a natural and less crowded beach in Cantabria, consider Gerra,\u201d Ortiz\u2019s team notes in their beach analysis. The pressure maps guide visitors to make smart choices while protecting fragile spots. Small popular beaches face the greatest stress\u2014a tiny beach packed with people suffers more damage per square meter than a large beach with double the crowds.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The model weights usable beach area: dry sand counts fully, wet sand 50 percent, dune systems 10 percent, and rocky areas 5 percent. This reveals environmental pressure per square meter based on each beach\u2019s composition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Transit Over Traffic<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond counting beachgoers, the team analyzes where vehicles cluster\u2014often in sensitive coastal areas\u2014to identify where better public transit could reduce damage.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ortiz\u2019s vehicle detection models reveal troubling patterns: thousands of cars parked in grasslands turned into makeshift lots, and campers in areas never meant for them.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[768692,768691,768693]},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_k54d2fj1","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The maps suggest solutions. By pinpointing popular spots and transport bottlenecks, officials can plan routes that serve visitors while protecting sensitive areas. Where should new bus routes go? Which parking areas need management? How can visitors reach beaches without damaging the landscape?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Forest That Grew Back<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team\u2019s most surprising discovery: forest cover more than doubled between 1957 and 2020. Unlike global stories of deforestation, Cantabria\u2019s forests recovered.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is not an opinion. This is what is really happening,\u201d Ortiz said, highlighting the yellow areas on his maps showing vegetation gains far outweighing losses in red.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The change reflects social and economic shifts. As people abandoned farming and moved to cities, marginal agricultural lands reverted to forest. Industrial eucalyptus plantations expanded, but native species also thrived. The landscape is dramatically more forested than in the 1950s.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National officials confirmed the findings matched broader trends, though without his model\u2019s resolution. The analysis shows forests can recover when human pressure shifts\u2014and highlights the urgency for managing that growth.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Fighting Green Invaders<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all vegetation growth benefits the landscape. Pampas grass, an aggressive South American species, spreads rapidly across European Atlantic coast, crowding out native plants and creating health hazards. Traditional surveys couldn\u2019t track its spread across Cantabria\u2019s 533,000 hectares.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ortiz\u2019s team trained models to detect pampas grass in aerial photos, giving conservation groups precise, updated maps of where to focus eradication efforts.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe created invasive species maps of the whole territory,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cThey are not perfect, of course, but this AI work has just started. In the next few years we will witness more and more advances in this field.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NGOs now use these maps for field operations, replacing expensive manual surveys with automated analysis. The approach shows how AI can track fast-spreading invasive species at landscape scale.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[768689,768700,768690]},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_m12ke4c3","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Force Multiplier Effect<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ortiz calls computer vision \u201ca force multiplier\u201d that lets his six-person team accomplish what would traditionally require dozens of specialists and millions of dollars. \u201cEvery time we will see smaller and smaller teams creating the higher and most important value,\u201d he predicts. \u201cThis is going to be the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This efficiency comes from choosing the right problems to solve with automation. \u201cMany people try to do crazy things with AI,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cThis technology is excellent, but it\u2019s not suitable for all problems. Choosing the right one and choosing the right strategy is very important.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rather than automating everything, the team uses computer vision for tasks impossible for human observers\u2014like counting thousands of beachgoers or invasive species across decades of regional imagery.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ortiz\u2019s motivation is public service. \u201cI find energy to do all of this because I am serving a bigger purpose, which is creating a better society.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That philosophy shapes their data sharing. Unlike organizations that guard datasets, Cantabria makes everything open. \u201cThis data belongs to the taxpayer. It\u2019s not our information,\" Ortiz said.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team\u2019s mobile mapping apps put decades of territorial analysis into citizens\u2019 hands. Since 2016, the apps have become part of daily life, allowing residents to access datasets anywhere in the region.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-storymaps\/overview\">ArcGIS StoryMaps<\/a> stories combine analysis with accessible explanations. \u201cOne image has much more power than 1,000 words,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cWhen you publish something meaningful in a StoryMap, people can interact with all the data. You can really tell stories and connect with people through them.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Next Evolution of Cartography<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ortiz is planning Cantabria\u2019s next projects: digital twins that capture lifelike 3D replicas anyone can explore intuitively, achieved with minimal cost (see sidebar).<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDigital twins are the next evolution in cartography,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cFor centuries, we have been using projections to simplify reality to a flat canvas, to a paper map. But as digital technology evolves, the world doesn\u2019t need to be projected anymore. We are going to be able to reflect reality with less demanding abstractions. We will be able to create lifelike replicas of our world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traditional maps require specialized knowledge to interpret. Digital twins let citizens explore their landscape naturally. \u201cWhen you see something in 3D, it\u2019s easier to understand for the average citizen than seeing a technical map full of colors and symbologies,\u201d Ortiz said.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This accessibility could transform how people participate in land use planning.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As digital twins evolve, these tools could guide visitors in real time\u2014helping them find uncrowded coves and forest trails while protecting fragile places. Everyone could see Cantabria through the eyes of those who know it best, experiencing the landscape with less pressure and more wonder.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/national-mapping\/overview\">national authorities apply GIS to modernize mapping to collaborate and make more informed decision for the future<\/a>.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Beyond the Mesh: Solving the Digital Twin Storage Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government of Cantabria faces a data storage challenge that threatens its digital twin ambitions. \u201cThe imagery that we can capture today with state-of-the-art sensors is so big that we need an amount of storage that is a real problem,\u201d said Gabriel Ortiz who leads a group of cartographers who map Cantabria. Even capturing Cantabria\u2019s 533,000 hectares with oblique imagery could exponentially increase storage requirements.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last decade, creating detailed 3D maps from aerial imagery has meant building digital \u201cmeshes\u201d\u2014millions of connected triangular surfaces that approximate real-world shapes. Think of it like stretching a very fine net over every building, tree, and landscape feature. While effective, this approach creates massive data files that strain computer systems and budgets.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Ortiz, innovation means mastering today\u2019s technology while keeping a close eye on what\u2019s next. A technique called Gaussian splatting offers a mid-term solution. Instead of recreating surfaces with geometric shapes, Gaussian splats use ellipsoid blobs with specific properties\u2013color, opacity, position and orientation. It\u2019s the difference between building a model from millions of tiny triangles versus painting with translucent paints that blend naturally.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gaussian splats render faster than traditional meshes and integrate more quickly with other geographic data because they don\u2019t require complex surface calculations or large amounts of storage space. This efficiency matters because data storage can be costly.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Esri announced that ArcGIS will support Gaussian splats as a new layer type later this year. This capability was demonstrated using drone imagery from Stuttgart\u2019s massive rail construction project, showing how drones can now capture data that imports directly as ready-to-use Gaussian splats. AI tools automatically detect and map 3D features like steel beams and building materials from this drone data.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This workflow evolution excites Ortiz, who plans to reprocess his entire digital twin dataset using emerging rendering techniques. \u201cI think the future probably will be Gaussian splats, or another form of rendering radiance fields, as a real game changer,\u201d he predicts.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cantabria\u2019s digital twin project already incorporates 48 billion points from collaborative lidar flights with Spain\u2019s National Geographic Institute (IGN). And next year they will also cover their entire territory with highly detailed oblique imagery. For regional organizations managing such massive datasets on limited budgets, new rendering techniques could mean the difference between ambitious projects and realistic outcomes.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe will have to wait and see,\u201d Ortiz said, \u201cbut I think the future is full of possibilities, and we have the opportunity to turn these possibilities into plenty.\u201d The shift from mesh-based approximations to volumetric rendering could reduce storage demands while enabling public engagement with real 3D landscapes and simulations of events like fires or floods.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Below are two videos. The first was created by Ortiz's team using photogrammetry techniques. The second is a demo of Gaussian Splats created using ArcGIS Reality. Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/fcae80a6141e408ab2a599fcfea818ee\/page\/Home\">ArcGIS imagery and 3D demo gallery<\/a>\u00a0to see more examples and workflows.<\/strong><\/em>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","youtube_video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/tanKZMyaNdo?si=9-7qDZILFxAgWVmu"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_i1nmil42","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How One Spanish Region Revolutionized Mapping with AI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cantabria, Spain&#039;s mapping team uses AI to reveal patterns, guiding visitors away from crowded spots to protect the landscape.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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