Problem Addressed

The cost, time and disruption associated with surveying methods for green roofing and habitat mapping (including biodiversity). Addressing UKGBC’s impact areas in the following ways:

  1. Mitigating and adapting to climate change & eliminating waste and maximising resource efficiency: By promoting green roofs and identifying opportunities for retrofits, we support the transition to integrated green infrastructure that is capable of sequestering carbon and lowering energy demands for cooling/heating in urban environments.
  2. Embracing and restoring nature and promoting biodiversity: Our service identifies existing biodiversity and identifies opportunities for uplift, both for Biodiversity Net Gain and sustainability purposes.
  3. Optimising the health and wellbeing of people & creating long-term value for society and improving quality of life: The social and environmental advantages of Gentian’s services are extensive. We benefit society by enabling local governments to use machine learning to cut down on their costs to taxpayers, making them more efficient and allowing them to hold private sector partners to account. Green spaces in cities have also been associated with better health outcomes for residents by “reducing exposure to air pollutants, noise and excessive heat”.

Overview Of Start-up

Gentian is an innovative new company developing a service that combines satellite based data with other sources of open or proprietary data, to deliver ground-breaking products in monitoring green spaces. With support from the European Space Agency, we work on the cutting edge of remote sensing and machine learning, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to deliver rapid and accurate solutions for clients working in the built environment.

All of our products incorporate machine learning and use satellite/aerial imagery as an input:

  • Our first product is GR ID, a product which locates buildings with Green Roofs, and sorts these between Intensive/Extensive/Astroturf roofing. It also includes automatic polygon mapping and creating heat maps of habitat density.
  • Our second product is GR BD, which assesses various plant metrics on Green Roofs and green spaces, including vegetation condition, habitat categorisation and species identification.
  • Our final product is GR RF, which covers identification of roofs that are suitable for Green Roof Retrofitting, using material automatic detection.

What Makes The Start-up Innovative

We provide remote surveys detailing habitat type or green infrastructure by combining the latest machine learning technology with high quality aerial or satellite imagery.

How The Start-up Has Been Designed To Scale-up Quickly

Our inputs (satellite data) are inherently scalable, as we apply algorithms to produce our outputs. Additionally, our machine learning ensures that scale-up increases accuracy, as the more data is fed in, the more precise the algorithms can become.

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