Mr Miguel Vallejo Orti

Biography

Miguel earned his Bachelor in Forest Engineering in 2009 and his Master’s of Science in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics with distinction at the University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart in Germany. He joined the Department of Architecture and Spatial Planning in 2016 as a lecturer, playing the role of Depute Head of department and research coordinator from 2018-21. In 2018 he embarked on his Ph.D. studies at University of Heidelberg in Germany, on soil erosion and land degradation monitoring using geoinformatics. He is due to submit graduate in 2022.

Research Focus

• Spatial Statistics
• Multispectral and RADAR Remote sensing
• Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)
• Digital Elevation Models and 3D surface analysis
• Soil erosion and land degradation

Courses Currently Teaching

Undergraduate

• Geographical Information Systems 1
• Geodemographics
• Programming for Geoinformatics
• Spatial Statistics
• Digital Photogrammetry

Postgraduate

• Advance Spatial Analysis
• Geo-data Science and Visualization (in Python)
• Graph Theory and Network Analysis

Community Development Activities

• ILMI Project. Changing landscapes, changing societies (project leader)
• Monitoring gully erosion in Rundu developing participatory mapping in combination to UAV (in collaboration with MME and funded by UNESCO).
• ERASMUS + Coordinator for Staff and Students exchange with the University of Huelva, Spain.
• Host main organizer of AGSE Conference at NUST in 2018.

Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

• Vallejo Orti, M., Anders, K., Corral-Pazos-de-Provens, E., Höfle, B. (2022): Understanding and improving crowdsourcing approached for environmental mapping. A Kalman filter-based approach to integrate and optimize multi-user digitizing actions to map gully footprints in Namibia. In process.
• Vallejo, M., Castillo, C., Zahs, V., Bubenzer, O., Hoefle, B (2022): Time monitoring of gullies in Namibia combining UAV Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing SAR radar products. (under journal review).
• Vallejo Orti, M., Negussie, K., Bubenzer, O., Höfle, B. (2022): Identifying and describing the impact of gully erosion in the livelihoods and properties of traditional Himba communities in Kaokoland, Namibia. In process.
• Kaleb Gizaw Negussie, Martin Kappas, Daniel Wyss, Nichola Knox, Eva Corral-Pazos-de-Provens, and Miguel Vallejo Orti. Evaluating SWAT Model for Runoff Estimation in the Semi-Arid Catchment of the Okavango-Omatako River Basin, Namibia. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2021 (under journal review).
• Castillo, C., Pérez, R. & Vallejo Orti, M. (2021): The impact of recent gully filling practices on wheat yield at the Campiña landscape in Southern Spain. Soil and Tillage Research, 221, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2021.105041
• Vallejo Orti, M., Winiwarter, L., Corral-Pazos-de-Provens, E., Williams, J. G., Bubenzer, O. & Höfle, B. (2021): Use of TanDEM-X and Sentinel products to derive gully activity maps in Kunene Region (Namibia) based on automatic iterative Random Forest approach. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14, pp. 607-623. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3040284.
• Vallejo Orti, M., Negussie, K., Corral-Pazos-de-Provens, E., Höfle, B. & Bubenzer, O. (2019): Comparison of Three Algorithms for the Evaluation of TanDEM-X Data for Gully Detection in Krumhuk Farm (Namibia). Remote Sensing, 11 (11), pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11111327.
• Vallejo Orti, M., Negussie, K. G. (2019): Temporal statistical analysis and predictive modelling of drought and flood in Rundu–Namibia. Climate Dynamics, pp. 1247-1260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04808-y.

Non peer-reviewed articles

• Vallejo Orti, M., Negussie, K. (2021) Changing landscapes, changing societies: Detection and monitoring of gully erosion and its derived impact in infrastructure, housing and livelihoods in Kunene Region, Namibia. ILMI Publications.
• Vallejo Orti, M., Negussie, K. (2019) Gully-affected areas in the Kunene region: looking for suitable locations for future citizen-science project (2019). ILMI Publications. https://ir.nust.na/handle/10628/628

Conference presentations & invited talks

• Vallejo, M. (2022) Using Machine Learning and Kalman Filter to integrate and optimize crowdsourced geospatial data from different sources to map gullies in Namibia. AGSE Conference, Kerala (India). Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M., Castillo, C., Bubenzer, O., Hoefle, B. (2021) Identifying and describing the impact of gully erosion in the livelihoods and properties of traditional Himba communities in Kaokoland (Namibia) as a driver of regional migration. AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans. Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M, Negussie, K, Bubenzer, O, Hoefle, B. (2021) Spatio-temporal assessment of gully activity in Namibia using Sentinel-1 SAR and Tandem-X DEM products as an instrument for land degradation neutrality. AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans. Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2021). Alumni Season. 11th AGSE Summer School Applied Geoinformatics for Society and Environment. 24–26 November 2021, Kathmandu University, Nepal and Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Online Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2021). Predictive model for drought events in Namibia: Water Security and Climate Change Conference 2021. Hanoi (Vietnam) Online Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2021). 2nd Namibia GIS-NSDI Forum 2021. Improving decision making using spatial analysis. Online Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2019). Fusion of TanDEM- X and Sentinel-1 to Derive Soil Erosion Activity Maps in Gully Affected Areas. TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X Science Team Meeting 2019. DLR Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany). Poster Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2019). Using TanDEM-X to Detect and Categorize Gullies in Namibia. TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X Science Team Meeting 2019. DLR Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany). Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2019). A Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) approach to train and validate remote sensing-based solutions for gully erosion monitoring in Namibia. AGSE 2019 International Conference: Digital Landscapes: Chances for Development, Stuttgart (Germany). Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M., Corral, E. (2019). Identification and monitoring of large gullies in Kunene Region- Namibia using Remote Sensing Products. 8th International Symposium on Gully Erosion, Townsville (Australia). Oral Presentation.
• Vallejo, M. (2018). Networking implications in academics and professional environments. AGSE 2018 International Conference, Windhoek (Namibia). Workshop.
• Vallejo, M., Negussie, K. (2018). Temporal Analysis of Drought and Flood occurrence in Namibia using Point Process methods. SASSCAL Science Symposium, Lusaka (Zambia). Poster Presentation.

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Miguel-Vallejo-Orti