Automatic delineation of the Innenbereich — the coherently built-up part of a municipality (§ 34 BauGB) — from building footprints, road network and land use data. The international publication of the method describes the same delineation as an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB).
The method combines semantic and spatial building filtering, block-based building coverage ratio (BCR) analysis, MST-based aggregation of building clusters, and boundary refinement against the road network. It produces a fine-grained boundary that follows individual buildings rather than administrative units.
Harig, O.; Hecht, R.; Burghardt, D.; Meinel, G. Automatic Delineation of Urban Growth Boundaries Based on Topographic Data Using Germany as a Case Study. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10(5), 353. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10050353
Start here → IB-Tool 3 — the current implementation.
| Repository | What it is | Platform | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| IB-Tool 3 | The delineation itself: filtering, density analysis, MST aggregation, boundary refinement. Guided 4-step dialog, GeoPackage output. | QGIS 3.40+ | active · v0.2.2 |
| Data Wizard | Turns raw ATKIS Basis-DLM shapefiles into the HU / RN / Aux GeoPackages IB-Tool 3 expects — CRS handling, study-area clipping, layer mapping. |
QGIS 3.40+ | experimental · v0.1 |
| Partitioning | Divides the study area into settlement units (PART_<id>) via kernel density estimation and Voronoi tessellation, so large datasets can be processed partition by partition. |
QGIS 3.40+ | experimental · v0.1 |
| ib-tool (this repository) | The original ArcPy toolset from the 2021 publication. Superseded by IB-Tool 3, kept for reference and for ArcGIS users. | ArcGIS Advanced + Spatial Analyst | frozen · 2021 |
raw ATKIS Basis-DLM ──► Data Wizard ──► HU / RN / Aux
│
building footprints (HU) ──► Partitioning ──► Part
│
▼
IB-Tool 3 ──► Innenbereich / UGB (GeoPackage)
Neither companion plugin is required: any data meeting the specification in IB-Tool 3 → docs/input-data.md works, regardless of how it was produced. All three QGIS plugins install side by side and appear in the same Plugins → IB-Tool menu.
- You work in QGIS → IB-Tool 3. Start with
docs/quickstart.md; a sample dataset is included. - You work in ArcGIS → this repository. Requires ArcGIS Advanced with a Spatial Analyst license; see ARCGIS-TOOLSET.md.
| Topic | Where |
|---|---|
| Installation, first run, sample data | IB-Tool 3 → docs/quickstart.md |
| Input layer specifications and validation checks | IB-Tool 3 → docs/input-data.md |
| Algorithm, pseudocode, accuracy results | IB-Tool 3 → docs/how-it-works.md |
| Parameters and how to tune them | IB-Tool 3 → docs/parameterization.md |
| Terminology (Innenbereich vs. UGB) and which source covers what | IB-Tool 3 → docs/terminology.md |
| Development, CI and release conventions (shared across all three plugins) | IB-Tool 3 → docs/contributing.md |
| Method documentation in German (Harig 2024) | DOKU.md |
| ArcGIS toolset (this repository) | ARCGIS-TOOLSET.md |
Three independent scripts for ArcGIS Advanced (ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro) with a Spatial Analyst license:
Partitioning.pyt— creates the partitioning from building footprintsIB-Tool2.py+IB-Tool2_Config.txt+IB-Tool2_Filter.txt— creates the delineationError_Classification.py— assesses the result against an expert delineation
Full prerequisites, data preparation, filter and parameter reference: ARCGIS-TOOLSET.md. The method behind it is documented in German in DOKU.md.
This toolset is no longer developed. New work happens in IB-Tool 3.
Method:
Harig, O.; Hecht, R.; Burghardt, D.; Meinel, G. Automatic Delineation of Urban Growth Boundaries Based on Topographic Data Using Germany as a Case Study. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10(5), 353. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10050353
Original toolset (this repository):
Harig, O. (2021). Toolset for the delineation of settlements on the basis building footprints, road network and land use data (v1.0). https://doi.org/10.26084/IOERFDZ-SOFT-001
The parameterisation and the grounding in § 34 BauGB are covered by Harig (2024); further sources and what each one covers are listed in IB-Tool 3 → docs/terminology.md.
- ib-tool (ArcGIS toolset): MIT — see
LICENSE.md - IB-Tool 3, Data Wizard, Partitioning (QGIS plugins): GPL-2.0-or-later
Oliver Harig — conception and implementation Conception (2021 publication): Robert Hecht, Dirk Burghardt, Gotthard Meinel