Geospatial Challenge Camp (GCC)
Challenge-based course for tackling real-world challenges in cross-disciplinary teams
Geospatial Challenge Camp (GCC) is a challenge-based course that aims to engage young scientists and students to solve real-world sustainability challenges with digital data and location technologies. The course is a skills development and innovation service of Geoportti Research Infrastructure, the Location Innovation Hub, Finnish universities, and CSC - IT Center for Science.
GCC is a 10 to 13-week-long challenge-based course (5 ECTS) that aims to provide participants a chance to tackle relevant real-world challenges in cross-disciplinary teams. GCC has been organized by Geoportti RI, LIH, UTU, Aalto University, University of Helsinki, and CSC during 2023, 2025, and 2026. The overall themes for the camp vary yearly; previous themes include, for example, Health and Well-Being and Sustainable Transportation and Mobility. The participants are doctoral and post-doctoral researchers and master's students from Finnish universities and research organizations.
During the camp, the multi-disciplinary teams of young scientists work in close collaboration with industry to co-create digital innovative solutions for solving societal challenges. Teams identify and analyse complex location and time-related phenomena, and then design and build digital impact-driven solutions, which would improve the current know-how and capabilities of managing these problems in society. The teams work actively with their peers, mentors, and stakeholders during the course, and focus on designing geospatial data and digital technology solutions, which could have sustainability impacts for the users of the solution and for society at large.
Learning objectives of the camp for the participants are:
-
Gain confidence in working in multidisciplinary teams, assessing progress, communicating results, and engaging with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
-
Enhance scientific skills to conceptualize complex, location-based societal challenges and address them using geospatial data, geoprocessing, automation, and digital technologies.
-
Develop teamwork and project management skills to plan and manage multi-week projects, set sub-goals and milestones, coordinate team roles, and complete team deliverables.
-
Build technical, hands-on competencies to identify, use, assess, process, and apply geospatial data and digital technologies, and provide novel solutions to needs posed by the stakeholders of the challenge.
-
Strengthen business and solution thinking to apply these skills in creating innovative, solution-oriented approaches that address real-world challenges and stakeholder needs.
Feedback and experiences from participants
“I'm more sure about my own abilities. I challenge my own thinking and ways of working in the crossroads of academia and society in practice and theory.” - GCC2023 participant
“I gained much knowledge from collaboration with group members, from communication with mentors and stakeholders.” - GCC2023 participant
"I found a super talented team to continue the project with.” - GCC2025 participant
“I gained the ability to design a solution that meets the users' needs.” - GCC2025 participant
“I liked the opportunity to meet and collaborate with people that we would have not otherwise had the chance to meet.” - GCC2025 participant
“I like the multidisciplinary approach, which involves combining people with different backgrounds and experiences to work together and come up with a solution.” - GCC2025 participant
“The concept of GCC is very nice.” - GCC2025 participant
“I learned a lot about tools available to use and how to use them.” - GCC2025 participant
“This is a very fit for purpose project based learning experience that utilizes a multidisciplinary approach - I’m very impressed.” - GCC2025 participant
