CASE STUDY
Growing Hotter
A GIS and AI-powered urban heat intelligence platform that helps emerging cities understand heat patterns, population exposure and land-cover relationships while connecting spatial evidence with community-driven climate action.
ROLE
Product Designer · GIS & Data Analyst
PLATFORM ArcGIS Pro
ArcGIS Pro ·ArcGIS Online ·ArcGIS Dashboards ·Experience Builder
FOCUS
GIS · Urban Climate · AI · Spatial Intelligence · Participatory Mapping
LIVE
The Real Problem
Urban heat is becoming an increasing challenge for rapidly growing cities, yet heat information is often difficult to translate into practical planning decisions. Maps can show where temperatures are high, but they do not always reveal who is exposed, how heat patterns change over time, or how communities experience and respond to heat.
The Approach
Develop an interactive urban heat observatory that combines satellite-derived Surface Urban Heat Island (SIUHI) analysis, GIS, AI and community-generated evidence.
The project uses Landsat observations from 2021–2026 to map changing heat patterns across Nakuru City, analyse population exposure and land-cover relationships, and examine the cooling influence of Lake Nakuru. An AI assistant allows users to interact with the spatial evidence using natural language, while community mapping adds ground-level observations and local interventions.
What I Built
- Analysed Landsat 8/9 data to map Surface Urban Heat Island intensity across Nakuru from 2021-2026
- Mapped persistent and emerging urban heat hotspots and analysed changes in heat extent over time
- Integrated WorldPop population data to estimate population exposure across different heat classes
- Analysed relationships between SIUHI, land cover and proximity to Lake Nakuru
- Created a scalable product concept for community-based early warning and wildlife conflict management
- Integrated HeatWise AI, allowing users to query the Observatory's geospatial knowledge base using natural language
- Added a community heat reporting and intervention layer to connect remotely sensed data with local observations and climate action
What Changed
- Demonstrated how GIS, Earth observation and AI can transform complex urban heat data into accessible planning intelligence
- Created a way for users to interact with spatial data through natural language, rather than relying only on traditional maps and charts
- Connected satellite-derived heat analysis with population exposure and community-generated evidence
- Developed an interactive framework that can help planners, governments and organizations identify heat risks and explore potential climate-resilience responses
- Showcased how emerging African cities can use geospatial intelligence to move from mapping urban heat to understanding, communicating and responding to it