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Abstract
Massive amounts of geospatial data require better techniques to analyse and display them. A common practice in applying statistical analysis and reporting units is represented by the regional statistical unit grids, which are used for national and European statistics and reporting. In line with the EU’s INSPIRE directive, Austria provides statistics constructed on the European Terrestrial Reference System, which uses the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection (ETRS-LAEA) for spatial analysis and display. Although these units are fixed and allow comparability and replicability, there is no relation with the underlying phenomenon. In this study, we evaluate the suitability of SLICO superpixels to replace the artificial ETRF grid squares when delineating an image for further analysis and using reporting units, or for display purposes. In this approach, we minimize any further parametrization, which is introduced by many other available segmentation algorithms, and aim to replicate the ETRF grid by imposing a size constraint and using the square’s centres as seeds for superpixel generation.