Imagine you're a city planner trying to figure out where all the heat in your region is being wasted — and where renewable energy could replace fossil fuels for heating buildings. HotMaps built a free online tool that works like Google Maps but for energy: it shows heating and cooling demand down to individual city blocks (250 by 250 meters), maps out waste heat from factories and renewable sources nearby, and lets you run "what if" scenarios all the way to 2050. It was tested in 7 real cities across Europe and all the data covers the entire EU-28.
Cities and regions across Europe are required by the EU Energy Efficiency Directive to assess their heating and cooling systems — but most lack the data and tools to do it properly. Planning where to build district heating networks, where to tap waste heat, or how to phase out fossil fuel boilers requires granular spatial data that until now was expensive to compile and hard to model.
An open-source web-based toolbox with a GIS interface that maps heating and cooling demand at 250x250m resolution across all EU-28 countries. The platform includes pre-loaded energy datasets, hourly supply-demand modeling, scenario planning to 2050, and was delivered through 35 deliverables including a web server platform, dedicated GIS GUI, and beta versions tested with real users in 7 pilot areas.
If you are a municipal energy agency struggling to map where heating demand is highest and where waste heat goes unused — this project developed an open-source GIS tool covering all EU-28 at 250x250m resolution that lets you model supply-demand matching by the hour and plan cost-effective district heating investments through 2050 scenarios.
If you are an energy consultancy preparing heating and cooling assessments for clients under the Energy Efficiency Directive — this project built a ready-to-use platform with pre-loaded EU-28 data, a dedicated GIS interface, and scenario modeling that can cut weeks off your analysis work. The tool was validated in 7 pilot areas with real users.
If you are a district heating operator evaluating where to expand your network or integrate renewable sources — this project created a planning toolbox that maps waste heat potentials, models hourly supply-demand matching, and compares CO2 emissions and costs across scenarios to 2050. All source code and EU-28 datasets are openly available.
HotMaps is fully open source — the source code and all EU-28 datasets are free to use. The consortium was explicitly committed to the open source model, meaning there are no licensing fees. Costs would only come from staff time to learn and operate the tool, or from hiring consultants to run analyses.
Yes. The tool was designed to work at local, regional, and national levels. The pre-loaded dataset covers all EU-28 countries at a 250x250m spatial resolution, and the platform supports scenario modeling through 2050 including CO2 emissions and cost comparisons.
Everything is open source — both the software code and the EU-28 data. There are no IP restrictions. Users can also upload their own local data and connect to existing models, making it fully customizable without licensing concerns.
The toolbox was validated and demonstrated in 7 pilot areas across Europe. Development was done in close cooperation with target users both within and beyond the consortium, with beta versions released for testing and iterated based on feedback.
The tool was specifically designed to support the comprehensive assessment of efficient heating and cooling required under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive. It directly addresses the planning obligations that public authorities face under current EU energy policy.
Yes. While the tool comes pre-loaded with EU-28 data, it was built to allow updating with locally available data and linking to existing energy models. The web-based GIS platform architecture supports this customization.
The consortium brings together 17 partners from 10 countries (AT, CH, DE, DK, ES, FR, IE, IT, RO, UK), led by Technische Universität Wien — one of Europe's leading technical universities. The mix is research-heavy: 3 universities and 4 research organizations provide deep technical expertise, while 9 other organizations (likely energy agencies and public authorities) ensured the tool was built for real users. With only 1 industrial partner and 3 SMEs (6% industry ratio), this is clearly a public-sector-oriented project. For a business looking to adopt or build on this tool, the academic pedigree is strong, but commercial support would need to come from consultancies or service providers working around the open-source platform.
The project was coordinated by Technische Universität Wien (Austria). SciTransfer can help locate the right contact.
Want to use HotMaps data for your heating/cooling planning project, or need help connecting with the team behind it? SciTransfer can arrange an introduction and help you apply the tool to your specific region.
