LABURB - UFSC

What LABURB - UFSC does

LABURB (Laboratório de Urbanismo) is an academic research laboratory housed within the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Florianópolis, Brazil. It operates as a non-commercial academic unit rather than a business, providing free access to cartographic data, GIS datasets, and urban planning research materials for the Greater Florianópolis metropolitan region. The lab is staffed by four named faculty members — Marina Toneli Siqueira, Sérgio Moraes, Renato Saboya, and Soraya Nór — who coordinate a portfolio of research and extension projects serving graduate students, faculty researchers, and Santa Catarina municipal governments.

The lab's core technology is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data repository providing QGIS-compatible geopackage data, shapefiles, CAD files in DWG/DXF, orthophotos, IBGE census data, and susceptibility maps for four municipalities: Florianópolis, São José, Palhoça, and Biguaçu. The Acervo Laburb digital archive organizes these resources along with aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and field photos hosted on Flickr. Active projects include Operando Cidades (urban operations analysis applied to Florianópolis's 2014 Master Plan), Planos Diretores e Planos Setoriais dos Municípios Catarinenses (technical support for Santa Catarina city master plans), Vulnerabilidade Socioambiental da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Itapocu (environmental vulnerability research), and Charrete do Bosque do CFH (campus landscape requalification with CFH-UFSC).

LABURB is funded as part of UFSC's public university budget and does not generate commercial revenue. All data products and research outputs are distributed at no cost through direct website downloads hosted on Box.net and Mega.nz, supplemented by on-site academic collaboration. The lab collaborates with municipal governments (Florianópolis, São José, Palhoça) as data providers and with the Conselho da Cidade do Estado de Santa Catarina for technical support of master plans across the state.

Name

LABURB - UFSC

Legal name

Laboratório de Urbanismo (LABURB) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Website

https://laburb.paginas.ufsc.br

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LABURB is an academic urban planning research laboratory at Brazil's Federal University of Santa Catarina that provides free GIS data, cartographic archives, and urban planning research for graduate students, faculty, and Santa Catarina municipal governments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Florianópolis

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

LABURB is an urban planning research laboratory that maintains and distributes an open-access archive of cartographic, GIS, and CAD-format territorial data for municipalities in the Greater Florianópolis Area, including shapefiles, geopackages, DWG/DXF files, orthophotos, and IBGE census data. It also conducts academic research and extension projects on urban operations, master plans, socioenvironmental vulnerability, and campus landscape requalification, providing these resources free of charge to students, faculty, and municipal government partners.

Product overview

LABURB (Laboratório de Urbanismo) is an urban planning research laboratory at UFSC that functions as a democratic space for urban and regional planning projects. The organization offers multiple interconnected products and services: the Acervo Laburb digital archive (which provides access to territorial data in SIG/GIS formats like shapefiles and geopackages, CAD-format files in DWG/DXF, aerial photography, and census data), and several research and extension projects including 'Operando Cidades' (urban operations analysis), 'Planos Diretores e Planos Setoriais' (master plan surveys), 'Vulnerabilidade Socioambiental' (environmental vulnerability studies), and 'Charrete do Bosque do CFH' (campus landscape requalification). The primary deliverables are geospatial data products (shapefiles, geopackages, orthophotos, CAD files) covering Florianopolis and surrounding municipalities in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Acervo Laburb (Archive Collection)
• SIG/GIS Data Files (Shapefiles and Geopackages)
• CAD Data Files (DWG/DXF)
• Aerial Photography and Orthophotos
• IBGE Census Data Integration (2010)
• Operando Cidades (Operating Cities) Research Project
• Planos Diretores e Planos Setoriais dos Municípios Catarinenses
• Vulnerabilidade Socioambiental (Socioenvironmental Vulnerability Study)
• Charrete do Bosque do CFH

Quantifiable outcome

• Active research projects in urban operations, master plans for Santa Catarina municipalities, socioenvironmental vulnerability studies, and campus landscape planning

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (CFH-UFSC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership for the 'Charrete do Bosque do CFH' extension project focused on landscape planning and campus master plan development. Professors Soraya Nór and Sérgio Moraes serve as advisors for this ongoing initiative.
• Conselho da Cidade do Estado de Santa CatarinacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExtension project 'Planos Diretores e Planos Setoriais dos Municípios Catarinenses' provides technical support for the City's Council, including analysis of master plans for mobility, housing, and sanitation across Santa Catarina municipalities.
• Prefeitura Municipal de FlorianópolisminorOthersSource of official municipal cartographic data including base maps, cadastral information, zoning plans, elevation data, and administrative boundaries for Florianopolis.
• Ministério Público de Santa CatarinaminorOthersCrime statistics data provider for research on urban vulnerability and socioeconomic analysis, including police data from Civil and Military Police for 2014-2015.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• MIT Senseable City Lab: MIT research lab using data, technology, and design to study urban environments. Comparable as a research lab applying technology and spatial data to urban planning and city analysis.
• UN-Habitat: United Nations program for sustainable urban development. Comparable as a global organization producing urban planning research, datasets, and policy frameworks at a much broader scale.
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: International research organization producing urban planning, land policy, and territorial analysis research. Comparable as a research organization focused on urban planning data and policy analysis at a broader scale.
• Urban Institute: US research organization producing data and policy analysis on cities, housing, and urban systems. Comparable as a research organization producing urban planning data and policy research.
• World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center: WRI's Ross Center for Sustainable Cities produces urban planning research and open data on global cities. Comparable as a research organization producing urban planning data and analysis at international scale.

Direct peers

• IPPUR (UFRJ): Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Research at UFRJ. Comparable as a Brazilian academic institute focused on urban and regional planning research and policy support.
• LABHAB (FAU-USP): University-based urban planning and housing research lab at the University of São Paulo. Directly comparable as a Brazilian academic research lab producing territorial analyses, urban data, and planning studies for government and academic users.
• Centro de Estudos da Metrópole (CEM): Brazilian academic research center dedicated to metropolitan and urban studies. Comparable as a research organization producing urban data, surveys, and policy analysis for Brazilian metropolitan planning.
• PROURB (UFRJ): Postgraduate program in urban planning at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Comparable as a Brazilian academic urban planning research program producing scholarship and applied projects.
• LabCidade (FAU-USP): FAU-USP research laboratory focused on urban and metropolitan studies in Brazil. Directly comparable as a university-based urban research lab producing spatial data, policy analysis, and planning outputs for Brazilian cities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/laburb-ufsc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about LABURB - UFSC