Kokalj – Podiplomska šola ZRC SAZU

Assoc. Prof. Žiga Kokalj, Ph. D.

Assistant professor at doctoral study (3rd cycle) Environmental and Regional Studies at Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU.

+386 1 4706 458
ziga.kokalj@zrc-sazu.si

Course principal:

Environmental and Regional Studies (doctoral study 3rd level):
- Common elective courses:
  - DI002-GIS and spatial analysis in environmental and regional studies (6 ECTS)
  - DI003-Remote sensing in environmental and regional studies (6 ECTS)

Education

BSc in Geography (Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, 2004)
PhD in Remote Sensing (Faculty of civil and geodetic engineering, University of Ljubljana, 2010)

Research interests

He is primarily involved in environmental studies using optical satellite imagery processing and airborne lidar processing, internet cartography, spatial analyses and natural processes modelling, especially from the viewpoint of how different human activities influence the environment, both in history and at present. His special interest is in the protection of the natural and cultural heritage.

Main visiting appointments

Visiting Research student, University of Birmingham (2006)
Honorary Research Fellow, University of Birmingham (2008)
Visiting Researcher, Icelandic Institute of Archaeology (Fornleifastofnun Íslands, 2010)
Visiting Researcher, Historic Environment Scotland (2017)
Visiting Researcher, Italian Institute of Technology (2021)
Senior research associate / associate professor, University of Vienna (2025-26)

Other

He obtained the Zois scholarship for gifted students and his graduate thesis was given the Prešeren Award. During his doctoral studies he had a position of a Young Researcher and was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency. He was awarded the ZRC Gold Award for exceptional achievements in science (2018).
Head of the Remote Sensing Department.
40 invited lectures at conferences, symposia, workshops, and foreign universities.
Six of the high school research theses he mentored won a national golden medal at the Slovenian young researchers meeting. One was also awarded a first price at the Slovenia from Space competition, and two at the international completion of research projects organized by the MEF Educational Institutions from Istanbul, Turkey.
He is a co-organiser of the international TRAIL meetings (Training and Research on the Archaeological Interpretation of Lidar, France 2011, 2014, 2016, Slovenia 2018), that he helped to conceive into a conceptually new and innovative scheme of a modern workshop (France 2011, 2014, 2016, Slovenia 2018, 2022, 2025).
He designed the Relief Visualization Toolbox, the standard tool for visualising airborne laser scanning data in archaeology (QGIS plugin, ArcGIS Pro raster functions, Python library).

Selected publications

Bašelj, Andrej, Kastelec, Damijana, Golobič, Mojca, Malek, Žiga, Kokalj, Žiga. 2026. A method for determining the affected areas of high-alpine mountain trails. Land /i> 15 (1).
Kokalj, Žiga. 2025. Standardizing visualization in ancient Maya lidar research: Techniques, challenges and recommendations. Archaeological Prospection 32 (4): 967–988.
Šprajc, Ivan, Esparza Olguín, Octavio, Hernández Gómez, Quintin, Vujanović, Vitan, Marsetič, Aleš, Dzul Góngora, Sara, Thornquist, Peter, Martin, Leslie, Kokalj, Žiga. 2025. Ocomtún: un centro mayor recientemente descubierto en las Tierras Bajas Mayas Centrales. Estudios de cultura Maya, 66,: 11-43.
Gabrič, Adam, Grigillo, Dejan, Kokalj, Žiga. The effect of forest in the training dataset on the detection of woody vegetation landscape features in agricultural land. International journal of remote sensing: 27 str.
Kokalj, Žiga, Džeroski, Sašo, Šprajc, Ivan, Štajdohar, Jasmina, Draksler, Andrej, Somrak, Maja. 2023. Machine learning-ready remote sensing data for Maya archaeology. Scientific data: 10, article no.558, 13.
Šprajc, Ivan, Dunning, Nicholas P., Štajdohar, Jasmina, Hernández Gómez, Quintin, Chato López, Israel, Marsetič, Aleš, Ball, Joseph W., Dzul Góngora, Sara, Esparza Olguín, Octavio, Flores Esquivel, Atasta, Kokalj, Žiga. 2021. Ancient Maya water management, agriculture, and society in the area of Chactún, Campeche, Mexico. Journal of anthropological archaeology, 61, 101261, str. 1-21.
Stančič, Liza, Oštir, Krištof, Kokalj, Žiga. 2020. Fluvial gravel bar mapping with spectral signal mixture analysis. European journal of remote sensing, 16 str.
Nuninger, Laure, Opitz, Rachel, Verhagen, Philip, Libourel, Thérèse, Laplaige, Clement, Leturcq, Samuel, Le Voguer, Nathanael, Fruchart, Catherine, Kokalj, Žiga, Rodier, Xavier. 2020. Developing FAIR ontological pathways : linking evidence of movement in Lidar to models of human behaviour. Journal of computer applications in archaeology, 3, 1, str. 63-75.
Kokalj, Žiga, Somrak, Maja. 2019. Why not a single image? : combining visualizations to facilitate fieldwork and on-screen mapping. Remote sensing, 11, 7, 747, str. 1-26.
Pipan, Primož, Kokalj, Žiga. Transformation of the Jeruzalem hills cultural landscape with modern vineyard terraces. Acta geographica Slovenica. 2017, 57, 2, str. 149-162.
Kokalj, Žiga, Hesse, Ralf. 2017. Airborne laser scanning raster data visualization : a guide to good practice, (Prostor, kraj, čas, 14). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. 88 str.
Kokalj, Žiga, Oštir, Krištof. 2013. Vrednotenje pokrajinskoekoloških tipov Slovenije v luči pokrovnosti, izdelane s kla sifikacijo satelitskih posnetkov Landsat, (Prostor, kraj, čas, 1). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. 141 str.
Štular, Benjamin, Kokalj, Žiga, Oštir, Krištof, Nuninger, Laure. 2012. Visualization of lidar-derived relief models for detection of archaeological features. Journal of archaeological science 39, 11: 3354-3360.
Zakšek, Klemen, Oštir, Krištof, Kokalj, Žiga. 2011. Sky-view factor as a relief visualization technique. Remote sensing 3, 2: 398-415.
Kokalj, Žiga, Oštir, Krištof. 2007. Land cover mapping using Landsat satellite image classification in the Classical Karst – Kras region = Ugotavljanje pokrovnosti krasa s klasifikacijo satelitskih posnetkov Landsat. Acta carsologica, 36, 3: 433-440.