Ralph Straumann (@rastrau)

@rastrau@swiss.social
440 Followers
988 Following
222 Posts

PhD in geography ⇒ jack of all trades, master of some.

I'm interested in data science, data politics, digital transformation, the inner workings of organizations – and much more. Co-organizer of https://geobeer.ch. Maker of https://mapstodon.space/@spatialists and https://tooting.ch/@meteo.

https://ralphstraumann.ch

#datascience #digitaltransformation #opendata #ogd #gis #remotesensing #eo

Websitehttps://ralphstraumann.ch
Auch 2025 war wieder ein aktives Jahr im EBP-Digitalblog: Wir haben 13 Blogposts publiziert zu unseren Themen #IT und #Geoinformation entlang von «Analyze, Plan, Build, Run». Aber welche Themen haben speziell beschäftigt? Wir haben hier eine Art «Highlight Reel» zusammengestellt: https://digital.ebp.ch/2026/01/08/ein-rueckblick-in-themen-2/
#BIM #GIS #GISchat #Datenraum #Usability #data #visualization #dataliteracy
Ein Rückblick in Themen

Auch 2025 war wieder ein aktives Jahr auf digital.ebp.ch. Wir haben (ohne den Rückblick auf 2024) insgesamt 12 Blogposts publiziert zu unseren Themen IT und Geoinformation entlang von «Analyze, Pla…

digital.ebp.ch
Map-first STAC search and visualization: @developmentseed has released #stacmap, an #opensource, map-first visualizer for exploring and searching #STAC collections through a simple, browser-based interface. It already supports natural-language queries (albeit experimentally) and also stac-#geoparquet.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/06-map-first-stac-search-and-visualization/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
Map-first STAC search and visualization – Spatialists – geospatial news

#DevelopmentSeed has released #stacmap, an #opensource, map-first visualizer for exploring and searching #STAC collections through a simple, browser-based interface. It already supports natural-language queries (albeit experimentally) and also stac-#geoparquet.

Spatialists – geospatial news

In der Hoffnung jemanden damit zu nerdsnipen:

Was sind in Deutschland die Städte/Gemeinden mit einer Levensthein-Distanz von 1, die den geringsten geografischen Abstand haben?

Heilbronn und Heilsbronn, 116km
Mössingen und Wössingen, 75km
Wer bietet weniger?

Review: Geospatial 2025: @LindaStevens has published “GIS and Geospatial 2025: A Year in Review”, summarizing the highlights and lowlights that shaped the past year in our industry – from the rise of geospatial #AI to pricing pressures. The piece offers a timely perspective on where the sector has progressed and where it continues to struggle as 2026 approaches.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/17-review-geospatial-2025/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
Review: Geospatial 2025 – Spatialists – geospatial news

Linda Stevens has published “GIS and Geospatial 2025: A Year in Review”, summarizing the highlights and lowlights that shaped the past year in our industry – from the rise of geospatial #AI to pricing pressures. The piece offers a timely perspective on where the sector has progressed and where it continues to struggle as 2026 approaches.

Spatialists – geospatial news
Deep dive on pruning: Dewey Dunnington’s latest blog post dives deep into how pruning, the selective reading of relevant data, makes #GeoParquet blazing fast in both local and #cloudnative contexts. Featuring hands-on comparisons across #SedonaDB, #DuckDB, #GeoPandas,...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/16-deep-dive-on-pruning/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
Deep dive on pruning – Spatialists – geospatial news

Dewey Dunnington’s latest blog post dives deep into how pruning, the selective reading of relevant data, makes #GeoParquet blazing fast in both local and #cloudnative contexts. Featuring hands-on comparisons across #SedonaDB, #DuckDB, #GeoPandas, #GDAL, and #Sedona #Spark, it’s a must-read for anyone exploring efficient cloud-native geospatial workflows.

Spatialists – geospatial news
My perspective about AI swings between slot-machine chaos, mind-blown optimism, and Black Mirror dread. In a totally ironic move, I tried to express this emotional loop about AI in an infographic. https://blog.heuel.org/2025/11/the-ai-emotional-loop/
Data, designed: #Data is more than an asset: it is a designed experience, a product. Jed Sundwall’s article “Great #DataProducts” reminds us that #OpenData matters only when paired with intent, usability, and care in creation. A shout out for #DataDesign and #ProductThinking for #geospatial data. – @davidoesch
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/15-data-designed/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
Data, designed – Spatialists – geospatial news

#Data is more than an asset: it is a designed experience, a product. Jed Sundwall’s article “Great #DataProducts” reminds us that #OpenData matters only when paired with intent, usability, and care in creation. A shout out for #DataDesign and #ProductThinking for #geospatial data.

Spatialists – geospatial news
So many to choose from: In his latest post, Mark Litwintschik compares a range of global administrative #boundary datasets, from #OpenStreetMap to #NaturalEarth, assessing geometric #accuracy, data #completeness, and information content. The analysis, powered by #DuckDB...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/13-so-many-to-choose-from/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
So many to choose from – Spatialists – geospatial news

In his latest post, Mark Litwintschik compares a range of global administrative #boundary datasets, from #OpenStreetMap to #NaturalEarth, assessing geometric #accuracy, data #completeness, and information content. The analysis, powered by #DuckDB and #QGIS, reveals surprising differences in how nations’ borders are represented across data sources.

Spatialists – geospatial news
Swiss government open-source catalog: Under Article 9 of the “Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means to Carry Out Official Tasks” (#EMBAG / #LMETA), federal authorities must publish the source code of software they develop or commission, marking a step toward greater #digitalSovereignty. The #OSS Catalog lists around 60 #opensource projects with #swisstopo’s #STAC API and the mapping application #KADASAlbireo among them.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/11-swiss-government-open-source-catalog/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
Swiss government open-source catalog – Spatialists – geospatial news

Under Article 9 of Switzerland’s “Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means to Carry Out Official Tasks” (#EMBAG/#LMETA), federal authorities must publish the source code of software they develop or commission, marking a step toward greater digital #sovereignty. The resulting Swiss Federal #OSS Catalog now lists around 60 #opensource projects with #swisstopo’s #STAC API and the mapping application #KADASAlbireo among them.

Spatialists – geospatial news
3D models of 2.8 billion buildings: A research team from the Technical University of Munich (#TUM) led by Prof. Xiao Xiang Zhu has released the #GlobalBuildingAtlas, a 3D dataset comprising 2.75 billion #buildingmodels worldwide at 3‑meter resolution. Built from #PlanetScope...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/12/10-3d-models-of-28-billion-buildings/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS
3D models of 2.8 billion buildings – Spatialists – geospatial news

A research team from the Technical University of Munich (#TUM) led by Prof. Xiao Xiang Zhu has released the #GlobalBuildingAtlas, a 3D dataset comprising 2.75 billion #buildingmodels worldwide at 3‑meter resolution. Built from #PlanetScope satellite imagery and #ML-based extraction, it represents the most detailed and comprehensive global building dataset produced so far.

Spatialists – geospatial news