Spatialists

H3/PostGIS: Hands-on example: @komzpa@mas.to, member of the #PostGIS PSC, walks through an interesting hands-on case study of modelling #LoRa radio tower range in the mountains of Georgia using #H3 and PostGIS. The example covers data preparation, #DGGS indexing, and...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/27-h3-postgis-hands-on-example/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Beyond the Buzz: Cloud-native geo: #CloudNativeGeo is everywhere, but does it live up to the hype? Lukas Merz takes a sharp look at formats like #COG, #FlatGeoBuf, #GeoParquet, and #PMTiles, and helps you decide when #cloudnative is the right tool for the job.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/25-beyond-the-buzz-cloud-native-geo/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Coordinate precision: Choosing the right #coordinate #precision matters (there’s an xkcd about it!): Too little distorts your data, too much bloats it unnecessarily. This interactive tool by #Mapbox makes this tradeoff visually understandable.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/24-coordinate-precision/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Geoinformation job market: A new report commissioned by swisstopo analyses the #workforce situation in Switzerland’s #geoinformation sector and finds a field that’s largely stable while the overall higher education grows. With an unemployment rate of just 0.8% in 2024, the...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/23-geoinformation-job-market/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

AI-ready OGC standards: The #OGC ran an #AI-#DGGS pilot on disaster management and derived five pillars for geospatial AI readiness from it: tool-ability, machine-readable metadata, guardrails, reproducibility, and trust & security. Among the interesting follow-up work...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/22-ai-ready-ogc-standards/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

OMF STAC inluding pmtiles: The #Overture Maps Foundation (#OMF) has released a #STAC for its data themes – including addresses, buildings, places, and transportation – available as #cloudnative #GeoParquet and #PMTile files via AWS and Azure. The #PMTiles are ready-to-use,...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/20-omf-stac-inluding-pmtiles/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Spatial SQL sandbox: Kyle Walker’s #SpatialSQL Explorer is a clever web app that lets you run spatial #SQL queries on #GeoJSON files directly in your browser using #DuckDB-#Wasm and #MapLibre. Upload WGS84 data (demo or your own), write queries with functions like...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/19-spatial-sql-sandbox/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Going underground: New York City’s (and other cities’) push to map #underground #infrastructure reveals how little is often truly known about what lies beneath the streets and how costly that ignorance can be. Even in an age of seemingly abundant #data, critical gaps still disrupt the #planning and #maintenance of public infrastructure.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/17-going-underground/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Data and geospatial building blocks: What happens when #AI crashes the GIS party? In “AI ate my GIS”, Will Cadell of Sparkgeo takes a sharp and forward‑thinking look at how market shifts and AI-enabled tooling could upend who shapes the future of geospatial technology.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/15-data-and-geospatial-building-blocks/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Geospatial data integration with Apache Hop: Over 100 participants joined a webinar on “Enterprise and Geodata Integration with #Apache #Hop”, highlighting interest in open, extensible geospatial #DataEngineering and #ETL. The session introduced two new geospatial Hop plugins, outlined future... @sfkeller@mastodon.social
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/12-geospatial-data-integration-with-apache-hop/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Microsoft 2026 GlobalMLBuildingFootprints update examined: Mark Litwintschik offers a look into #Microsoft’s #GlobalMLBuildingFootprints dataset, exploring global #building density, height coverage, and data confidence. His analysis not only reveals insights into important dataset characteristics but also...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/10-microsoft-2026-globalmlbuildingfootprints-update-examined/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

1st year anniversary: One year ago today, I set out to curate geospatial news independently and openly with Spatialists.ch. A year, 164 posts, and countless discoveries later, it’s time to look back – and ask you about your feedback regarding this service for the geo...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/04-1st-year-anniversary/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

GIS dissolution: Ten years after his original “Post GIS” essay, @billdollins@bird.makeup revisits the evolving landscape of geospatial technology in “‘Post GIS’ revisited”. He traces three waves of GIS dissolution, from breaking apart monolithic systems to the rise of modular...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/02/01-gis-dissolution/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Five levels of AI use: From “Spicy Autocomplete” to “Dark Factory”, Dan Shapiro proposes SAE-inspired five levels of #AI use in #programming as a framework for how organizations mature from basic tools to full #automation.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/31-five-levels-of-ai-use/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

New geoinformation strategy: The Canton of Bern has released its updated #Geoinformation Strategy for 2026–2030, setting a focus on customer-oriented services, long-term capacity building, and stronger cooperation across authorities. New topics include #AI, #NoCode / #LowCode environments, natural-language applications, #DigitalTwin-s, and #opensource, among many others.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/26-geoinformation-strategy-of-the-canton-of-bern/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Vectormap: Swiss vector maps: Building on his Master’s thesis, Fabian Rechsteiner launched #Vectormap, a project focused on making Swiss #geodata accessible as modern, high-performance #vectormaps. With regularly updated #cadastraldata and ready-to-use styles in #PMTiles format, Vectormap explores pragmatic, #cloudnative ways to bring geodata to the web. #GIS #geospatial #SwissGIS
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/25-vectormap-swiss-vector-maps/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Just out: SGS Action Plan 2026: New directions and projects: The SGS board published the this year’s Action Plan for the Swiss Geoinformation Strategy.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/25-just-out-sgs-action-plan-2026/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

PostGIS ⇆ AI: Finally got around to watching this: “Your Dorky Spatial Database is My Magic Answer Machine” by Brian Timoney. In this insightful and engaging #PostGISDay presentation, Brian explores how #AI can both use #PostGIS and be used from within PostGIS. A must-watch for anyone curious about the future of intelligent geospatial #workflows!
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/23-postgis-ai/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

GeoFeeds MCP: #GeoFeeds is a non‑curated aggregator tracking nearly 90 geospatial and adjacent blogs created by @geobabbler@mapstodon.space and @jamesfee@mastodon.social, now enhanced with an #MCP endpoint. The new setup lets #AI tools query and analyze the feed’s cached data directly, opening up creative ways to explore sources and trends in the geospatial blogosphere.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/22-geofeeds-mcp/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Sentinel-2 night vision: #ESA is giving the long-serving #Sentinel‑2A #satellite a fascinating new role: Experimenting with capturing night-time images of Earth before its retirement. These unexpected “night vision” tests not only produce stunning visuals but also lay the...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/15-sentinel-2-night-vision/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

GeoGirafe 1.0: #GeoGirafe 1.0, the first Long-Term Release of this #opensource #WebGIS ecosystem, is now available. GeoGirafe positions itself as geospatial web component offering a comprehensive #webmap viewer with #OGC services, authentication, search,...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/15-geogirafe-10/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Spatial data science languages: A recent #JOSIS publication by @edzer@mastodon.social et al. highlights common challenges and opportunities across #RStats, #Python, and #Julia in spatial #datascience. The paper makes interesting recommendations for fostering cross-language collaboration and advancing geospatial tooling for researchers, developers, and educators.
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/13-spatial-data-science-languages/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Small multiples of OSM geometries: A bit of fun from the #OpenStreetMap community: Matt Whilden hosts the ingenious XofY #OSM Geometry Viewer. This open-source tool lets you explore and compare OSM geometries – from quirky lakes to oddly shaped museums – arranged as small multiples...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/09-small-multiples-of-osm-geometries/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Direction for cadastral surveying: Swisstopo and partners have introduced a new “Vision for Cadastral Surveying” that extends the time horizon to 2040, adding a shared long-term framework regarding Swiss cadastral surveying. This vision emphasizes multidimensional, legally reliable...
https://spatialists.ch/posts/2026/01/08-direction-for-cadastral-surveying/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Map-first STAC search and visualization: @developmentseed@fosstodon.org 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

Review: Geospatial 2025: @LindaStevens@mastodon.social 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

Designing darkness: Philosophy of dark mode: From @stamen@vis.social comes a deep dive exploring how #darkmode #map #design goes beyond simply inverting colors. Drawing on examples from their own portfolio and color scatterplot analyses, the article shows the balance between ‘night mode’ and ‘daytime dark mode’, and what each means for digital #cartography. https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/11/15-designing-darkness-stamens-philosophy-of-dark-mode/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS

Apache Hop online user meetup: On 18 Nov, the German-speaking #Apache #Hop user community will gather online for a meetup exploring the open-source #data #orchestration platform. The program includes several talks, among them one by @sfkeller@mastodon.social focusing on spatial data integration. https://spatialists.ch/posts/2025/10/21-apache-hop-online-user-meetup/ #GIS #GISchat #geospatial #SwissGIS