I am a geospatial engineer, entrepreneur, and explorer of the digital earth. My journey has taken me from analyzing satellite imagery at the UN to building a start-up GeoInsight, that transforms geospatial complexity into intelligence. Whether working with Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS), AI-driven analytics, or Rust-powered geospatial software, I thrive on solving big spatial data challenges.
I started out studying Geography and Geomatics at Ruhr University Bochum, but my curiosity pushed me beyond traditional maps. In 2009, I joined the UN Operational Satellite Applications Program (UNOSAT) in Geneva, where I mapped disasters from space. From there, I traded Switzerland for China, moving to Wuhan University’s State Key Lab (LIESMARS) to pursue a PhD in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Over the years, I worked on everything from detecting urban vibrancy with social media data to mapping flood disasters with radar imagery. In 2013/14, I took a detour into public health at WHO, where I helped to make adminstrative country boundries legally compliant.
The question that comes up when dealing with complex geographic problems, such as predicting epidemics, crime, or ghost towns is: How to integrate geographic data to take advantage of multiple sources to address complex geographic problems?
At the core of everything I do is a simple question: How can we make geospatial data more intelligent, accessible, and actionable?
Please feel free to download my full CV here.