Chris Nichterlein
Since the begin of 2024, I opened a new chapter as a freelance GIS Specialist in Estonia.
Previously, I was working 5+ years as a Network Planner for fiber cables in Tallinn/EST.
Before moving to Estonia, I worked as a Mapping Specialist in Stuttgart/GER, but also as an intern
doing GIS in Heidelberg/GER... and yes, at some point I studied Cartography in Karlsruhe/GER.
Sessions
"Building up a community has never been so easy. Just find some like minded people and things will start to roll." - Nobody ever said that.
Apparently, there is a lot more to it and we are absolute newcomers when it comes to that too. Join us for a bumpy little ride about how the idea of setting up a user group was born, how it is going, lessons learned and where it's heading.
The idea of setting up a QGIS user group in Estonia, and the first ever in the Baltics, was born in the aftermath of the 2022 Baltic GIT conference in Tallinn. Randomly poking people and asking "Do you know any QGIS user group in Estonia or the Baltics?" came all back with the same reaction "Nope, sorry" and sometimes followed by a "...it would be cool to have one!". Well, some water has flown down the Emajõgi, but here we are now!
As a user group, we want to bring people together sharing the same enthusiasm, interest and experience around GIS and its open source solutions. We come together, chill & talk about GIS, how we approach our challenges in our workplaces and what we have learned and maybe also what went wrong.
Planning an optical fiber network is a complex process. Early draft versions of the networks are usually used to give a rough cost estimation. As this process is already very work intensive, things are getting especially serious when construction is scheduled to start. Permission documents, digging permits and all kind of forms need to be submitted to local authorities.
As in many engineering projects, time is key. Whatever helps to simplify and automate work steps, is a big game changer. Especially the creation of permission documents and maps can be a very time consuming process. To create such documents, we have turned to QGIS and after an intensive (always ongoing) process of customization, we are now able to produce dozens of documents with just a few clicks.
In our talk we will show a real use case for real projects which are currently in the execution phase in Saxony/Germany. Possible was this development by a strong cooperation of Estonian Fiber OÜ (EST), aastrix GmbH (GER) and Yellow Arrow OÜ (EST).