Urban landscape design and engineering researcher focused on outdoor thermal comfort and decarbonization.
Research and Personal Work Page: https://www.hurarcan.com/

BSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UPRM 23', MSc in Building Technology from MIT 25', Fulbright Pre-doctoral Research Fellow 25-26'.

Aditi Bhandari is a news graphics editor on the Financial Times' visual and data journalism team, covering a wide range of international news and climate stories. Prior to joining the FT in 2024, she previously worked at Reuters in India and the UK, and at several publications in the US. Her work has previously been recognised by the Society for News Design, the Sigma Awards and the Society of Publishers in Asia.

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I am a mathematician and environmental scientist with a strong focus on geospatial analysis. Before joining OPENGIS.ch in 2025 as a QGIS expert and teacher, I worked for several years in research on natural hazards and risk analysis.

GIS Expert & Developer at BRGM (the French Geological Survey), I hold a double background in Geosciences and Computer Science. I specialize in streamlining complex geospatial workflows, focusing on developing Python-based solutions and QGIS plugins to automate data acquisition and thematic mapping. With extensive experience in field data management and remote sensing, I currently implement integrated QField-QGIS pipelines to ensure digital continuity from the outcrop to final cartographic production.

Amar Sarvepalli is the Travel Demand Modeling Manager at the Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (FTE), with more than 20 years of experience in travel demand modeling, forecasting, and data-driven transportation analytics. As the principal architect of the Turnpike State Model (TSM), he has advanced statewide modeling through innovations in land use modeling, route choice, congestion pricing, market-based tour models, and network analytics. His work spans open-source modeling tools, data science, choice modeling, and traffic and revenue forecasting, with a strong emphasis on QGIS-based application development and scalable geospatial system design. A dedicated advocate for open-source technologies, Amar has championed the use of platforms such as QGIS to replace proprietary modeling environments, enabling more transparent, cost-effective, and extensible solutions. He has also led the integration of artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and web-based visualization into FTE’s modeling ecosystem, helping modernize analytical workflows and accelerate project delivery.

Andreas is a GIS specialist and QGIS product owner at Ramboll. He has been using QGIS since 1.8 and has consistently applied QGIS professionally on client project in the last 10 years.

Andreas Georgiou is a GIS specialist and leader of the GIS team at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center. His work focuses on geospatial technologies, spatial analytics, and digital twin solutions for the public sector. He has extensive experience in European research projects and is actively involved in promoting GIS education as a board member of the QGIS Cyprus community.

Andreas is the project manager for the Atlas of Switzerland at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation at ETH Zurich. Together with a team of developers and editors, he is working on the future web version of the Swiss National Atlas. In addition to his work on the “Atlas of Switzerland,” he contributes to teaching cartography and geoinformatics at ETH Zurich. He also serves as treasurer on the QGIS Steering Committee (PSC). In addition to QGIS, other FOSSGIS tools such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS, GDAL/OGR, PDAL, Python, etc., are also used.

Anita Graser is a Senior Scientist and Thematic Coordinator in the Data Science & Artificial Intelligence research group at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna. Her research background is in geoinformatics and spatial data science. She is an open-source advocate, serves on the QGIS project steering committee and teaches Python for QGIS at Unigis Salzburg. She is the lead developer of MovingPandas (a Python library for analyzing movement data) and has developed tools such as the Time Manager plugin for QGIS. She has received multiple awards, including the international OSGeo Sol Katz award for her contributions to open-source geographic information systems. Anita has published several books about QGIS, including “Learning QGIS” and “QGIS Map Design” and writes a popular spatial data science blog at https://anitagraser.com.

Annie is an urban planner with a passion for the use of spatial data and GIS to create smart workflows. She is an open-source enthusiast and board secretary of the Swedish QGIS user group. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden and is currently working at Sweco, a consulting company in the urban development sector.

After studying Computer Science (Geometry, Imaging and Virtual Environments) at Utrecht University, Ben worked at several institutes and companies. The fields he worked in include robotics, virtual environments, motion capture, and movement analysis. Since 2022, Ben works as a developer at Nelen & Schuurmans.

Brigitte Suter’s educational background is in environmental engineering, with a postgraduate Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in geoinformation from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich). In her work, she has been managing soil mapping projects in the Swiss public administration since 2008. She is passionate about GIS and open-source technologies.

COFT designs efficient digital workflows for spatial planning and related disciplines, combining GIS-based data collection, mobile field surveys, and automated data processing. In addition, COFT enhances the communicative side of planning through technical drawings, feasibility studies and architectural design. This reduces manual effort and helps clients understand and use complex spatial data.

Geologist PhD of Geological Survey of Brazil.
Experienced GIS FullStack Developer (Python, Javascript, PostgreSQL/PostGIS) since 2007.
- https://www.osgeo.org/member/mota/
- https://cmota.dev/

Urban planner and QGIS developer, I worked on planning and mobility issues.

Today I primarily contribute to the QGIS project, where I try to improve user experience by my own experience in urban planning. And in return I integrate QGIS in my workflows. Effectively following "Eating your own dog food" principles.

I also advocate for greater diversity within the fields of geomatics and open source.

Christopher J. Seeger; PLA, GISP is a Morrill Professor and Extension Specialist in Landscape Architecture and Geospatial Technology at Iowa State University. He leads the ISU Extension and Outreach Indicators Program and is the director of the Data Science for the Public Good Young Scholars Program. Professor Seeger specializes in the integration of geospatial technologies, collaborative design technologies, crowd-sourcing (Public Participation GIS and Volunteered Geographic Information) and data visualization to develop local current datasets and indicators that can be used in the community planning and design process.

Studied surveyor who quickly drifted into GI. After some stops in the public administration as devloper and solutions architect I'm docked at OPENGIS.ch for some years now.

I'm fascinated of the space between the worlds - Translation between different standards and software. And as far as I can forsee it, its a never ending story.

I am a swiss senior developer at OPENGIS.ch and there I work as QGIS core commiter and main responsible for INTERLIS solutions and the Model Baker plugin. I am passionate about developing innovative ideas, learning new technologies and finding solutions to challenging problems.

Geospatial expert with scientific and industrial experience and a passion for open-source GIS. An active member of the QGIS community, serving as a translations coordinator, plugins developer, and event organizer. Currently contributing to building the geospatial stack at NextGIS OÜ as a Head of International Business Development. My favorite aspect of GIS work is geographic modeling and addressing environmental challenges.

Eemil is a geographer & software developer working on open source GIS at Gispo.

Working as Product Owner at the IT-department of National Land Survey. Interested in OS, agile development, maps, data modelling and data flows.

Emmanuel Belo is an independent GIS enthusiast and former head of Camptocamp’s Geospatial Solutions Business Unit and management board member. With more than 20 years of experience in open-source geospatial technologies, he explores the intersection of GIS, software development, cloud infrastructure and applied AI. He is also the creator of qfit, a QGIS plugin for importing, visualizing and publishing fitness activity data.

Currently working at Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) as a research and developement engineer. My primary responsabilities are developing new features for building energy modeling software, using building energy models for research projects and contributing to the developement of the National Building Database (BDNB). I completed a European masters in Renewable Energy (EUREC) in 2013 and a Phd in Processes and Energy Systems (PERSEE Mines ParisTech) in 2018 related to optimization algorithms applied to electrical grids with a high renewable energy penetration.

Colombian Environmental Administrator and GIS specialist focused on biodiversity conservation. She uses GIS, drone mapping, and spatial analysis to support environmental planning, conservation, sustainable decision-making, and environmental education, helping connect communities with nature through geospatial technologies.

Gerhard Andrey (50) is a trained carpenter, wood engineer and postgraduate computer scientist.
He is co-founder of the digital agency Liip, with around 200 employees in six locations in Switzerland. Together with the musician Gustav, he founded the Akademie für aktuelle Musik Schweiz, which is dedicated to the extracurricular promotion of young talent in this field and which he now chairs. He is, among other things, President of the International Film Festival Fribourg (FIFF) and a member of the Board of Trustees of Seedcapital Fribourg and Applico.
Since 2019, Gerhard Andrey has been a member of the National Council of the Green Party of Fribourg. In 2023, he was officially nominated as candidate for the Federal Council. He is a member of the National Council's Finance and Security Policy Committees. He is politically committed in particular to more digital sovereignty and a sustainable finance sector.

Hans van der Kwast is Associate Professor of Open Science and Digital Innovation at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. Through the GIS OpenCourseWare platform and his popular YouTube channel he shares free tutorials. He is a board member of the Dutch QGIS Users Association and has his own consultancy QWAST-GIS. He co-authored the book QGIS for Hydrological Applications with Locate Press.

Originally trained as a surveyor in the early 1990s, Hans-Jörg began his professional career in the GIS industry. After 12 years in the private sector, he accepted a post as a GIS professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland. In 2016, he returned to the business world, initially working in administration, and since 2025 he has headed the GIS department at GEOTEST in Zollikofen, near Bern.
He is one of those increasingly rare individuals who entered the world of work at a time when personal email did not yet exist, when installing Oracle for spatial data took around three hours using nearly 30 1.44MB floppy discs, and nobody owned a mobile phone. A laptop cost at least 10,000. Google and smartphones were unknown, and a 21-inch monitor weighed between 35 and 45 kg. The term ‘open source’ referred to an open watercourse in the Alps, and Apple lost around 816 million US dollars in a single financial year which led many analysts to consider bankruptcy or a takeover a distinct possibility. Social media was at that time considered to enjoy listening together to a radio station or watching tv together. After all, it was a really great time.

QGIS Documentation Writer

Helga Gansone is a cartographer at EU Temporalis with 2.5 years of experience supporting bird monitoring projects through geospatial workflows. She uses QGIS and Mergin Maps to design practical solutions for field data collection, management, and visualization, and work with collected data to create maps that support fieldwork and analysis.

I am a Project Manager at SmartSim GmbH, working in the energy sector since 2017. My work focuses on implementing simulation projects at grid operators, with recent emphasis on using QGIS for spatial analysis and model development. I hold an M.Sc. in mechanical engineering and am particularly interested in open-source technologies, programming (Python and Go), and the energy transition.

She graduated in Forestry Science at the University of Florence in Italy. She is a GIS specialist. She works in spatial planning and environmental Impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment. She worked on the cartographic part of the Tuscan Landscape Plan. From this work the "Landscape Identity Map of Tuscany" had a Honorable Mention at the 41a Map Competition CaGIS in 2013. She has made research with University of Florence - Urban Planning and Territorial Planning Departiment. She has a Master Degree in Gender City: Methods and techniques for urban and regional planning and design.

Immo Blecher has been working with QGIS for many years, mainly mapping on geological and hydrogeological projects in South Africa and Africa, but also developed an open-source water management software with QGIS interaction called Aquabase. He is now working for the Mobilfunkinfrastrukturgesellschaft in Naumburg (Saale), Germany, mapping mobile infrastructure development projects in QGIS and ArcGIS.

I am a Project Manager at SmartSim GmbH, working in the energy sector since 2020. My work focuses on implementing our gas quality tracking software, SmartSim, for grid operators. I am also a regular QGIS user, setting up grid operators’ network models for simulations. I hold an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and I am increasingly exploring the world of GIS!

Team lead Consulting at OPENGIS.ch

Isabelle Korsch is a mathematician and is working at WhereGroup in Berlin since 2022. She is mainly involved in the development of QGIS Python plugins. She is also a trainer at FOSS Academy (https://www.foss-academy.com).

Free software user, developer, and enthusiast since the previous century. Over
the years, Ivan has been involved in multiple geospatial software communities
and helped deploy their software across both hemispheres. These days, he helps
people build, deploy, and run software with Nix and NixOS.

PhD candidate in Polar Sciences at Ca' Foscari University of Venice

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Software Developer at Lutra Consulting and Associate Professor at the Institute of Geoinformatics, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. Focuses on OSS development. QGIS contributor, QGIS plugins author - LoS tools (Visibility Analysis), Bivariate Renderer, QMapshaper (QGIS-Mapshaper integration).

Jean Felder is an image and data processing engineer who joined Oslandia in 2022 to work on open-source GIS tools. He is a regular contributor to QGIS core, focusing on 3D, QGIS Server and geometry, and also contributes to PostGIS.

Starting out as a geologist, I moved into GIS and am now part of the GIS team of the Swiss Confederation, where I am developing my skills in (geospatial) infrastructure and platform technologies.

Johannes Kanonier is Head of the Geoinformation Department at the Vorarlberg State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation. For over 20 years now, open data and the use of open technologies have been a key focus of the department.

Working as support of QField and QFieldCloud at OPENGIS.ch

Joona is a Geospatial Software Consultant and open source enthusiast with a special interest in QGIS and QField plugin development tools. He has been part of the development team behind the Finnish Topological Database Management System and has contributed to numerous other QGIS plugins over the years.

He is also one of the main developers of pytest-qgis, pytest-qfield, flake8-qgis, qgis-plugin-dev-tools, qgis-plugin-copier-template and qgis_plugin_tools.

Juan Gomez Luna is a GIS architect with four decades of experience building large-scale geospatial systems. As CEO of Geospatialis, he focuses on cloud-native GIS solutions based on QGIS and PostGIS. His work spans government, utilities, and international organizations, where he designs production-ready platforms for managing and analyzing spatial data at scale.

Cartographer turned geomatics specialist, I discovered the open-source world in 2012. Passionate about QGIS and PostGIS, I enjoy finding efficient ways to simplify mapping workflows and sharing my knowledge through training, presentations, and consulting.

Karel Dieussaert is a Solution Architect and GIS Consultant at GeoSquare Belgium, with a background in Bioscience Engineering from KU Leuven. He is passionate about geospatial technology and enjoys finding practical solutions to complex spatial challenges.

His work covers a broad range of GIS topics, from solution architecture and spatial data integration to automation and open-source technologies. Karel is the creator and driving force behind BRDR, an open-source solution for automated geometry alignment, bringing together his interest in spatial data, algorithms and real-world GIS challenges.

Worked for many years with open source solutions in the public sector. Also char of the Swedish QGIS user group.

A Landscape technician with extensive experience in GIS applications for forestry and environmental management. With a background in teaching QGIS at Skovskolen, there is a strong focus on making spatial data accessible to all.

For the past tree years, the work at the Danish Nature Agency has centered on customizing QGIS for forestry operations and environmental protection. With a passion for usability and open-source GIS solutions, the specialization lies in bridging the gap between complex spatial data and practical use.

Kurt is a spatial analyst, cartographer, teacher, and author with a career-long focus on conservation GIS. Over the past 30 years, he has worked with most of the conservation non-profits in the western U.S. and is an expert in modeling wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors. After running a successful conservation GIS consulting business based in New Mexico, Kurt moved to Denmark in 2021 and now works for Septima, Denmark's largest open-source geospatial firm. He is a prominent open-source GIS advocate and has authored 11 QGIS books. He was elected an OSGeo Charter Member in 2015 and serves on the board of the Superior Bio-Conservancy.

Design researcher with a background in architectural practice, now focused on GIS, geospatial analysis, and spatial sensing in the built environment.
Master of Design Studies candidate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design ('27); currently conducting joint research with the MIT Senseable City Lab.

Landscape architect based in Florence, who has collaborated for years with the INLAND studio, carrying out professional and applied research activities in the field of landscape design, with a particular focus on the use of QGIS applied to environmental and landscape management

Lorenz Hurni is Professor of Cartography at ETH Zurich and also conducts research into tools for the production of printed and multimedia maps. He is editor-in-chief of the Atlas of Switzerland and the Swiss World Atlas.

Loris Hubler studied Geography in Bern and Zurich and holds a Master's degree in Geoinformation Science (GIScience). He is a DevOps GIS engineer in the GIS team of the Canton of Basel-Stadt.

Lova is a geographer who has used QGIS since his university years, applying it throughout his academic research. Since October 2023, he has served as QGIS Web infrastructure maintainer, and in February 2026 he was elected as a Community voting member.

Marco Bernasocchi is an open-source advocate, entrepreneur and full-stack geoninja. He is the creator of QField for QGIS, currently serves as QGIS.org Chair, and is an Open Source Geospatial Foundation board member. In his day job, Marco is the CEO of OPENGIS.ch, which he founded in 2011.

A geographer by trade, Marco lives in a small Romansh-speaking mountain village in Switzerland, where he loves scrambling around the mountains to enjoy the feeling of freedom it gives him. Outgoing, flexible and open-minded, Marco fluently speaks five languages. The best thing is: He not only knows how to say it but also loves sharing his know-how.

Environmental engineer and co-founder of SoftWater. His work focuses on data science and software development (Python, SQL), with a strong emphasis on geospatial applications, visual analytics platforms, and spatial data infrastructures. He has extensive experience in designing and developing geoportals and decision-support systems, particularly in water resources management and planning.

Admin assistant at QGIS

Working to make the world a better place by helping QGIS' team work more efficiently. In a previous life, I spent 15 years working in travel/b2b marketing before having an existential crisis and choosing to use my skills to do something more useful. Often found walking on wild beaches, taking pictures, or dancing.

GIS Specialist at Geotest AG, working with geospatial data to support analysis and decision-making in engineering and environmental projects.

Marios S. Kyriakou (M.Sc.) is a Senior Software Engineer at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, University of Cyprus, since September 2025. He previously served as a Software Engineer (2014–2025) and a Researcher (2011–2014). He holds a B.Sc. (2012) and an M.Sc. (2014) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cyprus.

His expertise lies in smart water systems, digital twins, IoT, and open-source research software. He has worked with different teams, focusing on smart water, power, GIS, and emergency management. He has led the development of widely used tools like the EPANET-MATLAB Toolkit, EPANET-Python Toolkit (EPyT), and 15 open-source smart apps with over 800,000 downloads. He has led the technical part of Smart Water Team Innovation Hub projects, such as the Oceanos and Zenon Digital Twin platforms for water utilities and wastewater in Cyprus, and was a member of the core team that developed the national COVID-19 Information Management System.

His contributions have been recognized with the Water Europe Digital Water Award (2024) for PathoINVEST and the Best Paper Award at IJCAI (2024) for EPyT-Flow. He is the founder and chair of the QGIS Cyprus community (https://cyprus.qgis.org/), serves on the KIOS Open Science Committee, and is a member of ETEK.

I'm a Data Engineer and GIS Analyst at GEOTEST AG in Switzerland, where I build geospatial data pipelines and QGIS/QField workflows for natural hazard assessment and geotechnical fieldwork, backed by PostgreSQL/PostGIS. I came to GIS from development economics and impact evaluation, after working in data analytics on public infrastructure and development projects, including at the World Bank. Today I also share that experience by teaching a GIS course at Toulouse School of Economics.

Got into QGIS development back in 2005 and stayed since then! Working at Lutra Consulting, delivering open source GIS to clients and helping open source GIS ecosystem to grow.

Martin has been a QGIS core developer for 20+ years and chaired QGIS User Conference 2024 in Slovakia. Working at Lutra Consulting, he has been adding new functionality (and bugs) to QGIS with his team and improving the ecosystem around QGIS.

Mathieu Pellerin is the QField lead developer and project owner over at OPENGIS.ch as well as a QGIS core developer. While starting mainly focused on user interface improvements, Mathieu has over the year touched on many parts of QGIS from symbology to data providers and the processing toolbox.

Matt has 25+ years’ experience collating, analysing and presenting spatial data to deliver the actionable information. He runs the geo-spatial consultancy Maplango.com and the on-demand QGIS training & resources hub Spatialsesh.com.

He works with consultancies, land managers and governmental organisations to create the spatial evidence and analysis needed to target resource allocation, improve land management, and make informed policy & strategic decisions. He has extensive and in-depth experience on ecological, green infrastructure, landscape, ecosystem services and estate management projects. He also loves to build capacity and has trained thousands of delegates in the ecology and landscape professions to use QGIS with confidence.

Matthew Toro is a broadly trained geographer and the Director of Maps, Imagery, and Geospatial Services at Arizona State University Library in Tempe, Arizona. He founded and leads the Map and Geospatial Hub, a hybrid map library and GIS center that supports teaching, research, public engagement, and geospatial project work across the university. His work sits at the intersection of geography, cartography, spatial data, visualization, and map collections, with a growing interest in workflows that translate geographic data into interactive and tangible forms.

Matthias is a project manager at SmartSim GmbH, a company specializing in gas quality tracking in grids where gases of different qualities are mixed. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and focuses on automating workflows in QGIS for constructing graph-based models for flow simulations.

Passionate about exploring different (snowy) mountain ranges of the world. He manages a variety of projects incorporating remote avalanche control systems and avalanche detection systems with a focus on digitizing and improving local avalanche operations or other operations focussing on natural hazards.

• Full stack GeoNinja @ OPENGIS.ch
• Web cartography teacher @ Baugewerbliche Berufsschule Zürich
• @boardend on GitHub

QGIS and PostgreSQL lover for 20 years
Co-inventor of Lizmap Web Client.

I live in Montpellier, France and love tennis 🎾 and hiking 🥾
I work for 3Liz company

GIS-consultant at Septima and chairman of the Danish QGIS User Group. I teach a lot of QGIS courses and manage some of our Septima plugins. I contribute to the QGIS-project with the Danish translation of QGIS, writing blogs about QGIS and I have developed the 'Move to Top'-functionality in the layer panel.

Database Administrator & GIS & Data Visualization
Information Management at UNOCHA

I am a Municipal Treasury Auditor and Geographer specializing in fiscal intelligence and real estate taxation. As an OSGeo Charter Member and founding member of OSGeo Brazil, I currently coordinate the QGIS Brazil User Group, leading software localization and community support for the Lusophone world. Having served on the Organizing Committee for FOSS4G 2024 Belém, I focus on the strategic implementation of open-source geospatial tools within public administration to achieve data sovereignty and technical efficiency in urban management.

Nika manages and supports researchers working with African tropical forest data to assess the changing ecology and carbon balance in the Congo Basin. Her work focuses on data management, cleaning, and quality control, with experience in training collaborators in best practices. Currently, she is working to transition the global network of collaborators from paper-based practices to digital workflows and automate manual processes.

Nimrod Gavish is a Geospatial Data Analyst and Software Engineer with more than 8 years in the open-source GIS space. He is currently working at the WhereGroup GmbH as a QGIS Consultant/Developer, specializing in QGIS application and plugin development.

Geographer and environmental engineer with a passion for geodata and the development of robust, open-source infrastructures for geospatial web applications.

Paolo Molini is Head of GIS and Mapping at Iren Ambiente, part of the Iren Group, one of the largest multi-utilities in Italy.
He has over ten years of experience in developing GIS tools to support waste collection services, with a strong focus on service design, operational optimisation, and effective data visualisation for both internal departments and external stakeholders.
At QGIS User Conference 2026, he will present an in-house developed QGIS plugin that enables the efficient calculation of operational parameters for waste collection services from vehicle GPS tracks, achieving an 80% reduction in analysis time compared to previous manual workflows.
In his spare time, you can find him exploring nature, by foot or with a drone.

Diploma (1992) and PhD (1999) in Geography in Bern, Switzerland
Scientific collaborator at Geo7, Geowissenschaftliches Büro, Switzerland (1990 - 2000)
Head of GIS Group at Office for Water and Waste, Canton Bern, Switzerland (2000 - 2010)
Project leader Geodata Warehouse FSDI, swisstopo (2011 - 2015)
Deputy Head of Geodata systems development and operation, swisstopo, Switzerland (since 2016)

Pekka Sarkola has over 30 years of experience in building GIS solutions. He began his career at the National Land Survey of Finland, spending several years working with closed-source GIS software before transitioning to actively using FOSS4G software in 2012.

Pekka is the founder of Gispo companies in Finland (Gispo Suomi Oy) and Sweden (Gispo Sverige AB). He currently works as a senior GIS expert, focusing primarily on Enterprise GIS solutions and GIS database design and modeling. Pekka has worked in numerous GIS domain areas, including forestry, topographic data management, aviation, defense, telecommunications, and city planning.

As a volunteer, Pekka is a founder member of OSGeo Suomi ry (the local chapter of the OSGeo Foundation in Finland) and has organized FOSS4G Suomi (most recently in 2025). He is also a Charter Member of the OSGeo Foundation and the president of OSGeo Suomi ry. Furthermore, he is a co-organizer of the Helsinki PostgreSQL meetup and an active neighborhood OpenStreetMap mapper.

Peter Gipper is a geoscientist and has been part of the WhereGroup team since 2019, working as a GIS consultant and developer. He specializes in QGIS plugin development, which is also his main area of interest.

COFT-Team

QGIS Enthusiast and Sailor

Pierre Cothereau holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from ETH Zurich, with a focus on forest and landscape management. He has extensive experience in public administration, having worked as a GIS and forest planning specialist for the cantonal authorities of Solothurn and Fribourg in Switzerland. He is currently employed as a geo-IT specialist at Grün Stadt Zürich. In a twist of fate fitting for this QGIS conference, he was awarded the ESRI Young Scholar Award in 2016 for developing a LiDAR classification tool. He is now successfully applying his expertise in the field of vector-based, mobile field mapping with QField.

Timothée Produit, an environmental engineer graduated from EPFL and holder of a PhD in geoinformatics, is passionate about GIS, geodata, spatial analysis, and concrete, real-world projects. He moves seamlessly between research, development, and technical project management, with a strong interest in innovative solutions, particularly in the fields of GIS and geodata science.

He has contributed to a wide range of projects, from water network simulation platforms to participatory 3D tools for enhancing historical photographs. He enjoys turning complex ideas into practical and useful tools.

Outside of work, Timothée is a keen outdoor sports enthusiast: skiing, paragliding, ultra-cycling, and long-distance bike travel.

Raymond has been working as a freelancer in GIS for over 15 years. He's an open source enthusiast, a long term QGIS contributor and the president of the Dutch QGIS User Group.

3Liz founder, QGIS user, QGIS Server contributor, and Lizmap developer

I have been working for the Canton of Schaffhausen for 20 years and am responsible for the cantonal geodata infrastructure. Over the years, we have discovered the advantages of open source. We are strongly engaged and appreciate the inspiring exchange within the community, which has repeatedly produced great ideas and open source tools.

20 years experience in telecommunication & it
5 years experience in GIS informatics engineering

Saber is co-founder of Lutra Consulting, a major contributor to QGIS.

Sadık Tuğrul is an archaeologist specializing in funerary archaeology, burial practices, and the spatial organisation of past societies. He holds MA and PhD degrees in Classical Archaeology and has taken part in several archaeological projects, including Antiocheia ad Cragum, Hadrianoupolis, and Parion. Since 2011, he has been involved in the excavations at Parion, where his research combines archaeological field data with spatial and contextual analysis to better understand urban structure, mortuary landscapes, and patterns of continuity and change in the Roman world.

COFT Team

Dr. Sebastian Giersch (He/Him) is a software developer and meteorologist with a strong background in computational science, high-performance computing, and numerical modeling. He holds a PhD in Meteorology (2023) from Leibniz Universität Hannover, where he investigated dust devil-like vortices in convective boundary layers using large-eddy simulations, direct numerical simulations, and laboratory experiments at the Barrel of Ilmenau. His research combined numerical modeling and experimental studies to better understand the structure, development, and maintenance of turbulent atmospheric vortices.

During his univeristy carreer, he contributed to the development of the PALM model system for turbulence-resolving simulations, supported teaching and international workshops, and instructed scientists and students in advanced modeling techniques.

Following his PhD, Sebastian shifted his focus to software development and joined EBP Deutschland GmbH in May 2024. He specializes in developing and managing geospatial workflows and in building custom, data-driven software with meteorological applications, covering both backend and frontend development.

Sebastian has extensive programming experience in Fortran, Java, and Python, with a strong emphasis on reproducible, automated, and scalable computational workflows.. He values collaboration, clear communication, and knowledge sharing, and is passionate about combining scientific rigor with practical software solutions.

Selma is a geographer turned GIS analyst turned QGIS documentation writer. She is based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in geography, specializing in regional and urban spatial planning, from the University of Sarajevo, where she first used QGIS. She worked as a GIS analyst, mostly with proprietary software, before moving to open source GIS. Since July 2023 she has been a QGIS documentation writer.

Master of Science in Geography at University of Zurich
GIS-Analyst at Departement of Defense
GIS-Manager at Canton Basel-Stadt
GIS-Coordinator at swisstopo

Stefan Keller is Full Professor and Head of the Geometa Lab at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) in Rapperswil, Switzerland. He teaches Data Engineering, Database Systems, Data Analytics, and Geographic Information Systems Technology (GISTech). His research and development activities focus on geospatial data engineering, open source software, open data, and spatial databases. He is an active member of several professional communities, including the Swiss PostgreSQL Users Group and the Swiss OpenStreetMap Association.

Studied survey engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. My love for QGIS and open source drove me from gis power user to QGIS core developer. I now work as a software developer for Lutra Consulting ltd, squashing bugs and bringing new features to the best gis platform out there.

Dr. Sultan Al Sultan, leading an era of open-source Geospatial Technology Software in Saudi Arabia, Tokyo Institute of Technology PhD, a senior researcher at NASA, USGS, and has been a researcher in JAXA, RESTEC-Japan. he graduate from MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and previously from George Washington University, USA. He represented Univeristy Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC) for Saudi Arabia Universities. He is Saudi Arabia Parliament Member 2013-2017. Today he is the Founder and CEO of Environmental Remote Sensing Lab (TECRS-Lab).

Teemu works as a cartographer and project manager at the National Land Survey of Finland. His primary focus is the development and modernization of map products and automated cartographic generalization. He has more than 10 years of experience with open-source geospatial technologies, with a particular interest in topographic data and topographic mapping.

I have recently started my Master's degree in Geoinformatics engineering at Politecnico di Milano. I have experience in spatial data analysis, urban planning and environmental GIS applications. I am currently doing freelance GIS consultancy and QGIS tutoring.

Tim Sutton has been involved in QGIS since shortly after its first release in 2002, writing part of the early desktop application and now focusing on the project's infrastructure, documentation, and community. He is a former Chair of QGIS.org and has been an Honorary QGIS PSC Member since 2018, as well as an OSGeo charter member and current OSGeo board director. In 2014 he co-founded Kartoza, where his work centres on humanitarian and environmental projects. He lives and works remotely from a smallholding in the Alentejo, Portugal.

Looking forward to the exchange in Laax! :)

Developer and designer with a strong inclination for the humanities, I resumed my studies in archaeology a few years ago to offer my skills to research and culture.

Viktor holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Stockholm University and has several years of experience in municipal work within GIS, digitalization, and urban planning. He has led the development of digital processes within urban planning, GIS‑based analysis and visualization, and worked strategically with FME solutions and AI‑supported tools. He currently works as a consultant in GIS, geodata, and FME at Sweco.

Vincent has been involved in OpenSource geospatial for the last 20 years. Initially an applied mathematics engineers, he founded Oslandia in 2009, focusing on OpenSource software for the geospatial industry : PostGIS Experts, QGIS core contributors, GIS platforms… Oslandia is now a key player in the FOSS4G industry. Vincent is now president at Oslandia, dedicated to communication, partnership and strategy.

İdil Malgil is an architect and digital heritage specialist focusing on spatial analysis and landscape archaeology. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Istanbul Technical University in 2014 and completed her Master’s degree in Historic Preservation at Pratt Institute. She has participated in several major archaeological projects in Türkiye, including Assos, Pergamon, Aphrodisias, and Karahantepe.

She currently serves as the lead documentation expert for the Parion excavations, where she specialises in the integration of remote sensing technologies and GIS-based analysis for archaeological research. She is also a PhD candidate in Archaeology at HSE University, within the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies. Her doctoral research, titled “Spatial Organisation and Urbanism of Parion Following the Roman Presence: Remote Sensing and Digital Methods,” focuses on reconstructing urban and landscape organisation through LiDAR, GPR and GIS-based methodologies.