SODAS Lecture with Martin Fleischmann

Title: Spatial data in the open

Abstract: How does a researcher become known for their open source efforts? As a by-product. Like I had. In this talk, I will share how I (sort of) became a software developer even though I never intended to, how that shaped my career and research, and what came out of it during that time. We'll jump back in time to meet Martin, who had no clue how to write a line of Python code and how he was going to do what he promised in his PhD proposal. We'll walk with him, see his rookie mistakes and first (software) babies. We'll watch all the coincidences that happened and how he (by mistake!) became responsible for core components of spatial data handling in Python. Surprisingly, there were also some research outputs alongside, so we'll make sure to cover them and their relation to all the mistakes and coincidences, flying through the years to the present day, watching his hair getting greyer. Along this journey, I'll share with you my love of open science (and where it went wrong), cities and their structure (that is the research part), and a peek under the hood of scientific software development.