52°North Spatial Information Research GmbH

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Spatio-Temporal Data Science

Spatio-Temporal Data Science

Modeling and statistical analysis of geospatial and spatio-temporal data

We explore data to better understand and model spatial and spatio-temporal processes surrounding us on a daily basis. Thus, providing new insights of impacts to improve our understanding of the world and to foster a sustainable way of interaction with our planet.

Research topics

The Spatio-Temporal Data Science Lab addresses the following research topics

Spatio-temporal Statistics

  • copulas in spatial statistics, as used in e.g.
  • uncertainties in observations and models in space and time
  • meaningful spatial and spatio-temporal statistics

Spatio-temporal Data Mining

  • classification, pattern recognition and clustering
  • spatio-temporal data fusion

Spatio-temporal Data Analytics

  • data intensiveness
  • scalability
  • streamability

Research Labs

Innovation and Applied Research

Open Labs @ 52°North

The 52°North Open Labs are a means to temporarily focus R & D activities on a set of research topics of special interest. These Open Labs are initiated and managed by 52°North staff. They are  equipped with dedicated resources from 52°North and committed partners (staff, technical infrastructure). This organizational setup ensures a high level of commitment, goal-driven research and thus quick results.

  • Thematic focus and related R&D activities of the 52°North GmbH
  • Cross-linked with objectives and activities of the communities
  • Initiated and managed by 52°North
Geospatial Sensing

Sensor Web

Sharing, visualizing, and analyzing observation data

Efficient Processing of Geospatial Infotmation

Geoprocessing

Developing, distributing and integrating geoprocessing tools

Spatio-Temporal Data Analytics

Spatio-Temporal Data Science

Modeling and statistical analysis of geospatial and spatio-temporal data.

Success stories

Implementing Geoprocessing

The methods and tools we develop are successfully applied in various projects and use cases. Some of the success stories are listed below.

Interoperable Geoprocessing in the Web

The 52°North Web Processing Service implementation is one of the official reference implementations of the OGC Web Processing Service. It is widely used and has been part of various OGC Testbeds.

In OGC Testbed 12 we have implemented WPSs for conflation of road datasets and for asynchronous delivery of spatial information. Furthermore, we have specified a Geoprocessing REST API that is currently being worked on in the WPS Standards Working Group to become part of the WPS specification.

In OGC Testbed 13, we are currently evaluating workflow description languages and implement several WPSs that are composed to a geoprocessing workflow and can be automatically executed in an workflow engine.

Geoprocessing for water dam monitoring

52°North has implemented several time series analysis and spatial interpolation functionality in R and wrapped these as well as a complex run-off model in WPSs for an easy and flexible integration in a Web based water dam monitoring system. A publication in the International Journal of Digital Earth describes the approach in detail.

Geoprocessing for traffic monitoring

enviroCar is an open platform for collecting and analyzing car driven tracks. The collected tracks consist of GPS positions enriched with additional sensor information by utilizing the vehicle’s inertial diagnostic capabilities. Based on the sensor information, fuel consumption and  CO2 emissions are estimated for petrol cars. Users have full control on their collected tracks and can share them in an anonymized fashion via an open API. Various analysis tools support the exploration of the data, e.g. in map-based views or time-series charts. In particular, we have  developed a Web Processing Service that allows to extract stops at points of interest. Further more sophisticated analysis tools are currently  being developed, e.g. a tool for automated map matching to OSM street segments.