Solutions Archive - 52°North Spatial Information Research GmbH

November 18, 2025

The Weather Routing Tool – Documentation Online

Reducing energy consumption in maritime navigation

The Weather Routing Tool (WRT) is an open-source Python library developed by 52°North for calculating optimal maritime routes. Its development began under the MariData project (funded by BMWE) and is currently continuing as part of the EU TwinShip project. WRT’s primary objective is to minimize fuel consumption in the shipping industry by using environmental data to help route vessels. This data includes various meteorological parameters, such as wind and wave conditions, as well as water depth information.

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Volkswagen GeoNet Analysis

Analytics for Driving Automation Systems Service Areas

The analysis toolbox will help Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles provide data for their Automated Driving Systems.

The Operational Design Domain describes the conditions under which a driving automation system is designed to operate. This includes environmental and geographic information as well as the required presence or absence of certain traffic or roadway characteristics. At Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, a dedicated team defines such boundary conditions for the development and testing process. This allows the team to evaluate potential service areas for Mobility as a Service applications. Based on our expertise in geospatial data analysis and efficient processing of large volumes of geodata, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles contracted 52°North to develop a toolbox that enables the automatic derivation of these characteristics from available spatial datasets. Based on these characteristics, an annotated topological road network is generated that allows routing according to specific conditions.

The content-rich road network data provided by Open Street Map builds the foundation for the analysis toolbox. It enables the derivation of basic properties, such as the distribution of road types and street furniture, speed limits or number of lanes for a given area of interest. The toolbox also supports complex analysis capabilities, such as statistics on curve radius, the intersection impact angle, or intersection complexity. The system combines multiple analysis concepts:

Basic analysis using the Python library osmnx
Complex statistics using osmnx in combination with a PostGIS database
Enrichment with third-party data sets (e.g. traffic signs)

During 2024, the team focused on creating the annotated topological road network, the “GeoNet”. A broad range of parameters from the Operational Design Domain taxonomy were used in the annotation process. This included the previously developed complex analysis features, such as curve radius or visibility range. In addition, we developed a visualization component based on the Open Pioneer Trails framework to provide a sophisticated rendering of the generated GeoNet.

Analytics for Driving Automation Systems Service Areas — A visualization of the GeoNet within the Trails-based viewer component

Customer

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles ADMT, Germany

September 9, 2025

OGC API – Connected Systems Standard Published

We’re excited to announce that the Open Geospatial Consortium has officially published OGC API – Connected Systems!

52°North has a long tradition in developing OGC standards. We are committed to advancing geospatial interoperability, evident through significant contributions to several, past, key specifications, such as

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Web-based Agricultural Information System (WebAIS) for Bangladesh

Web-based Agricultural Water Management Information System

Improving water management in Bangladesh in times of climate change impacts

Agriculture is vital to Bangladesh’s economy, with irrigation playing a crucial role in food production. Despite a significant increase in irrigation coverage from 3.4 million hectares in 2000 to 5.4 million hectares in 2013, unregulated groundwater extraction has led to declining groundwater levels, crippled irrigation systems and increasing water scarcity. These challenges, coupled with climate change, underscore the need for sustainable water management. Web-AIS aims to integrate hydrological, crop, and climate models to provide real-time, data-driven solutions. Linked to the Bangladesh Agro-meteorological Information System (BAMIS), it will guide irrigation decisions, promote efficient use of surface water, and help address salinity issues. The overall goal of the project is to ensure food security by improving decision-making and supporting sustainable development while mitigating disaster risks.

Web-based Agricultural Information System (WebAIS) for Bangladesh — Web-AIS within the overall context

52°North’s main task is to implement a web-based information system that acts as a decision support system for all stakeholders. This system is the central link and interface of the Web-AIS project to the local stakeholders and will include the products and results of all project partners. The system provides access to relevant information on the current situation regarding irrigation management techniques, information on available water balance, crop water demand, irrigation schedule and also early warning in case of drought or other extreme events that may affect the irrigation activities. The spatial data infrastructure (SDI) block forms the core of the architecture. This comprises various OGC API web services, such as OGC API – Features, OGC API – Records or OGC API – Processes. Our team will use open-source implementations of the various OGC API standards to realize the architecture. The concept of OGC API – Building Blocks allows the different forms of OGC APIs to be combined into one comprehensive, standardized API. This approach is intended to create a gateway that serves as an access point for client applications. We will develop a web-based front-end application using Open Pioneer Trails as the centerpiece of the web information system.

Web-based Agricultural Information System for Bangladesh — Web-AIS data platform architecture

Partners

TH Köln: Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Germany

TU Darmstadt: Institute of Applied Geoscience, Germany

University of Bonn: Institute of Crop science and Resource Conservation, Germany

Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology: Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg

Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh

Institute of Water and Flood Management, Bangladesh

Dhaka University: Department of Geology, Bangladesh

Institute of Water Modeling, Bangladesh

Sreejon Investment and Consultant Ltd., Bangladesh