Rico Richter
Postdoc Researcher
Universität Potsdam / Hasso-Plattner-Institut
About the Speaker
Dr. Rico Richter studierte IT-Systems Engineering am Hasso-Plattner-Institut in Potsdam und promovierte am Fachgebiet Computergrafische Systeme zum Thema „Analyse und Visualisierung großer 3D-Punktwolken“. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen im Bereich künstliche Intelligenz für 3D-Daten, 3D-Rendering, digitale Zwillinge sowie der Entwicklung von Softwaresystemen zur Verwaltung und Nutzung von 3D-Punktwolken. Er ist Autor von mehr als 70 internationalen Fachzeitschriften- und Konferenzbeiträgen im Bereich 3D-Punktwolken. Er leitet eine KI-Forschungsgruppe an der Digital-Engineering-Fakultät der Universität Potsdam.
Matchmaking Information
Attending
Speaker's Sessions (1)
Date
Exhibitor event
Visualisierung / GIS / Mobile Mapping
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2026
2:40 PM - 3:00 PM | Europe/Berlin
Vortrag // Presentation
B5 | Main Stage | B5L033
English
From Maps to Feature Spaces: New Ways to Understand Geospatial Data
Geospatial data is not only about coordinates. With LiDAR, remote sensing, sensor networks, digital twins, IoT, and AI-based processing pipelines, geographic objects are increasingly described by rich sets of attributes: height, shape, condition, context, similarity, uncertainty to name a few. These attributes form high-dimensional feature spaces — the same conceptual space in which many AI models represent and compare objects. This talk explores how such feature spaces can become accessible for geospatial analysis. Instead of looking only at where objects are located on a map, we ask: Which objects are similar? Which ones are unusual? Which spatial patterns only become visible when thematic, structural, and analytical attributes are considered together? Using examples from multivariate geospatial data, including urban tree inventories derived from mobile mapping and LiDAR, the talk introduces an interactive visual analytics perspective in which geospatial objects can be rearranged according to selected features, similarity relations, and spatial criteria. The aim is not to replace maps, but to complement them: by moving between geographic space and feature space, analysts can discover latent groups, outliers, correlations, and AI-relevant patterns that remain hidden in conventional map views. The talk invites GIS professionals, researchers, and decision-makers to rethink geospatial visualization as an interface between maps, data science, and AI-assisted spatial understanding.

