Themes for Theses

Below, I offer several topics, information, and inspiration for potential theses (Bachelor's and Master's) that I could supervise. I particularly like creative combinations of the thematic areas mentioned below. Please contact me, preferably via email (c.willmes@uni-koeln.de), if you are interested.

Otherwise, come to discuss possible theses in my office hours: During the semester, every Wednesday from 2 to 3 PM, or by appointment (via email).

Spatial Analysis

I offer theses on Spatial Analysis for (almost) all thematic areas of geography, such as:

• Network analysis
• Hydrological modeling
• Potential analysis for renewable energies
• Development of classifications based on Open Data
• Advanced methods, e.g., geostatistics applied to human geography questions
• Application of GeoAI (Machine Learning, Deep Learning) algorithms and methods
• (What you are thematically interested in)

Programming / Scripting | Jupyter Notebook | Open Science

I particularly appreciate it when the GIS analyses of the thesis are implemented in Python or R and, ideally, in the form of Jupyter Notebooks. The program code or the Jupyter Notebooks should be made available with the thesis, or published, for example, in a Git repository.

WebGIS | Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) | Cloud-Native Geo

I supervise theses in the field of web-based geographic information systems (WebGIS). The work can be carried out within the framework of the UoCMaps project, but they can also be worked on on topics other than the University of Cologne. Example projects would be:

• WebGIS on a historical event or personality
• Presentation of an interesting dataset (which one might have created based on a spatial analysis)
• Use of new approaches/technologies
• 3D WebGIS
• Mashups (presentation of data from multiple different sources/APIs)

Open GeoData | OSM | Wikidata | Open Science

In the field of Open Data and Data Management, I offer conceptual and practical topics, such as:

• Digitization and cataloging of data (which were not previously available in digital form or in GIS formats)
• Development and application of (spatio-temporal) data models
• Publication of the results of the work in the sense of Open Science

PaleoMaps

PaleoMaps is a project that I developed as part of the SFB 806. It is about the digitization or conversion of paleogeographical data, information, and texts into GIS data formats.

In a potential thesis on the topic of PaleoMaps, you would define a spatio-temporal context, for example, Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and then research available data (paleoclimate data, paleohydrology, paleovegetation, etc.). You will notice that the data are published in very heterogeneous formats and forms (e.g., analog maps or simply written descriptions in the form of text). As part of the thesis, you create a coherent GIS dataset for the defined spatio-temporal context from these sources.

See the following publications on this topic:

• Willmes, C., Becker, D., Verheul, J., Yener, Y., Zickel, M., Bolten, A., Bubenzer, O., Bareth, G. (2016): An Open Science approach to GIS-based paleoenvironment data. ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. III-2, 159-164. DOI: 10.5194/isprs-annals-III-2-159-2016. URL: https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/III-2/159/2016/
• Willmes, C., Becker, D., Verheul, J., Yener, Y., Zickel, M., Bolten, A., Bubenzer, O., Bareth, G. (2017): PaleoMaps: SDI for open paleoenvironmental GIS data. IJSDIR, Vol. 12, 39-61, DOI: 10.2902/1725-0463.2017.12.art3, URL: https://ijsdir.sadl.kuleuven.be/index.php/ijsdir/article/view/431

3D GeoInfo

Within the framework of the Virtual Campus project, but also independently thereof, I offer the supervision of work with and on 3D geoinformation.

• Visualization
• GeoAR / VR / XR
• 3D modeling of buildings
• 3D viewshed analyses (visibility, sound, and RF)
• 3D SDI | WebGIS
• Cloud-Native Geo and 3D Tiles
• SpatialAI & WorldModels, see e.g.: https://spaitial.ai

See the following publications on this topic:

• Shaji, R., Bouveyron, T., and Willmes, C. (2025): 3DTiler: A tool to georeference 3D Models and generate 3D Tiles, Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-4/W15-2025, 157–163, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W15-2025-157-2025
• Willmes, C., Canals, L., Ganser, C., Mennecke, D., Phillipps, F. L., Pietsch, A.-K., Reichenau, T., Reuhl, E., Schildkamp, P., Stempel, M., Wickeroth, D., Wieners, J., and Eide, Ø. (2024): The Technology Stack and System Architecture of the University of Cologne Virtual Campus, Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-4/W11-2024, 153–160, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W11-2024-153-2024

GIS Programming | Geoinformatics

If you are interested in a more methodological thesis or in the practical/programming implementation of an algorithm or GIS analysis workflow, this is also feasible. This also includes the use of open-source tools and programming libraries to solve geoinformatics problems. A current problem I am working on would be, for example, the development of indoor positioning methods for mobile devices based on 3D indoor data (geometry matching), GeoAR (georegistration), sensor fusion, and method fusion approaches.

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