Fresh Features at Topoprint: RoundRects, Faster 3D Prints, and Improved Mobile Use

Topoprint now supports creating relief maps as RoundRects (rounded rectangles) alongside traditional disc shapes. Backend optimizations have accelerated 3D model processing significantly: a model that once took up to 10 minutes now completes in less than three minutes, complete with a progress bar update to keep users informed. Additionally, the Topodisc Designer web app has been revamped for...

Fresh Features at Topoprint: RoundRects, Faster 3D Prints, and Improved Mobile Use

Keeping the Lights On While Innovating: Finding the Right Agile Balance

Finding the right balance between Running-the-business (RTB) and Changing-the-business (CTB) can be challenging. This post explains that if RTB tasks are kept to a minimum, Scrum can be effective. However, if those tasks increase, adopting a hybrid or Kanban system can significantly help maintain smooth workflows and achieve operational excellence.

Keeping the Lights On While Innovating: Finding the Right Agile Balance

Creative Connections: "Yes, yes, and..." Meets Rubber Duck Debugging

When someone proposes an idea to you, smile and assure them that you understand (yes ...). Express your enthusiasm about it (... yes ...) with an even bigger smile. Then, offer to enhance and extend their great idea (... and ...). You can compare this creativity technique to rubber duck debugging, but always remember that you should not replace a human with an LLM.

Creative Connections:

Swiss Rooftop Explorer - or how to serve a Low Cost Geo App with no maintenance

The Swiss Rooftop Explorer is a cloud-native web app that retrieves Swiss building roof heights without a GIS server. Using PMTiles, Geoparquet, and DuckDB-WASM, it enables fast, low-maintenance geospatial queries. This post explores the data pipeline and its benefits of cloud-optimized formats, and how static files can replace traditional GIS infrastructure.

Swiss Rooftop Explorer - or how to serve a Low Cost Geo App with no maintenance