Thoughts on Software and Technology
The fact that individuals that are considered high status in an organization often spend a frightening amount of time in meetings has apparently caused some people to draw the opposite conclusion: In some circles, having a lot of meetings seems to have become a status symbol, a sign that one’s input is valued. This observation... Continue Reading →
Those who are on the quest for wisdom and enlightenment about business life have an enormous array of best-selling books to pick from. Even better, you need to look no further than your LinkedIn timeline, a place full of advice on leadership, management, and decision making. The only catch: Nobody seems to care if these... Continue Reading →
There are many principles and rules out there that offer guidance about good code design. I am generally skeptical about dogmas. Nevertheless, sometimes when I am deep in the trenches I do find it useful to have a rule of thumb to apply to quickly assess whether I'm on the right track. Such a rule... Continue Reading →
In the digital space, putting a price on non-physical goods has been a challenge at least since the rise of the internet. The market mechanisms of the physical world do not translate well because of one simple missing ingredient: Scarcity. A craftsman creating a table can easily put a price tag on that table because... Continue Reading →
Famously, engineers tend to make wrong assumptions about a lot of things: Names and time are two well-known examples. Maps are a rich source of edge cases. Especially when you start dealing with global maps, be prepared: That weird situation you assume does not exist? Somewhere in the world, it does. This article is part... Continue Reading →
In this article, I want to argue that the unique properties of map data make it a particularly interesting target for techniques such as change data capture in which not only the data itself but also the changes to the data become a first-class citizen. This article is part of a series about the specific... Continue Reading →
Like with any kind of data, to fully understand the map data design space, we need to understand both the way it is used from a consumer perspective and the way that it is produced. Understanding the different requirements of producers and consumers leads to a better understanding of the solution space and the design... Continue Reading →
It is well known that countries have diverging views on what their borders ought to look like. However, while working on digital maps, it was surprising to me to see just how much of a global map is up to interpretation. In the following, let us look at some examples of maps that are drawn... Continue Reading →
Map data is an interesting beast. Having worked on it for the last couple of years, I can note that many of the general data processing challenges arise. However, map data also comes with a number of particular features that set it apart. I have split this series into five parts: It's All About Relations.The... Continue Reading →
It may sound like an overly pessimistic assessment of the state of our industry. My intention is not to sound cynical, however, I think we need to be honest with young engineers entering the field of software development: There is a real possibility, that a lot of the code that you will write during your... Continue Reading →
The Solution Space 