From a Simple School Project to Expanding Existing GIS-Capabilities
A Small Educational Project with Unexpected Consequences
As we approach the halfway point of 2026, we find ourselves looking back on a rather unexpected first half of the year:
Following the surprisingly successful development of our second VDI module between New Year's Day and Easter, the present "Bremen City Map" project represents another small milestone in our ongoing business development activities. While it certainly does not mark the beginning of our GIS work, it does represent a welcome return to the field, accompanied by a practical refresh and further expansion of existing skills and applications.
Back in 2022, professional training in ArcGIS Pro and QGIS formed the foundation of a dedicated GIS component within our service portfolio. The resulting knowledge was subsequently integrated into a variety of projects, where GIS-based site analyses complemented our geophysical investigations and served as a spatial extension of our NMR measurements as well as the associated data evaluation and interpretation workflows.
In the years that followed, GIS remained part of our methodological toolbox, although it temporarily moved into the background. The primary focus of our work shifted toward geophysical NMR field surveys, data interpretation, and the development of statistical evaluation methods.
It was only through the present and comparatively simple geography project—conducted as part of an ongoing student tutoring and enrichment program (K3→K12)—that the opportunity arose to engage once again with modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This time, however, the focus extended beyond technical application and included education, knowledge transfer, and professional skills development.
The starting point consisted of several weeks of geography lessons on the topic of urban development with an 11th-grade student. Using a hand-drawn map of the City of Bremen as a template, a digital map model was gradually recreated in QGIS. Administrative boundaries, city districts, labels, color schemes, legends, scales, north arrows, and additional cartographic elements were systematically reproduced and refined within the GIS environment.
The result turned out to be much more than a simple classroom graphic. Instead, it evolved into a flexible GIS project that can easily be expanded and adapted to more advanced questions, such as commuter movement analysis, infrastructure planning, or urban development studies.
Consequently, the project became both a practical re-entry into the GIS domain and the foundation for new ideas in education, training, and professional applications.
For students, project-oriented exercises of this type provide an immediate introduction to the world of georeferenced data. At the same time, they demonstrate the fundamental principles of modern cartography and illustrate how digital maps are created, analyzed, and continuously improved.
From Learning to Application
The project also opened another perspective for us:
As mentioned above, our work during recent years has primarily focused on geophysical investigations, particularly the use of innovative NMR technologies for the characterization of soil and groundwater conditions. Since the development of our VDI module, these datasets can now be evaluated and interpreted using advanced geostatistical methods. GIS provides an additional layer of value by enabling the spatial integration of these results into both surface and subsurface models.
In this way, a natural workflow emerges and consolidates:
Geophysical Measurement → Geostatistical Evaluation → Spatial Modeling → Interpretation → Decision Support
The combination of these disciplines continuously creates new opportunities to visualize and address complex geoscientific questions in a practical and understandable manner.
Three Development Paths
Based on our experiences since 2022, three primary application areas are currently emerging.
1. The Student and Tutoring Version: The Fundamentals
Here, GIS serves as a tool for classroom instruction, tutoring, and project-based learning. The primary objective is to develop an understanding of spatial relationships. Students learn how digital maps are structured, how geospatial data is organized, and why location-based information plays an important role in science, business, and society. Most importantly, they work directly with the data and create their own mapping projects.
2. The Train-the-Trainer Module: Advanced Applications
Existing experience with ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, and other professional training environments can be directly translated into educational materials, tutorials, and website blog articles. The result is a practical training framework for teachers, university students, self-learners, and professionals seeking to develop GIS competencies.
The concept of "Train-the-Trainer" has accompanied our GIS activities since the earliest stages of professional training and continues to gain momentum through projects such as the Bremen City Map initiative. Similar approaches have already proven highly effective in the field of geophysical NMR technology applications.
3. Professional GIS Applications
The third development path focuses on professional and commercial applications.
Rather than emphasizing map production alone, the objective is the integration of spatial analysis into geophysical, environmental, and infrastructure-related investigations. Potential application areas include:
• NMR-focused site investigations
• Environmental, noise, and electromagnetic interference assessments
• General site suitability and potential analyses
• Hydrological studies
• Risk and hazard assessments
• Infrastructure and land-use evaluations
As with previous GIS projects, such activities may be carried out in collaboration with experienced GIS specialists and professional partners who have supported our work since the original GIS training phase.
From 2D Data to Spatial Models
The long-term vision is to progressively transform geophysical and GIS-compatible datasets into increasingly sophisticated spatial models:
2D Data → 3D Models → Spatial Analysis → Environmental Assessment → Hydrological and Terrain Modeling
Particularly fascinating in this context is the field of hydrology, especially when combined with the capabilities of modern NMR technology. Ultimately, this development path leads to one of the most fundamental questions in geosciences:
"How does water move underground—and how much of it is there?"
This question naturally connects to a wide range of related topics:
• Soil characteristics
• Subsurface structures
• Groundwater flow and distribution
• Terrain and landscape evolution
• Risk assessment
• Site suitability and development potential
The combination of GIS and geophysical methods—especially NMR technology—continues to open exciting opportunities for future research, consulting, infrastructure, and environmental projects.
Outlook
The "Bremen City Map" project was originally intended as a small GIS exercise within a student enrichment program and as part of ongoing geography instruction.
Looking back, however, it became considerably more than that.
It marked a return to the world of modern Geographic Information Systems and opened new perspectives for combining geophysics, data analysis, spatial modeling, and education—from student-level fundamentals to advanced professional training.
While the project initially served as a practical refresher of existing QGIS skills, attention is once again shifting toward more advanced applications. These include site suitability studies, environmental and noise assessments, hydrological investigations, and the integration of geostatistical interpretation methods derived from innovative NMR measurement technologies.
Dito: What began as a simple classroom exercise has therefore become the starting point for a broader development path—one that connects cartography, spatial analysis, geophysics, education, and data-driven decision support for research, environmental management, and industry.
Or, put more simply: Learn GIS. Teach GIS. Apply GIS.
Including us...
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