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My main research interest is where people, geography, and computer science meet: new modes of production and usage of geographic information (crowdsourced and volunteered), related technological and methodological developments (mobile data collection and edge computing on environmental IoT sensors), and improvement of scientific practice (open and reproducible research). Citizen Science is where all these elements come together.
Organisations Frank joined the ITC in 2014 as an Assistant Professor. His main research interest is where people, geography, and computer science meet: new modes of production and usage of geographic information (crowdsourced and volunteered), related technological and methodological developments (mobile data collection and edge computing on environmental IoT sensors), and improvement of scientific practice (open and reproducible research). Citizen Science is where all these elements come together.
Since 2009, he holds a PhD (Dr. sc. nat.) from the University of Zurich, followed by work as a post-doctoral researcher at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and consultant for Piksel Inc. More detailed information on Frank’s CV can be found on his public LinkedIn profile page
Publications Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023
An urban air quality sensor network in Enschede, the Netherlands: Opportunities for science, technology, education, and policy (2026) [Contribution to conference › Abstract] EGU General Assembly 2026 . Penning de Vries, M., Javan, F. D., Flacke, J., Ostermann, F. & Timmermans, W. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21198 A multidecadal assessment of drought intensification in the Middle East and North Africa: The role of global warming and rainfall deficit (2026) Earth Systems and Environment, 10 (1), 343-362. Kenawy, A. E., Al-Awadhi, T., Abdullah, M., Ostermann, F. O. & Abulibdeh, A.https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-025-00576-4 Participatory toponym handling: Preserving local names in Indonesia (2025) [Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Perdana, A. P. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036565905 Using a digital participatory platform to evaluate public space quality (2025) GeoJournal, 90 (3). Article 145. Alvarado Vazquez, S., Ostermann, F. O. , Pinto Soares Madureira, A. M. & Pfeffer, K.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-025-11383-9 Balancing privacy and accuracy in counting traveler movements: An evaluation of encrypted Bloom filters and k-anonymity (2025) [Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Shafaeipoursarmoor, Z. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036565301 Social participation in planning, design, and management of public spaces: the case of Mexico (2024) Planning Practice and Research, 39 (4), 565-596. Alvarado Vazquez, S., Madureira, A. M., Ostermann, F. O. & Pfeffer, K.https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2024.2315391 Educating for Open and Reproducible Research in the Geosciences: Lessons from an MSc program (2024) AGILE: GIScience Series, 5 (43), 1-5. Ostermann, F. O. https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-5-43-2024 Social participation and the role of ICT in the planning, design, and maintenance of public spaces (2024) [Dataset Types › Dataset]. DATA Archiving and Networked Services (DANS). Alvarado Vazquez, S., Madureira, M., Ostermann, F. & Pfeffer, K. https://doi.org/10.17026/SS/GJKHAL Social participation and the role of ICT in the planning, design, and maintenance of public spaces (2024) [Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Alvarado Vazquez, S. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036560146 Challenges and opportunities of public space management in Mexico (2024) Cities, 146 . Article 104743. Alvarado Vazquez, S., Madureira, A. M., Ostermann, F. O. & Pfeffer, K.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104743 Visualizing emoji usage in geo-social media across time, space, and topic (2024) Frontiers in Communication, 9 . Article 1303629. Levi, S., Hauthal, E., Mukherjee, S. & Ostermann, F. O. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1303629 How to Count Travelers Without Tracking Them Between Locations (2023) In 12th International Conference on Geographic Information Science, GIScience 2023 . Article 66 (Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs; Vol. 277). Dagstuhl. Shafaeipoursarmoor, Z., van Steen, M. & Ostermann, F. O. https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.66 The use of ICTs to support social participation in the planning, design and maintenance of public spaces in Latin America (2023) ISPRS international journal of geo-information, 12 (6). Article 237. Alvarado Vazquez, S., Madureira, A. M., Ostermann, F. O. & Pfeffer, K.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12060237 Challenges of public space management in Mexico (2023) [Working paper › Preprint]. Zenodo. Alvarado Vazquez, S., Madureira, A. M., Ostermann, F. O. & Pfeffer, K. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7515977 Geosocial Sensor London (2023) [Dataset Types › Dataset]. Areda (University of Twente). Ostermann, F. Research profiles Please note that the list below is generated automatically and might not be up-to-date regarding courses from the current academic year.
Affiliated study programs Courses academic year 2026/2027 Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
Courses academic year 2025/2026 Courses academic year 2024/2025 
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