Sebastian Meier

Data-driven Innovation


„Creating meaningful user-experiences by combining data-driven approaches with user-centric perspectives. As the founder of VISLAB.io, i am helping organizations transform their data vaults into engaging interactive experiences. Holding the position of lead data scientist at the Ideation & Protoyping Lab, I provide novel digital tools and services to Berlin's civil society and the local government. As the Head of Science at CityLAB Berlin, i am strengthening the bonds between the research community within Berlin and beyond. I am the co-founder of the data-visualization tool SVIFT, co-founder of the Maptime Meetup Berlin and founder of the CityVis initiative. I teach HCI & data-driven design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.“

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Curriculum Vitae

Work Work: 2005 - Now

1.Work

  • 2019 - Now — Berlin, Germany

    Scientific Director

    ,
    CityLAB Berlin

    As part of my work at the Technologiestiftung Berlin, I am overseeing Research & development, Scientific collaborations and events at Berlin's CityLAB.

  • 2017 - Now — Berlin, Germany

    Lead Data Scientist

    ,
    Technologiestiftung Berlin

    Founding of the Ideation & Prototyping Lab, driving data-driven innovation to support citizens, local government and companies in Berlin …

  • 2008 - Now — Berlin, Germany

    Visualization Research & Development

    ,
    VISLAB

    Clients: Technology Foundation Berlin, Urban Complexity Lab, Interaction Design Lab, Postbank, Brandenburg State Police, …

  • 2016 - 2017 — Potsdam, Germany

    HCI & Visualization Research

    ,
    Interaction Design Lab

    Clients: Federal Environmental Agency, German Emissions Trading Authority, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, …

  • 2012 - 2014 — Potsdam, Germany

    HCI & Visualization Research

    ,
    Interaction Design Lab

    Research Project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on data-driven innovation for Berlin's tourism industry.

  • 2011 - 2012 — Berlin, Germany

    Project- & Design-Lead

    ,
    IxDS

    Service- & User-Experience Design for Deutsche Bahn, Fachhochschule Köln, Nokia Simens Networks, Deutsche Telekom, …

  • 2007 — London, UK

    Web-Design & -Development

    ,
    Tonic Vision Ltd.

    Designing digital user experiences and interfaces for clients like Coca-Cola, Sony, FIFA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, …

  • 2005 - 2007 — Krefeld, Germany

    Web-Design & -Development

    ,
    Three - 2 - One

    Design and development of interactive web-based experiences from games to microsites, for clients like Microsoft, Blaupunkt, Alberto, …

Education Education: 2005 - 2017

2.Education

  • 2014 - 2017 — Potsdam, Germany

    PhD

    ,
    Geoinformatics, Potsdam University

    Personal Big Data - A privacy-centred selective cloud computing approach to progressive user modelling on mobile devices. Read more »

  • 2015 - 2015 — London, UK

    Visiting PhD

    ,
    Computer Science, GiCentre, City University

    Working on Origin-Destination data, air pollution's impact on London's citizens and user studies for visualization prototypes. Read more »

  • 2009 - 2011 — Potsdam, Germany

    Master

    ,
    Interface Design, Potsdam University of Applied Sciences

    The Future of News: exploring digital distribution systems, infrastructures, interactions and business models. Read more »

  • 2005 - 2009 — Düsseldorf, Germany

    Diploma

    ,
    Communication Design, Düsseldorf UoAS

    Analysis of digital communication strategies of design universities on the web. Read more »

Teaching Teaching: 2009 - Now

3.Teaching

  • 2019 — Workshop

    Introduction to Spatial Data Vis,

    Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg
  • 2018 — Seminar

    Think like a Machine — Data-Driven Design,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2018 — Workshop

    Prototyping Voice Interfaces,

    Retune Festival
  • 2018 — Seminar

    Digital Literacy,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2018 — Workshop

    Introduction to Spatial Data Vis,

    Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg
  • 2018 — Seminar

    Smart City Interfaces,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2017 — Workshop

    Intoduction to spatial data visualization,

    Taipei Tech, University, Taiwan
  • 2016 — Workshop

    Introduction to Data-Analysis and Visualization,

    DIGIS, Berlin
  • 2016 — Workshop

    Introduction to web-mapping,

    EULER - Switch on Mehringplatz, Berlin
  • 2016 — Seminar

    Smart Citizens / Citizen Science,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences & Technical University Berlin
  • 2016 — Workshop

    Empowering through mapping,

    HKW, Civil Society 4.0, Berlin
  • 2016 — Seminar

    Web-based data visualization,

    Potsdam University
  • 2015 — Workshop

    Data-driven Visualization,

    Visible Cities Prototyping Lab, Berlin
  • 2015 — Seminar

    Exploring new interaction Paradigms. Interactive Tabletops & Multi-Surface Environments,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2015 — Workshop

    Introduction to web-mapping,

    Potsdam University
  • 2014 — Workshop

    Data Visualization for Journalists,

    M100, Potsdam
  • 2014 — Seminar

    Google Maps and beyond: Karten für Desktop,

    Mobile and Print
  • 2014 — Seminar

    Data Visualization - Communicating Scientific Insights,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2013 — Seminar

    Data Vis Challenges,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2013 — Seminar

    Visual Information Exploration,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2012 — Seminar

    Map Interfaces,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2011 — Seminar

    Data Visualization (Processing),

    Trier University of Applied Sciences
  • 2010 — Workshop

    Beyond Processing: Into Space,

    Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
  • 2010 — Seminar

    Light & Social Media,

    Trier University of Applied Sciences
  • 2010 — Seminar

    Generative Design (Processing),

    Trier University of Applied Sciences
  • 2010 — Seminar

    Introduction to Processing,

    Trier University of Applied Sciences
  • 2009 — Workshop

    Interactive Systems (Flash),

    Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences
Talks Talks (selection): 2009 - Now

4.Talks (selection)

  • 2019 — Leipzig, Germany

    Mehrwert für Bürger*innen durch Geodaten schaffen,

    FOSSGIS 2019
  • 2018 — Milan, Italy

    Alternative perspectives through artistic interpretations,

    State of the Map
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Ethics & AI,

    Machine Intelligence Summit
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    AI, ML and Design,

    Weißensee University
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Data Science & Civil Services,

    Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Privacy & ML,

    AI IN DATA SCIENCE
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Real-time data panel,

    11th RDA plenary
  • 2018 — Munich, Germany

    The future of digital cartography,

    PFGK 2018
  • 2018 — Halle, Germany

    Visualisation & Trust in Online News,

    DGfK & DGPF Halle
  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Conversational UIs for Datavis,

    re:publica 2018
  • 2018 — Dresden, Germany

    The individual in space,

    DGfK Dresden
  • 2017 — Taipei, Taiwan

    Spatial Data Visualization,

    Taipei Tech
  • 2017 — Berlin, Germany

    Data visualisation for Journalists,

    re:publica 2017
  • 2017 — Boston, USA

    Machine Learning & LBS,

    MIT Senseable City Lab
  • 2017 — Leipzig, Germany

    Data-driven psychogeography,

    Neogeographie Symposium
  • 2017 — Berlin, Germany

    Artificial Intelligence in my Pocket,

    World Usability Day
  • 2016 — Quito, Ecuador

    A human perspective on Human-Computer Interaction,

    Atlas Ambiental y aplicaciones GIS
  • 2016 — Berlin, Germany

    Visualizing Air Pollution,

    Data Vis Meetup
  • 2016 — Bochum, Germany

    Clustering in spatial Visualizations,

    DGfK Rheinland
  • 2016 — Berlin, Germany

    Novel Map Applications,

    GeoMonday
  • 2016 — Quito, Ecuador

    CityVis Awards,

    UN Press Conference
  • 2015 — Potsdam, Germany

    GeoVis: Beyond the Flatscreen,

    German Planetarium Conference
  • 2015 — Potsdam, Germany

    Knowledge Networks,

    GIS Day
  • 2015 — London, UK

    Science Communication,

    Tansley Workshop
  • 2015 — Zurich, Switzerland

    Visualization Literacy,

    Brown Bag Talks - UZH
  • 2015 — Berlin, Germany

    Maptime Berlin - Looking back,

    WhereCamp
  • 2014 — Potsdam, Germany

    GIS meets Design Education (New Applications for GIS),

    GIS Day
  • 2014 — Lake Como, Italy

    Visualization & Science Communication,

    Future Economy
  • 2014 — Hamburg, Germany

    Qualitative Methods & GIS,

    Geomatik
  • 2014 — Boston, USA

    DataVis at FH Potsdam,

    MIT Senseable City Lab
  • 2013 — Berlin, Germany

    Design Universities - FH Potsdam,

    Typo Conference
  • 2013 — Hamburg, Germany

    Paper Prototyping - A Tool for Early-Stage Evaluation of Software-Interfaces,

    DGfK - Young Geo Scientists Workshop
  • 2013 — Berlin, Germany

    Every Visualization tells a story,

    Visualized.io
  • 2012 — Düsseldorf, Germany

    The history of Webtypography,

    The Future of Typography
  • 2012 — Bogota, Columbia

    Beautiful and engaging visualizations with spatial data in risk related environments,

    XIB Congreso Colombiano de Geologia
  • 2012 — Hildesheim, Germany

    Innovation Diffusion Models,

    DGTF - Design Promoviert
  • 2011 — Berlin, Germany

    The future of News,

    News in the digital era
Publications Publications: 2009 - Now

5.Publications

  • 2019 — Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S., Tost, J.,

    On the relevance of cartography — An interaction design perspective

    Proceedings of the ICC 2019

  • 2018 — Journal, Peer-review
    Meier, S., Glinka, K.,

    Data-driven personal cartographic perspectives

    Kartographische Nachrichten, (13/8)

  • 2018 — Magazine
    Meier, S., Seibel, B.,

    Zivilgesellschaftlichen Mehrwert schaffen - Daten für Bürger*innen aufbereiten

    Magazine by the Office for statistics Berlin-Brandenburg

  • 2017 — PhD Dissertation
    Meier, S.,

    Personal Big Data

    Potsdam University

  • 2017 — Journal, Peer-review
    Meier, S., Glinka, K.,

    The Individual in the Data — the Aspect of Personal

    i-com 2017; 16(3): pp. 247-265

  • 2017 — Book / Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S., Glinka, K.,

    Psychogeography in the Age of the Quantified Self-Mental Map Modelling with Georeferenced Personal Activity Data

    LNG&C - Advances in Cartography and GIScience Best exhibit award

  • 2017 — Journal, Peer-review
    Meier, S.,

    Visualizations in Online News — and Their Effect on Perceived Credibility

    Kartographische Nachrichten, Sonderheft 02/2017

  • 2016 — Book / Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S.,

    Enhancing Location Recommendation Through Proximity Indicators, Areal Descriptors, and Similarity Clusters

    LNG&C - Progress in Location-Based Services 2016, Springer

  • 2016 — Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S., Nagel, T., Heidmann, F.,

    Open Geo Tools — A State of the Art Report. The democratization of geo-tools and data continues.

    Proceedings of the 64th German Cartography conference

  • 2016 — Journal, Peer-review
    Meier, S.,

    The Marker Cluster: A Critical Analysis and a New Approach to a Common Web-based Cartographic Interface Pattern

    International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems (IJAEIS), Volume 7, Issue 1, January - March 2016

  • 2016 — Conference, Peer-review
    Beecham, R., Rooney, C., Meier, S., Dykes, J., Slingsby, A., Turkay, C., Wood, J. and Wong, B.,

    Faceted Views of Varying Emphasis (FaVVEs): a framework for visualising multi-perspective small multiples

    Computer Graphics Forum: the international journal of the Eurographics Association, 35(3) pp.241-249

  • 2015 — Conference, Peer-review
    Thom, A.; Meier, S.; Heidmann, F.,

    Anforderungsanalyse bei IT-Experten mittels Experience-Sample-Methode.

    In: Endmann, A., Fischer, H. & Krökel, M. (Hrsg.), Mensch und Computer 2015 – Usability Professionals. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. (S. 133-143).

  • 2015 — Book / Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S,

    Visualizing Large Spatial Time Series Data on Mobile Devices: Combining the HeatTile System with a Progressive Loading Approach

    LNG&C - Cartography - Maps Connecting the World, 27th ICC (Springer)

  • 2015 — Conference, Peer-review
    Glinka, K.; Meier, S.; Dörk, M.,

    Visualising the» Un-seen «: Towards Critical Approaches and Strategies of Inclusion in Digital Cultural Heritage Interfaces

    in: KuI (Kultur und Informatik) Cross Media. Busch et al. (Hrsg.) Berlin 2015

  • 2014 — Conference Workshop, Peer-review
    Meier, S.,

    The Micro Smart Grid Tabletop — A real world case study for tangible multitouch technologies for communicating complex concepts

    Published in the Workshop Proceedings of the workshop Tactile/Haptic User Interfaces for Tabletops and Tablets (TacTT) 2014 during the ITS conference 2014 in Dresden.

  • 2014 — Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S.; Heidmann, F.; Thom, A.,

    A comparison of location search UI patterns on mobile devices

    Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Mobile HCI, 2014

  • 2014 — Conference, Peer-review
    Thom, A.; Heidmann, F.; Meier, S.,

    Interkulturelle Nutzeranforderungen erheben

    Mensch und Maschine, UP14

  • 2014 — Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S; Heidmann, F.,

    Too Many Markers, Revisited: An Empirical Analysis of Web-Based Methods for Overcoming the Problem of Too Many Markers in Zoomable Mapping Applications

    Computational Science and Its Applications (ICCSA), 2014, Best Paper

  • 2014 — Book / Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, S.; Heidmann, F; Thom, A.,

    Heattile, a New Method for Heatmap Implementations for Mobile Web-based Cartographic Applications

    Thematic Cartography for the Society (Springer), 2014

  • 2012 — Conference, Peer-review
    Meier, Sebastian; Landstorfer, Johannes; Werner, Julia; Wettach, Reto; Knörig, Andre; Cohen, Jonathan; Sommerwerk, Andreas,

    A Real-world Mobile Prototyping Framework for Location-and Context-based Services

    Published at the Wireless Communication and Information (WCI) – Berlin, 2012

  • 2011 — Journalistic
    Meier, S.,

    Facebook — The role of the user in terms of privacy

    Zeit-online

  • 2008 — Journal, Invited
    Meier, S.,

    Location based Applications (LBA)

    Interfaces, Journal (UK), Issue 77

Funding Funding & Awards: 2010 - Now

6.Funding & Awards

  • 2019 — Tokyo, Japan

    DAAD

    Travel Grants,

    Research Travel Grants, ICC2019

  • 2019 — Berlin, Germany

    Prototype Fund (BMVI)

    Innovation funding,

    Analysis and Visualisation of Filter-Bubbles

  • 2018 — Hamburg, Germany

    Zeit Stiftung

    Guest Researcher,

    Interdisciplinary urban-research at HafenCity University

  • 2018 — Milan, Italy

    OpenStreetMap Foundation

    Travel Grant,

    Invitation and grant for the State of the Map conference

  • 2017 — Potsdam, Germany

    Medieninnovationszentrum

    Innovation funding,

    6-month start-up programme for SVIFT

  • 2017 — Washington, USA

    DAAD

    Travel Grants,

    Research Travel Grants, ICC2017

  • 2017 — Hannover, Germany

    Volkswagenstiftung

    Mixed Methods,

    3-year research programme (for 2 PhD candidates)

  • 2015 — Rio, Brazil

    DAAD

    Travel Grants,

    Research Travel Grants, ICC2015

  • 2014-2017 — Potsdam, Germany

    DFG

    PhD Scholarship,

    3-year graduate programme scholarship

  • 2011 — Potsdam, Germany

    Land Brandenburg

    Young Scientist Award,Finalist, Master Thesis.,

  • 2010 — Potsdam, Germany

    Core77

    Student Award,

    Winner, Geo-data-driven literature search interface.

Work Other Activities: 2014 - 2018

7.Other Activities

  • 2019 — Vancouver, Canada

    CityVis 2019

    Organizer / Chair,

    Workshop at IEEE VIS

  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    Tech4Germany

    Mentor,

    HCI Mentoring for Tech4Germany Fellows

  • 2018 — Berlin, Germany

    CityVis 2018

    Organizer / Chair,

    Workshop at IEEE VIS & Exhibition in Berlin

  • 2018 - 2019 — Berlin, Germany

    Debating Matters

    Juror,

    International Debating Competition

  • 2017 — Potsdam, Germany

    Open Data & Tourism

    Local Organizer,

    Workshop on open data and Tourism

  • 2017 — Berlin, Germany

    Open Geo Data Research

    Local Organizer,

    Bringing together research on open geo data

  • 2016 — Potsdam, Germany

    CityVis Awards

    Co-Founder,

    Award on urban visualizations

  • 2015 — Potsdam, Germany

    Design Promoviert

    Local Organizer,

    Annual conference by the German design association

  • 2014 - Now — Berlin, Germany

    Maptime

    Co-Founder,

    Monthly Berlin-based meetup on maps and mapping. Workshops