How a Conservationist Turned 40 Terabytes of Data into a Video Game
The Conservationist Who Turned 40 Terabytes of Public Data into a Video Game
As a conservationist, I struggled to visualize massive datasets from NASA and government sources to protect nature reserves. Using exe.dev, I built an app to track global conservation efforts and processed 40 terabytes of Austrian LIDAR data. I even created a settlers-style game to make this critical environmental data accessible, proving that nature conservation can now leverage the same powerful tools as big industry.
Think about oil exploration. Those people have huge budgets for their analysis. Nature conservation doesn't have that. So it's a nice moment to use that as leverage and say, actually, we now have the same tools.
- jparishy
This is very cool. I concur on the conclusion that we'll soon see a lot more use of AI coding tools in gov as people discover what can be done with all these existing data sets. Would love to see more resources put into creating and publishing them. I'm sure there's plenty of ways for govs to make their money back on the data these days with some creative licensing.
Tangential, but I'm also a little obsessed with taking municipal data and turning it into something else. Lately I've been building an online open world game built on Philadelphia's terrain. It similarly uses a Philly LIDAR scan, the land use maps, the street data, building lots, and a few other sources to make the game map.
There's a signup but it doesn't validate or anything I just haven't gotten around to making a demo mode. Any fake email will do: https://cityrider.jpsmaps.com/. The general idea is to pick up trash around Philly to power/build other fun things like your jet pack and ramps. Buy properties and customize the facades. Run from Gritty. It's been a blast, and while not conservation, I believe what is effectively a littering PSA to be a worthy output of my time ha.
You can also click on many trees to see what they are, as most are from the Philly Tree Inventory (though more are added to fill out forest areas for style reasons).
- akman
"The apps are open source, and Hickisch doesn't expect to make money from them anytime soon. "
I'd like to try out the settlers-style game, but can't find them? Nothing here, either: https://github.com/raffael-hickisch
- charcircuit
>The files are huge—up to 15 gigabytes each—so as a general rule, nobody downloads them.
This is not the reason and it's hard to call 15 GiB huge in 2026. Plenty of people download video games or stream television series that are more than 15 GiB.