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Education, research experience and open-source work in geodetic sciences and collaborative cartography.

General Information

Full Name Kauê de Moraes Vestena
Position Professor, Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), Pato Branco
Location Pato Branco, Paraná, Brazil
Email kauemv2@gmail.com
ORCID 0000-0003-1225-2371
Google Scholar qc6CJjYAAAAJ
GitHub kauevestena

Education

  • 2021–2025
    PhD in Geodetic Sciences
    Federal University of Paraná (UFPR)
    • Dissertation: Toward a Global Pedestrian-Centered Map: An Open Framework for Mapping, Validating and Publishing Active Mobility Networks (advisor: Silvana Philippi Camboim; co-advisor: Daniel Rodrigues dos Santos)
    • Degree conferred October 3, 2025
    • Sandwich research period at the Politecnico di Milano (Oct 2023–Mar 2024, advisor Maria Antonia Brovelli)
    • Research on accessibility mapping with open data and collaborative cartography
    • Automated methodologies for sidewalk network mapping in OpenStreetMap
  • 2017–2020
    MSc in Geodetic Sciences
    Federal University of Paraná (UFPR)
    • Research on terrestrial mobile mapping systems for urban environment assessment
  • 2013–2017
    BSc in Cartographic and Surveying Engineering
    Federal University of Paraná (UFPR)
  • 2009–2012
    Technical Diploma in Surveying
    Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR)

Experience

  • 2026–present
    Professor (Magistério Superior)
    Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), Pato Branco
    • Started August 4, 2026
    • Full-time, exclusive-dedication teaching and research position
  • 2021–2025
    PhD Researcher
    Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Graduate Program in Geodetic Sciences
    • Research on accessibility mapping, collaborative cartography and OpenStreetMap data quality
    • Development and maintenance of open-source geospatial tools
    • Collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan on open-vocabulary classification of urban pathways
  • 2017–2020
    Graduate Researcher
    Federal University of Paraná (UFPR)
    • Development of a low-cost terrestrial mobile mapping system
    • Convolutional neural networks applied to urban vegetation detection

Open Source Projects

  • 2022–present
    OSM SidewalKreator
    • QGIS plugin that generates sidewalk geometries automatically from OpenStreetMap street data
    • Over 23,000 downloads across all releases from the QGIS Plugin Repository
    • Includes a QGIS Processing Provider for batch and scripted workflows
    • Published in the European Journal of Geography (2023) and presented at State of the Map 2022
  • 2023–present
    OpenSidewalkMap
    • Inventory and visualisation of pedestrian networks built from OpenStreetMap data
    • Aims to make sidewalk and accessibility information easier to explore and reuse

Publications

  • 2016–2025
    Peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and conference papers
    • Topics span accessibility mapping, collaborative cartography, mobile mapping, photogrammetry and GNSS positioning
    • Full list on the publications page, mirrored from ORCID

Research Interests

  • Accessibility mapping and collaborative cartography
    • Pedestrian and sidewalk network mapping in OpenStreetMap
    • Quality assessment of crowdsourced geospatial data
    • Integration of community-mapped data into official topographic mapping
  • Mobile mapping and photogrammetry
    • Low-cost terrestrial mobile mapping systems
    • Deep learning for detection of urban infrastructure from terrestrial imagery
    • RGB-D data registration and point cloud processing
  • Geodesy and satellite positioning
    • Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and ambiguity resolution
    • Tropospheric modelling and its effect on positioning accuracy

Technical Skills

  • Programming
    • Python — QGIS plugin development (PyQGIS), geospatial analysis, automation
    • SQL / PostGIS — spatial database management
    • JavaScript, HTML, CSS — web mapping and visualisation
    • Git and GitHub — version control, CI, collaborative development
  • Geospatial
    • QGIS and the wider OSGeo stack
    • OpenStreetMap — editing, validation, tooling and community engagement
    • GNSS surveying and precise positioning
    • Photogrammetry, LiDAR and point cloud processing
    • Remote sensing and machine learning for feature extraction

Other Interests

  • Outdoors: hiking and travelling, usually with a GPS receiver in hand
  • Open source: contributing to and advocating for open geospatial software and open data