The Conservationist Who Turned 40 Terabytes of Public Data into a Video Game

https://blog.exe.dev/meet-the-conservationist-who-turned-40-terabytes-of-government-data-into-a-video-game

125 21 8 days ago

blog.exe.dev

akman2• 8 days ago

"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

con• 8 days ago

The game is here: https://siedler-oesterreich.exe.xyz/

akman2• 8 days ago

Thank you! Not sure why it's so hard to find (still don't see where you got this from), esp if it's using exe.dev's platform.

charcircuit• 7 days ago

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.

pistoriusp• 7 days ago

You've got to place that within the context of Sub-Saharan Africa.

leereeves• 7 days ago

For Hickisch himself, yes, but that part was about data from "Hickisch’s home country of Austria".

entropicdrifter• 7 days ago

I think it's well worth noting that while streaming does imply a full download, it doesn't actually render the full sized download on the client device at any one time, it's simply cached and then the oldest parts are evicted when the cache fills up.

accrual• 7 days ago

HuggingFace and access to a fiber connection changed my concept of "large downloads". I can easily grab a 20GB model within a minute or two now, same for big Steam games. Meanwhile my childhood self was hyper aware of loading images and other assets that would bog down our home dialup connection.

maccard• 7 days ago

The broadband speed to my work PC is the same as my hard drive read speed from 15 years ago. My hard drive read speed is the same as a single channel RAM read from 15 years ago.

It’d absolutely unbelieveable how much faster machines are even since 2011

iberator• 6 days ago

Not everyone have fast or unlimited Internet. For example my 4G phone that im using for having internet is capped at 40mb/s and 200gib per month.

But 10km from the city center i barely got 2mb/s (megabits).

jparishy2• 7 days ago

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).

alwa• 7 days ago

Love this so far! From the mechanic perspective, sure; but even more from the sheer degree of Philly love and whimsy that shines through. Can't wait for the Show HN.

jparishy2• 6 days ago

Hey, thanks, that means a lot! Yes, I love my city and I have a long to do list of things to add in honor of it. Do attend.

IncreasePosts• 7 days ago

(ad)

sam1r• 7 days ago

It’s actually a really good one. I do not regret reading the entire thing.

anigbrowl• 7 days ago

Hickisch’s home country of Austria publishes a LIDAR scan of the whole country every year, including the height of every object on the ground, along with high-resolution aerial photos.

Smells like communism! How are large corporations supposed to keep the public in thrall if the plebs have easy access to public resources? Why is the government even spending money on doing things for the general use of their citizens?! Public data must be kept in private hands! Won't someone think of the potential future billionaires?

The Conservationist Who Turned 40 Terabytes of Public Data into a Video Game

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