About Pete
Pete Wiringa is a Geospatial Developer at U-Spatial at the University of Minnesota. Pete specializes in geocomputing, spatial database architecture, and web-based mapping systems. In his role, he collaborates with university researchers, academic units, and government partners across Minnesota to build geospatial tools and data systems.
Pete has experience teaching in higher education, including graduate- and professional-level courses in GIS programming with Python and an introduction to GIS for public health professionals. He has delivered technical workshops on topics like the Unix shell, SQL, spatial SQL, and Python.
His multidisciplinary work supports diverse research projects, including collaborative geodesign applications, lake water quality measurements, urban transit data systems, and spatial equity frameworks. He also contributes to regional geospatial governance and the broader GIS community through his service on the MetroGIS Coordinating Committee and the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium annual conference committee.
Key Projects and Initiatives
Understanding to Improve Minnesota's Future Lake Water Quality
This project involved adding harmful algal bloom prediction to the Minnesota LakeBrowser, and modernizing the LakeBrowser application to improve automation and delivery of lake water quality data, moving toward a near-real-time tool.
ArcGIS Organization Management
Pete manages Esri's ArcGIS presence at the University of Minnesota, overseeing management workgroups and working with others at the University to offer licensing and technical support.
Areas of Expertise
- Engineering custom web mapping applications, open-source GIS tools, and interactive spatial data systems.
- Architecting spatial databases using PostgreSQL/PostGIS, vector tile workflows, and custom backend computing pipelines.
- Teaching graduate-level GIS programming courses and leading Software Carpentry workshops on databases, Unix shell, and Python.
- Developing technical frameworks and geodesign tools to support multi-sector urban equity modeling, public transit analysis, and natural resource management.
Work with Pete
Reach out, consultations are free for the U of M community.