QGIS User Conference 2026

5-6 October 2026, Laax, Switzerland

Keynotes

Keynote Openness

Gerhard Andrey is a Swiss National Councillor and a Parldigi Champion, advocating for an open, net-neutral internet and sustainable public digital infrastructure. In 2023 he ran as the Green Party’s first-ever candidate for the Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat).

Abstract to be announced soon.

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Gerhard Andrey

Gerhard Andrey

Swiss National Councillor · Parldigi Champion

Gerhard Andrey is a Swiss National Councillor for the Green Party and a Parldigi Champion, advocating for an open, net-neutral internet and sustainable public digital infrastructure. In 2023 he ran as the Green Party’s candidate for the Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat).

Maps as Instruments of Power

From today’s perspective, the word “map” sounds rather outdated and antiquated, and yet maps and map-related products are more present than ever before in our everyday lives. I’m thinking here about things such as interactive map apps and navigation systems. In view of the global situation and the trend towards simply renaming places at liberty, I believe it is worthwhile pausing briefly and asking ourselves what actually constitutes a map.

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Lorenz Hurni

Lorenz Hurni

Professor of Cartography, ETH Zurich

Lorenz Hurni is Professor of Cartography at ETH Zurich and also conducts research into tools for the production of printed and multimedia maps. He is editor-in-chief of the Atlas of Switzerland and the Swiss World Atlas.

One million reasons to maintain the QGIS Infrastructure

Every time a user opens QGIS, downloads a plugin, or grabs the latest installer, a carefully maintained web of infrastructure quietly does its job in the background. This talk pulls back the curtain on the systems that power the QGIS ecosystem — the website and download pipeline, the plugin repository, feed analytics, and hub.qgis.org — and shares the human side of keeping these services reliable, secure, and scalable for a globally distributed open-source community.

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Lova Andriarimalala

Lova Andriarimalala

QGIS Web infrastructure maintainer, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Lova is a geographer who has used QGIS since his university years, applying it throughout his academic research. Since October 2023, he has served as QGIS Web infrastructure maintainer, and in February 2026 he was elected as a Community voting member.
Tim Sutton

Tim Sutton

Co-founder, Kartoza · Former Chair, QGIS.org · OSGeo Board Director

Tim Sutton has been involved in QGIS since shortly after its first release in 2002, and is a former Chair of QGIS.org and an Honorary QGIS PSC Member. He co-founded Kartoza in 2014, serves as an OSGeo board director, and lives and works remotely from Alentejo, Portugal.

AI in the QGIS Ecosystem

This talk covers the good, the bad, and the ugly side of AI in the QGIS Ecosystem. From neat new AI plugins to AI slop in the PR queue and the issue of training new users and developers, this talk provides an overview of current challenges and opportunities.

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Anita Graser

Anita Graser

Senior Scientist, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology

Anita Graser is a Senior Scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna, working in geoinformatics and spatial data science. She serves on the QGIS project steering committee, is the lead developer of MovingPandas, and received the OSGeo Sol Katz award for her contributions to open-source GIS.

V 1.8 to 4.2 – Our 15-year journey with QGIS at the State of Vorarlberg/Austria

Where did we start? What has the journey been like? Where are we now? What’s next? Since our first rollout, the State of Vorarlberg has relied on QGIS as a standard desktop GIS component within an open spatial data infrastructure. This talk reflects on that 15-year journey — the opportunities, the responsibilities of being a major user, and the technological and geopolitical challenges ahead.

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Johannes Kanonier

Johannes Kanonier

VoGIS Coordinator, Head of Department

Johannes Kanonier is VoGIS Coordinator and Head of Department at the State of Vorarlberg, Austria, where he has led Vorarlberg’s 15-year journey with QGIS as a standard desktop GIS component within the state’s spatial data infrastructure.