Doctoral candidate in cartography / geovisualization / storytelling

The Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation (IKG) at ETH Zurich is one of the oldest university institutes for cartography in the world. The Chair of Cartography conducts research in the field of cartographic visualisation with a focus on cartographic production technologies for topographic and thematic maps, atlases and interactive web maps. The group also publishes two different atlases: the National Atlas of Switzerland (an interactive atlas) and the printed Swiss World Atlas, which is mainly used in schools.

The IKG is looking for a doctoral candidate in the field of storytelling to support the cartography group in its research and teaching activities (fixed-term position). The research, concepts and deliverables will be developed in close collaboration with the “Atlas of Switzerland” team. It is planned that the generic descriptive language and data format, the programming library and the authoring tool developed during this doctorate will be used to generate storytelling content and publish it in the “Atlas of Switzerland”, the Swiss national atlas. Furthermore, the candidate will be involved in related teaching/tutoring as well as in supervising theses.

Your main task and responsibility will be to develop a generic and descriptive approach, language and programming library for describing and publishing digital story maps. The research and implementation should cover different types of story maps, such as “scrolling narrative”, “journey/guided tour”, “time-based”, “camera/scale-based” or any other additional storytelling modes that emerge during the conceptual phase. In addition, a graphical user interface shall be developed to allow map editors to input multilingual story map content into the generic structure, describing the story and its map-related interactions.

• A MSc or MA degree in either Geomatics, Geography, Computer Science, Interaction Design, Visual Communication or a similar program is required
• Candidates should have expertise and interest in the following areas:
  • data structures and data formats
  • storytelling
  • multimedia content
  • user experience design
  • graphical user interfaces
• Proficiency in programming with TypeScript and Python is essential
• Fluency in English is mandatory; German language skills are an advantage

• interesting and independent tasks in the project
• participation in a small, motivated team (project lead, 3 developers, 2 scientific editors)
• well-developed infrastructure with state-of-the-art technologies
• flexible working hours, home office within Switzerland possible (1-2 days) and a pleasant working atmosphere
• ability for further training on the job
• national and international network and collaboration
• benefits: usage of sport facilities and other university infrastructure on campus, contribution to the cost of public transportation (Halb-Tax and GA)