GEFiltaja

GEFiltaja is a fictional open-source software framework designed for geospatial data filtering and tagging. It provides a modular pipeline intended to ingest, filter, transform, and annotate large geospatial datasets in real time.

Core components include a streaming engine, a rule-based language called FQL (Geospatial Filtering Language), a plugin-based data adapter system (supporting GeoJSON, Shapefile, CSV with WKT, and more), and a geospatial indexer (including R-tree and quadtree variants) for fast spatial queries. The framework supports attribute-based, spatial, and temporal filters, and can emit results to storage backends, message buses, or visualization layers.

GEFiltaja emphasizes portability and interoperability, providing a REST API and a command-line interface. The architecture separates ingestion, filtering, and output stages, enabling parallel processing and scale-out deployments on cloud or on-premises infrastructure. It ships with a minimal visualization shim but primarily focuses on data processing and integration.

Development history: It was conceived by the Geospatial Engineering Foundation in the early 2010s and released as an open-source project in 2013. Major milestones include the introduction of the FQL in 2016 and the addition of streaming adapters in 2018. The project is described as adopting an open governance model with community contributions.

Applications: GEFiltaja has been conceptualized for use in academic curricula and demonstrations of real-time geospatial filtering for environmental monitoring, urban planning, and logistics. While fictional, it serves as an example of modular geospatial data processing systems. See also: Geospatial data, Geographic information systems, Data filtering, Open-source software.