ZQM Computing builds geospatial data engineering tools and the Global Observatory — open-source GIS, spatial data engineering, and self-hosted public-data intelligence. The portfolio covers QGIS/PyQGIS automation, GDAL/OGR conversion, GeoPandas analysis, PostGIS databases, spatial routing, GeoParquet analytics, cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs), STAC catalogs, OGC APIs, MapLibre maps, H3 aggregation, and local-LLM operations.

The Global Observatory is a separate application direction: it turns appropriately licensed public sources into mapped, verifiable intelligence. Repository examples, plans, and documentation are not evidence that a live deployment or end-to-end integration exists.

Volusia County, Florida is the proving ground, not the boundary. The pattern is built to travel anywhere public data allows, and the AI tools grown on it are meant for everyone's use.

• Safety — safe places and routes, and the conditions that make them safe.
• Situational awareness — what is happening around you right now.
• Operational awareness — the state of the systems, services, and activities you depend on.
• Security awareness — threats and risks, as one of the three awarenesses, not the whole.
• Family values — family-friendly places and activities, and products a family can use and trust.

1. Public/open sources only. No credentialed, paywalled, or private data.
2. Passive-only against third parties. Active tools run on owned or authorized targets only.
3. Verify before claim. Source, retrieval date, and method on every product.
4. No purchases, ever. The entire stack is free and open-source.

• zqm-observatory — the Observatory's home: mission, focus, principles, and products. License: Apache 2.0 for code, CC BY 4.0 for data products.

Live cookbook docs: cog · duckdb · gdal · geopandas · geoparquet · h3 · maplibre · pgrouting · postgis · stac

For the individual purpose and inclusion rationale for every entry, see the annotated cookbook directory.

The curated table above is the recommended entry point for the core geospatial stack. This directory broadens discovery across the organization. Every repository has its own inclusion rationale explaining the capability it is intended to document and why that topic belongs in this collection. These are subject-based rationales inferred from repository names and tool domains; they do not certify implementation depth, test coverage, maintenance, or production readiness. Review each repository's README, license, examples, validation instructions, and current CI before relying on it.

Inventory scope: 91 repositories, including the geospatial-cookbooks umbrella index. This is a name-based inventory, not a maturity or quality ranking. Security/OSINT cookbooks are intended for lawful, authorized, privacy-respecting use; inclusion is not permission to target third parties.

• cloudcompare-cookbook — Point-cloud inspection and processing for LiDAR and 3D geospatial data.
• earthengine-cookbook — Cloud-scale analysis of satellite imagery and environmental datasets.
• folium-cookbook — Python-generated interactive maps for analysis previews and lightweight sharing.
• gdal-cookbook — Raster/vector conversion, reprojection, VRT construction, and format interoperability.
• geonetwork-cookbook — Geospatial metadata cataloging for discovery and standards-based sharing.
• geonode-cookbook — Publishing and managing spatial datasets, maps, and collaborative catalogs.
• geopandas-cookbook — Python vector analysis, CRS handling, joins, overlays, and tabular-spatial workflows.
• geoparquet-cookbook — Columnar geospatial storage, partitioning, and efficient analytical access.
• geoserver-cookbook — OGC spatial services and interoperable map/feature publication.
• grass-cookbook — Raster, vector, terrain, and environmental modeling in desktop and batch GIS.
• maplibre-cookbook — Browser mapping, vector tiles, styling, and terrain-oriented interfaces.
• mapproxy-cookbook — Map-service proxying, caching, and tile delivery for interoperability and performance.
• mapserver-cookbook — OGC-compatible map publishing and server-side cartographic rendering.
• metpy-cookbook — Meteorological data processing, diagnostics, and visualization.
• osmnx-cookbook — Street-network acquisition and analysis for routing, accessibility, and urban form.
• osrm-cookbook — Road-network routing and route-service patterns for network-based applications.
• pdal-cookbook — LiDAR/point-cloud ETL including filtering, reprojection, and format conversion.
• pelias-cookbook — Open-source geocoding and place-search infrastructure.
• qgis-cookbook — QGIS workflows, PyQGIS automation, processing, expressions, and reproducible projects.
• rasterio-cookbook — Python raster I/O, windowed processing, masking, reprojection, and CRS-aware analysis.
• rio-cogeo-cookbook — Creation and validation of cloud-optimized raster products using rio-cogeo.
• saga-cookbook — Terrain and environmental geoprocessing through SAGA GIS algorithms.
• sentinelsat-cookbook — Search and download workflows for Sentinel Earth-observation imagery.
• webodm-cookbook — Drone photogrammetry for orthomosaics, point clouds, and 3D models.
• whitebox-cookbook — Terrain, hydrology, raster, and environmental geoprocessing.

• cog-cookbook — Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF creation, validation, and efficient raster serving.
• duckdb-spatial-cookbook — Embedded spatial SQL and local analytics, including GeoParquet and H3 workflows.
• pgpointcloud-cookbook — Point-cloud storage and querying in PostgreSQL.
• pgrouting-cookbook — Shortest paths, routing, isochrones, and graph analysis on spatial networks.
• pgstac-cookbook — PostgreSQL-backed STAC API patterns for spatiotemporal asset search.
• postgis-cookbook — Spatial database design, indexing, spatial SQL, nearest-neighbor search, and vector tiles.
• pystac-cookbook — Python tools to create, validate, and manipulate STAC items and catalogs.
• stac-cookbook — STAC catalogs, collections, validation, search, and asset discovery.
• timescaledb-cookbook — Time-series storage and analysis for telemetry and spatiotemporal measurements.
• titiler-cookbook — Dynamic raster tile APIs for COG imagery and responsive map clients.
• geospatial-cookbooks — Umbrella index for navigating the broader cookbook portfolio; included as the cross-project entry point.

• airbyte-cookbook — Connector-based ingestion between APIs, databases, and analytics destinations.
• airflow-cookbook — Scheduled, dependency-aware data workflows for repeatable processing.
• datahub-cookbook — Metadata cataloging and lineage for discoverable, governable data assets.
• dbt-cookbook — Version-controlled SQL transformations, tests, and documentation.
• dlt-cookbook — Python-first ingestion of structured and semi-structured data into analytics systems.
• meltano-cookbook — Composable ELT pipelines and connector management.
• nifi-cookbook — Visual dataflow orchestration for routing, transforming, and monitoring data.
• nodered-cookbook — Low-code event and integration flows for APIs, devices, and automation.
• plotly-cookbook — Interactive charts for geospatial and operational metrics.
• prefect-cookbook — Observable Python workflow orchestration with retries and scheduling.
• redpanda-cookbook — Kafka-compatible event streaming for pipelines and near-real-time processing.
• streamlit-cookbook — Rapid data applications for sharing analytical tools with users.
• superset-cookbook — Business-intelligence dashboards and SQL exploration.

• h3-cookbook — Hierarchical hexagonal indexing for spatial aggregation and multi-scale summaries.
• keplergl-cookbook — Interactive large-scale geospatial visualization for exploratory analysis.
• martin-cookbook — High-performance vector-tile serving from spatial databases and geospatial sources.

• authelia-cookbook — Self-hosted single sign-on and access control for internal applications.
• caddy-cookbook — Reverse proxy and automated TLS patterns for publishing services safely.
• elasticsearch-cookbook — Indexing and querying document or event data for search and operational analytics.
• grafana-cookbook — Dashboards and alerts for pipeline, application, and infrastructure health.
• minio-cookbook — S3-compatible object storage for datasets, artifacts, backups, and spatial assets.
• mosquitto-cookbook — MQTT messaging for telemetry, sensors, and lightweight event-driven systems.
• ollama-fleet-cookbook — Local LLM service operations, model availability, and fleet observability.
• portainer-cookbook — Container administration for repeatable self-hosted service management.
• prometheus-cookbook — Metrics collection, alert rules, and reliability monitoring.
• uptime-kuma-cookbook — Self-hosted uptime checks and service-status monitoring.
• vaultwarden-cookbook — Self-hosted password-manager operations and security-conscious deployment.

• exiftool-cookbook — File metadata extraction for imagery provenance and digital-asset workflows.
• pdfplumber-cookbook — PDF text and table extraction for document-ingestion pipelines.
• pymupdf-cookbook — PDF parsing, text extraction, page processing, and transformation.
• waybackpy-cookbook — Wayback Machine lookup for source history and web provenance.

• amass-cookbook — Domain and attack-surface discovery for authorized security research.
• blackbird-cookbook — Public username discovery with evidence limits and responsible-use guidance.
• censys-cookbook — Internet-exposure research for lawful, scoped asset inventory.
• certstream-cookbook — Certificate-transparency monitoring to discover newly observed certificates and domains.
• dnsrecon-cookbook — DNS enumeration and validation for authorized domain inventory and troubleshooting.
• ghunt-cookbook — Public account-related OSINT with privacy and lawful-use boundaries.
• h8mail-cookbook — Email-exposure intelligence with privacy and authorization safeguards.
• holehe-cookbook — Public account-registration signals, documenting limits on inference and personal-data use.
• instaloader-cookbook — Collection of accessible Instagram content/metadata subject to platform rules and privacy constraints.
• intelowl-cookbook — Threat-intelligence enrichment and indicator analysis across supported sources.
• ipwhois-cookbook — IP registration and network metadata for provenance and investigation triage.
• maigret-cookbook — Cross-site public username discovery with responsible OSINT caveats.
• misp-cookbook — Structured threat-intelligence sharing and event modeling for defensive operations.
• nuclei-cookbook — Template-based checks on owned or authorized targets with safe-scope guidance.
• phoneinfoga-cookbook — Phone-number OSINT for authorized validation, with strong privacy caveats.
• reconng-cookbook — Modular OSINT workflows for authorized assessments and repeatable investigations.
• scrapy-cookbook — Structured web crawling with permission, rate-limit, and provenance controls.
• sherlock-cookbook — Public username search with evidence limits and responsible-use caveats.
• shodan-cookbook — Internet-connected device search for authorized exposure awareness.
• snscrape-cookbook — Public web/social-source collection with platform terms and provenance.
• spiderfoot-cookbook — OSINT automation and correlation for authorized security research.
• subfinder-cookbook — Passive subdomain discovery for authorized domain inventory.
• sublist3r-cookbook — Subdomain enumeration for scoped testing and domain inventory.
• theharvester-cookbook — Public-source domain/contact discovery for authorized reconnaissance.

# Python stack
pip install geopandas duckdb pystac rasterio h3

# System stack
sudo apt install gdal-bin postgresql postgis pgrouting

# Docker stack
docker-compose up -d  # pgrouting-cookbook

Geospatial developers, GIS analysts, data engineers, and Python developers who need reproducible methods with clearly stated validation scope for spatial data workflows — and communities and families who want honest, sourced answers about the places around them.

• The Observatory — living map layers, a STAC imagery catalog, a weekly intel digest, community briefs, and family guides, all sourced and dated.
• Cookbooks — open-source methods with explicit validation scope for every layer of the geospatial stack.
• Data infrastructure — DuckDB analytics, PostGIS system of record.
• Tooling — conversion (GDAL), Python (GeoPandas), routing (pgRouting), rasters (COG/STAC), frontend (MapLibre), grids (H3).
• AI ops — Ollama fleet management.

ZQM Labs builds location games (Z's Quests & Mischief) with open geospatial methods — the same craft behind these cookbooks. ZQM Computing provides the supporting infrastructure behind those games: the methods, tools, and data infrastructure they are built on. The two projects are siblings: shared methods, shared love of real places, each standing on its own. The OSINT and geospatial-data cookbooks are intended to feed location data into the ZQM game platform; the core geospatial stack itself does not depend on the games.

Licenses vary by repo — see each repo's LICENSE file. The Observatory (zqm-observatory) is Apache 2.0 for code and CC BY 4.0 for data products.

Contact: zqmcomputing@gmail.com

Built once in Volusia, built to travel.