September Edition:

We're excited to be back with another evening of Database Internals!

This time, we'll look at what happens when open table formats meet native engines. Apache Iceberg V3 and Apache Parquet now carry geospatial types directly in table schemas and metadata, and ClickHouse is learning to keep its MergeTree ingestion speed while continuously landing the same data in Iceberg and Delta. With talks from Snowflake and ClickHouse, the evening will get into the spec-level and engine-level mechanics that let one dataset serve many engines.

As always, there will be plenty of time for networking, discussion, and snacks 🍕.

Event Details:
📍 Venue: AWS, Oskar-von-Miller-Ring 20, 80333
📅 Date & Time: Wednesday, September 24 2026, doors open at 18:30

Powering Spatial Analytics: Native Geospatial Types in Apache Iceberg

Abstract: Querying spatial data at scale in data lakes has historically relied on a mix of different storage formats, hindering interoperability and effective cross-engine metadata use. The introduction of native geospatial types to Apache Iceberg V3 and Apache Parquet elevated spatial concepts directly into table schemas and metadata.
In this talk, Philipp Fischbeck, Software Engineer at Snowflake, walks through the architectural journey of native geospatial types in Iceberg. We will trace how historical spatial representations evolved into native specification standards, break down the mechanics of planar Geometry versus spherical Geography coordinate systems, and demonstrate how query engines like Snowflake can perform spatial file pruning. Finally, we'll look behind the scenes at the open-source community effort across Apache Parquet and Iceberg that made standardized spatial lakehouse data possible.
Speaker Bio: Philipp Fischbeck is a Software Engineer on the SQL Data Types team at Snowflake, where he works on making complex data shapes, especially geospatial types, convenient and efficient to store and query. His work focuses on Snowflake's core SQL engine