Author Image

Hi, I am Tim

Tim Holthaus

Policy Officer at Federal Logistics and Mobility Office (BALM)

Since 2015, I have been working in transport research – always with a passion for turning complex data into meaningful insights. My focus lies on the processing of big and novel data sources (such as mobile network data, floating car data, etc.) for transportation planning and research. This includes data fusion and, whenever possible, record linkage. The goal: to better predict the factors influencing mobility while accounting for the full interplay between mobility options and the spatial distribution of origins and destinations.

My academic work has revolved around network planning, the functional classification of spaces, and urban logistics – particularly extending the concept of urban logistics to all relevant stakeholders. I also conducted large-scale analyses of public transport accessibility and its comparison with car accessibility, based on the EU-wide network model developed in my dissertation and parameterized with floating car data.

But I am not only defined by research. As a father, I’ve learned that logistics at home can sometimes be more challenging than urban logistics on paper. Beyond family life, I simply enjoy analysis – whether it’s mobility networks, open-source projects, or everyday puzzles. Curiosity keeps me going.

For detailed information about my work click here

Adaptability
Research Integrity
Team Collaboration
Informed Decision-Making
Problem Solving
Analytical Reasoning
Data Analysis
Quantitative Methods
Scientific Communication

Skills

Cloud Computing

Worked with most of the major clouds such as GCP, AWS, Azure etc.

Docker

Write most of the programs as dockerized container. Experienced with multi-stage, multi-arch build process.

Linux

Using as the main operating system. Capable of writing bash/shell scripts.

Git

Experienced with git-based development.

R

Advanced data analysis and visualization with R.

PostgreSQL / PostGIS

Strong experience in spatial and relational database management. Used for large-scale data processing, network analysis, and geospatial operations including topology handling.

Java

Know basic Java programming. Used for contest programming, problem solving and App-development.

Python

Working knowledge of Python for data analysis, routing applications, and backend development. Currently expanding toward advanced data science and web integration.

Apache Spark

High-level experience with distributed data processing. Exploring large-scale data workflows and performance optimization.

Rust

Know basic Rust programming. Used for contest programming and problem solving.

LaTeX

Experienced in scientific writing using LaTeX, particularly with the KOMA-Script scrbook and beamer class for structured documents.

Adaptability

Flexible in adapting to new methods, tools, and evolving research or project requirements.

Research Integrity

Committed to rigorous, transparent, and reproducible research practices.

Collaboration

Experienced in working effectively within interdisciplinary teams and project environments.

Decision-Making

Capable of making informed, data-driven decisions under uncertainty.

Problem Solving

Strong ability to structure and solve complex analytical and technical problems.

Analytical Reasoning

Advanced analytical thinking applied to data interpretation and model-based insights.

Data Analysis

Extensive experience in analyzing large datasets using R, SQL, and related tools.

Quantitative Methods

Application of statistical and quantitative methods for research and practical problem-solving.

Scientific Communication

Ability to clearly communicate complex results to both academic and non-technical audiences.

Job Stations

1
Federal Logistics and Mobility Office (BALM)

April 2026 - Present

Cologne

Policy Officer – Statistics Division (V2), BMV-Forschungsnetzwerk

April 2026 - Present

antwortING – Beratende Ingenieure PartGmbB

October 2025 - March 2026

Cologne

antwortING – Beratende Ingenieure PartGmbB is an engineering consultancy that specializes in improving disaster prevention, offering practical solutions for fire services, emergency medical care and crisis management.

Lead Engineer for Mobility and Logistics

October 2025 - March 2026

Responsibilities:
  • Leading the transport, mobility, and spatial planning product segment.
  • Developing automated analytical pipelines for accessibility and criticality assessments in emergency and civil protection systems.
2
3
University of Wuppertal, Chair of Freight Transport Planning and Transport Logistics

August 2012 - June 2025

Wuppertal

The Chair of Freight Transport Planning and Transport Logistics at the University of Wuppertal focuses on planning and optimizing sustainable, efficient freight transport within broader transport and spatial systems.

Senior Lecturer/ Academic Councillor

June 2021 - June 2025

Responsibilities:
  • Conceptualizing, coordinating, and acquiring interdisciplinary research projects.
  • Collaborating closely with planning teams, research units, and external partners.
  • Designing and implementing analytical methods and models (e.g., accessibility analyses based on OSM and GTFS) to reduce methodological uncertainty through transparent and reproducible modeling.
  • Building reproducible data pipelines in Python, R, and PostgreSQL/PostGIS to support strategic decision-making.
  • Leading the methodological development of core analytical approaches (de facto lead role).
  • Evaluating and advancing existing guidelines and planning frameworks (e.g., network design and infrastructure planning principles).
  • Teaching and supervising academic theses.
Research Associate

January 2015 - June 2021

Responsibilities:
  • Coordinating and contributing to interdisciplinary research projects.
  • Collaborating closely with planning teams, research units, and external partners.
  • Designing and implementing analytical methods and models to reduce methodological uncertainty through transparent and reproducible modeling.
  • Building reproducible data pipelines in Python, R, and PostgreSQL/PostGIS to support strategic decision-making.
  • Evaluating and advancing existing guidelines and planning frameworks (e.g., network and design principles).
  • Teaching and supervising academic theses.
Research Assistant

August 2012 - January 2015

ZeitOnline

May 2020 - Present

Hamburg

Consulting on spatial data analysis with a focus on accessibility and geospatial modeling for media applications.

Consultant

May 2020 - Present

Responsibilities:
  • Methodological consulting, particularly on the analysis and visualization of spatial data (e.g., hospital accessibility).
4
5
IRI - Institut für Raumforschung & Immobilienwirtschaft

June 2020 - June 2021

Dortmund

GIS-focused data analysis and data consulting.

Analyst

June 2020 - June 2021

Freelancer

January 2018 - June 2021

Wuppertal

GIS-focused data analysis consulting with emphasis on mobility/transport, advising companies, public authorities, and media.

CEO

January 2018 - June 2021

6

Recent Posts

Hero Image
Jevons Paradox: Efficiency That Increases, Not Saves, Energy Use

An introduction to the Jevons Paradox William Stanley Jevons published The Coal Question in 1865, warning that improving the efficiency of coal‑powered steam engines might not reduce coal consumption; it could increase it because cheaper power would spread across more industries and households.1 2 His observation—that making a resource use more efficient can lead to more consumption overall, not less—has become known as the Jevons Paradox, often discussed today under the broader idea of “rebound effects.”3 2

Friday, April 10, 2026 | 9 minutes Read
Hero Image
Real fuel prices in Germany as of 2025

The Story Today I came across several plots showing the development of real fuel prices in Germany since 1970, generated with the help of AI. At first glance, some of the price spikes appeared unusually high and did not seem fully consistent with a long-term economic perspective. To verify this, I decided to reconstruct inflation-adjusted fuel prices myself. For this purpose, I used two data sources: the annual inflation rates provided by Destatis and historical fuel price data from ADAC dating back to 1950. By combining these datasets, I recalculated all historical fuel prices to a common reference level—namely the price level at the end of 2025.

Tuesday, April 7, 2026 | 2 minutes Read
Hero Image
Cost Comparison: Public Transport, Ecomobility, and Car Use in Germany

Text is Work-In-Progress Introduction Public debate about mobility often focuses on ticket prices, fuel costs, or whether “owning a car pays off.” This perspective is too narrow. Mobility is not just an individual consumption choice but also a question of infrastructure, spatial structure, social participation, and societal financing. Anyone seriously examining the cost comparison between cars and public transport must consider both direct household expenditures and broader macroeconomic consequences.1 2 In Germany, mobility is spatially very unevenly organized. In densely urban areas, many trips can be completed using the Umweltverbund (ecomobility; the sustainable bundle of public transport, cycling, and walking). In rural areas, however, cars are often not merely a convenience option but a prerequisite for everyday mobility.3 4 This creates a fundamental difference: while cities primarily ask how mobility can be organized affordably and with low emissions, rural areas frequently grapple with ensuring mobility reliability in the first place.4 5

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | 10 minutes Read
Hero Image
Teaching & Supervision

Courses Bergische Universität Wuppertal Computersimulationen des Fußverkehrs, ÖPNV- und Straßenverkehrs (Teil 5.18-a) Computer Simulation of Pedestrian, Public Transport and Road Traffic (Part 5.18-a) Period: 04/2022 – 04/2025 Role: Primary Instructor Responsibilities: Full responsibility for course design, teaching, and assessment Focus: Public transport and road traffic Grundlagen der Verkehrsmodellierung und Systemtheorie Fundamentals of Transport Modelling and Systems Theory Period: 10/2019 – 04/2023 Role: Co-Instructor Responsibilities: Co-responsible for course design, teaching, and examinations Netzgestaltung im Güterverkehr Network Design in Freight Transport

Monday, March 23, 2026 | 5 minutes Read
Hero Image
Research Dissemination

Research Presentations 2024 Erreichbarkeit von Krankenhäusern Accessibility of hospitals SciCar 2024 – Joint workshop with Lars Koppers (SMC), Ulrich Lang (SWR) and Sven Lautenbach (HeiGIT & Heidelberg University) Dortmund, Germany · 27.09.2024 2023 Methodik und Ergebnisse der Multi-Source-Analysen – Teil: Erreichbarkeit und Pendeln Methodology and results of multi-source analyses – focus on accessibility and commuting Final conference of the project VerBindungen Berlin, Germany · 03.11.2023 VerBindungen: Pendlergewichtete Reisezeiten im mIV und ÖPV VerBindungen: commuter-weighted travel times in private and public transport Statistische Woche 2023 Dortmund, Germany · 11.09.2023

Monday, March 23, 2026 | 2 minutes Read
Hero Image
Medial Publications/Work

2026 Science Media Center (2026) Neue Mindestfallzahlen für Knie-OP – Auswirkungen auf die Erreichbarkeit von Kliniken: Calculation of travel times based on the 100 m grid (GeoGrid) of the 2022 Census. 📅 24.04.2026 In the coming years, the number of hospitals performing orthopedic knee surgeries is expected to decrease due to new minimum case volume regulations. This consolidation is likely to result in longer travel times to the remaining facilities.

Monday, March 23, 2026 | 4 minutes Read

Featured Posts

Hero Image
Cost Comparison: Public Transport, Ecomobility, and Car Use in Germany

Text is Work-In-Progress Introduction Public debate about mobility often focuses on ticket prices, fuel costs, or whether “owning a car pays off.” This perspective is too narrow. Mobility is not just an individual consumption choice but also a question of infrastructure, spatial structure, social participation, and societal financing. Anyone seriously examining the cost comparison between cars and public transport must consider both direct household expenditures and broader macroeconomic consequences.1 2 In Germany, mobility is spatially very unevenly organized. In densely urban areas, many trips can be completed using the Umweltverbund (ecomobility; the sustainable bundle of public transport, cycling, and walking). In rural areas, however, cars are often not merely a convenience option but a prerequisite for everyday mobility.3 4 This creates a fundamental difference: while cities primarily ask how mobility can be organized affordably and with low emissions, rural areas frequently grapple with ensuring mobility reliability in the first place.4 5

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | 10 minutes Read
Hero Image
Influence of the Planned Hospital Reform on Accessibility

Background Last year, Julius Tröger approached me and informed me about the ongoing discussion regarding the hospital reform in Germany. We already knew each other from a joint project for ZeitOnline, where we calculated the accessibility of vaccination centers for various scenarios.1 Yes, 2021 was a crazy year. Now… since the workflow for examining hospital accessibility is very similar, if not identical, it quickly became clear that we would collaborate again this time.

Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 5 minutes Read
Hero Image
Function to determine German holidays in PostgreSQL-12

Background Big data must be enriched with other information so that observations and behavior can be analyzed exaltly. This also includes holidays because they have a strong influence on people’s behavior. So that the holidays do not have to be researched manually for each year, it is advisable to convert the logic behind the (German) holidays into a plpgsql function (see below – tested with PostgreSQL 12). PSQL-Function Holidays that are not defined by an exact date are dependent on Easter. The lower function returns the date for Easter Sunday for the desired year.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020 | 3 minutes Read
Hero Image
Interactive Accessibility Analysis in Public Transport Using GTFS Data

Data-Driven Accessibility in Public Transport Planning As an initial example of data-driven accessibility analysis in public transport planning, this study presents an evaluation based on timetable data. The analysis relies on data provided in the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format, supplied by the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg under a Creative Commons V3 license. Technical Background Using a spatial grid with a resolution of 100 × 100 meters, travel time isochrones are computed and visualized under defined parameters, such as departure or arrival time, and maximum walking distance. The computation of a single isochrone takes approximately one second, enabling efficient and systematic comparisons between existing (as-is) and planned (target) service scenarios. This analytic approach is particularly effective for identifying accessibility deficits in current timetables and supports evidence-based strategies for developing or updating local public transport plans.

Sunday, April 22, 2018 | 5 minutes Read

Projects

Interaktives Recherche-Tool zur Erreichbarkeit von Kliniken.
Interaktives Recherche-Tool zur Erreichbarkeit von Kliniken.
Consulting, calculation of accessibility data and data advisory for the Science Media Center (SMC) April 2026

The interactive research tool developed by the Science Media Center Germany enables users to calculate travel times to hospitals and analyze healthcare accessibility. It is designed primarily for local and regional journalists investigating changes in hospital infrastructure, such as closures or reductions in services. The tool supports quick, location-based analyses to assess how such changes affect population coverage, whether accessibility standards are met, and how well nearby hospitals can compensate. For more comprehensive studies, additional data and code can also be provided. Overall, it helps users evaluate the impact of shifts in the healthcare system on regional medical access.

academic media transfer
Details
Welcher Stadtteil passt zu mir?
Welcher Stadtteil passt zu mir?
Consulting, calculation of accessibility data and data advisory for the ZeitMagazin article June 2025

The interactive tool “Which neighborhood suits me?” helps users find the most suitable district in major German cities based on their personal preferences. By considering factors such as affordable rent, low noise levels, and proximity to amenities like swimming lakes, the tool matches users with neighborhoods that best fit their lifestyle and needs.

academic media transfer
Details

Selected Publications and Lectures

Analysis and stress-test of the spatial accessibility to German radiation oncology centers
Strahlentherapie und Onkologie 24 July 2025
Christoph Straube Daniel Medenwald Tim Holthaus

This study evaluates geographic accessibility to radiation oncology centers across Germany using spatial analysis and simulation. It identifies regional disparities and vulnerabilities in healthcare infrastructure, proposing a stress-testing framework for resilience planning.

Radiation Oncology Accessibility Healthcare Planning Geospatial Analysis
Details
Locations of LTL-logistics service providers as urban consolidation centers – the Düsseldorf case and its possible transferability
Transportation Planning and Technology 28 October 2024
Andre Thiemermann Tim Holthaus Patrick Mayregger Bert Leerkamp

The paper analyzes how logistics service providers can function as urban consolidation centers (UCCs) using a Düsseldorf case study. It shows that existing logistics locations can enable sustainable urban freight transport without requiring inner-city space, supporting proximity logistics and better land-use planning.

Urban Logistics Freight Transport Sustainability City Planning
Details
Beispielhafte Anwendung der Richtlinien für die integrierte Netzgestaltung für den Güterverkehr
Straßenverkehrstechnik / FGSV publication 2023
Andre Thiemermann Tim Holthaus

This work demonstrates the application of integrated network design guidelines for freight transport, focusing on German road networks and planning methodologies using geospatial datasets.

Freight Transport Network Design Infrastructure Germany
Identifikation deutscher Straßenentwurfsklassen im Straßennetz von OpenStreetMap / Identification of German Road Design Classes in the OpenStreetMap Road Network
AGIT – Journal für Angewandte Geoinformatik 2022
Tim Holthaus Andre Thiemermann

This paper presents a method to classify German road design standards within OpenStreetMap data. It improves the usability of OSM for transport planning and accessibility analysis by enriching road network attributes.

OpenStreetMap Road Networks Transport Modeling
Details