This episode examines the Common Space initiative, a non-profit project dedicated to building and launching high-resolution optical satellites designed specifically for humanitarian purposes, such as aiding populations at risk from climate events and conflict.  Although there are over a thousand Earth observation satellites currently in orbit, high-resolution imagery remains...

I’ve been playing around with a lot of large language models lately, and it is absolutely fascinating to watch them work. But what happens when you bring that directly into QGIS? Right now, AI in the geospatial industry is a lot like a fast, enthusiastic new intern, incredibly helpful,...

Geospatial Product Swiss Army Knife 1. The “Build It and They Won’t Come” Trap We have all seen it: a talented geospatial professional spends months—perhaps years—perfecting a technically sophisticated web map or a niche data service, only to release it to a deafening silence. In our industry, the “build...

Why Machine-Writing Code is the Best (and Most Dangerous) Thing for Geospatial:   The current discourse surrounding AI coding is nothing if not polarized. On one side, the technofuturists urge us to throw away our keyboards; on the other, skeptics dismiss Large Language Models (LLMs) as little more than...

How can you accurately aggregate and compare point-based data from different parts of the world? When analyzing crime rates, population, or environmental factors, how do you divide the entire globe into equal, comparable units for analysis?   For data scientists and geospatial analysts, these are fundamental challenges. The solution...

The Open-Source Conundrum   Many successful open-source projects begin with passion, but the path from a community-driven tool to a sustainable business is often a trap.   The most common route—relying on high-value consulting contracts—can paradoxically lead to operational chaos. Instead of a “feast or famine” cycle, many companies...

Open-source software is often described as “free,” a cornerstone of the modern digital world available for anyone to download, use, and modify. But this perception of “free” masks a growing and invisible cost—not one paid in dollars, but in the finite attention, time, and mounting pressure placed on the...

What if communities could map their own worlds using low-cost drones and open AI models instead of waiting for expensive satellite imagery? In this episode with Leen from HOT (Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team), we explore how they’re putting open mapping tools directly into communities’ hands—from $500 drones that fly in...

This conversation with Jed Sundwall, Executive Director of Radiant Earth, starts with a simple but crucial distinction: the difference between data and data products. And that distinction matters more than you might think. We dig into why so many open data portals feel like someone just threw up a...

Reflections from the FOSS4G 2025 conference    Processing, Analysis, and Infrastructure (FOSS4G is Critical Infrastructure) The high volume of talks on extracting meaning from geospatial data—including Python workflows, data pipelines, and automation at scale—reinforced the idea that FOSS4G represents critical infrastructure. AI Dominance: AI took up a lot of...

Karl returns to the Mapscaping podcast to discuss his latest venture, Tyche Insights – a platform aimed at building a global community of geospatial storytellers working with open data. In this conversation, we explore the evolution from his previous company, Building Footprint USA (acquired by Lightbox), to this new...

AI Slop: An Experiment in Discovery Solo Episode Reflection: I’m back behind the mic after about a year-long break. Producing this podcast takes more time than you might imagine, and I was pretty burnt out. The last year brought some major life events, including moving my family back to...

Scribble: An AI Agent for Web Mapping – Beyond the Chatbot Wrapper Jonathan Wagner, CEO of Scribble Maps, is back on the podcast, and this time we’re talking about Scribble—an AI agent he’s built into his platform. AI agents are appearing in web mapping platforms, but not all AI...

Mapping the Future: An Expert Update on Mapillary, Open Data, and Meta’s Strategy What is Mapillary? Building the World’s Database with Street-Level Imagery The core idea of Mapillary, which started in 2013, remains highly relevant today. Mapillary is a platform designed for people to easily contribute to building a...

Telematics Data is Reshaping Our Understanding of Road Networks In this episode MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan explains how Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) is transforming traditional road network analysis by layering dynamic behavioural data onto static map geometries.  Telematics data creates “living maps” that go beyond traditional road geometry and...

In this week’s episode, I’m thrilled to welcome back Ariel Seidman, founder of HiveMapper. Ariel was my very first podcast guest back in 2019, and HiveMapper has come a long way since then! We explore how HiveMapper has evolved from a drone-based mapping system to a cutting-edge platform collecting...

Tracking elephants in Southern Africa’s Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) region, the largest transfrontier conservation area in the world. Lead scientist Robin Naidoo from the World Wildlife Fund-US explains the complex, cross-border collaboration required to understand elephant movements across vast landscapes and the role of GNSS.   Connected with Robin  https://www.worldwildlife.org/experts/robin-naidoo  ...

Today’s episode touches on some pretty big topics like Imposter Syndrome, Mentorship, Career Progression, Adaptability and Diversity Today you are going to hear two stories from two very different voices. Two brilliant people who happen to be women in geospatial.    Ta Taneka https://www.linkedin.com/in/ta-taneka/ Mary Murphy https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-murphy-12319433/   You...

In this episode, Marco Bernasocchi, co-founder and CEO of OpenGIS.ch, introduces us to QField, an open-source mobile application designed for field data collection in conjunction with QGIS. Marco shares his journey in developing QField and discusses its seamless in integration with QGIS, allowing users to capture, survey, and manage...

Analyst To Engineer This is the story of Priscilla Cole, and what she did when she discovered that her ambitions were bigger than the tools she was using! Connect with Priscilla here! https://www.linkedin.com/in/priscilla-cole-5892549/ Recommended Listening The Way You Talk About Your Skills Is Costing You Money Geospatial Consulting As...

In this episode, I’m joined by Konstantine Klemmer, a researcher at Microsoft, to dive deep into the fascinating world of GeoAI. Konstantine introduces us to Satclip, a cutting-edge model that encodes geographic locations based on satellite images. We discuss how Satclip works, the data it uses, and its potential...