The MapScaping Podcast - GIS, Geospatial, Remote Sensing, earth observation and digital geography

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 applications, particularly in low-resource settings and predictive modeling. Whether you're into AI, geography, or just curious about the intersection of these fields, this episode is packed with insights. Key Takeaways: What is Satclip?: Learn about Satclip's location encoding, a neural network that converts geographic coordinates into numerical...

In this episode, I welcome Jason Gilman, a Principal Software Engineer at Element 84, to explore the exciting world of natural language geocoding. Key Topics Discussed: Introduction to Natural Language Geocoding: Jason explains the concept of natural language geocoding and its significance in converting textual descriptions of locations into precise geographical data. This involves using large language models to interpret a user's natural language input, such as "the coast of Florida south of Miami," and transform it into an accurate polygon that represents that specific area on a map. This process automates and simplifies how...

This podcast episode is all about semantic search and using embeddings to analyse text and social media data. Dominik Weckmüller, a researcher at the Technical University of Dresden, talks about his PhD research, where he looks at how to analyze text with geographic references.  He explains hyperloglog and embeddings, showing how these methods capture the meaning of text and can be used to search big databases without knowing the topics beforehand. Here are the main points discussed: Intro to Semantic Search and Hyperloglog: Looking at social media data by counting different us...

In this episode, we welcome back Lauren Guy, CEO and founder of ASTERRA, a groundbreaking company using L band and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for commercial purposes. Lauren shares his journey as a geophysicist and discusses the innovative applications of L band in detecting water leakages, soil moisture, and even minerals from space. Dive deep into the technical, commercial, and environmental aspects of SAR technology and learn about the future potential of this exciting field. **Key Topics Covered:** **Introduction to Astera**:    - Overview of Asterra's mission and Lauren Guy's background as a geophysicist.    - The...

Cloud-native geospatial, range requests, chucks, COGs and COPCs ... [ insert confusing acronym here ]  Sometimes It feels like we need to learn a whole new vocabulary and if you have been doing #geo for a while you might be wondering how much of this is actually going to impact me. What bits of this are the ones that I need to know about?  I don’t think that anyone is going to be talking about cloud native in 10 years, in the same way, no one talks about digital cartography or computer analysis because where else would you do y...

Mappedin started as a school project and evolved into a leading indoor mapping company, working with malls, airports, hospitals, and Fortune 500 companies.   You guessed, today's podcast is all about indoor mapping, why it's hard, what are the use cases driving it, what the state of the art looks like today and what we can expect in the future.   Key points discussed include: 1. **The Challenge of Indoor Mapping**: Unlike outdoor mapping, indoor environments are complex due to the density of objects and frequent changes. Moreover, indoor spaces are mostly private pr...

Hugo Powell, from immap.org shares his expert insights on how GIS technologies are leveraged to analyze data, visualize scenarios, and facilitate rapid decision-making during emergencies. Here are the key tools mentioned: 1. **Kobo Toolbox**: An open-source tool used for data collection in humanitarian contexts. Kobo Toolbox allows for both quantitative and qualitative data collection and is operational offline, which is crucial in areas with limited internet connectivity. It supports geospatial data collection and can be used for needs assessments in settings like refugee camps. 2. **ODK Collect**: Similar to Kobo Toolbox, ODK Collect is...

AI Autocomplete for QGIS Brendan Ashworth the CTO and co-founder of https://buntinglabs.com/ focuses on integrating AI with QGIS, and today on the podcast we are talking about Autocomplete for vectorization. Along the way Brendan will share with us why Bunting Labs chose to build this on top of QGIS, the Challenges in Map Digitization, what the development process was like and how this is different from tools like Segment Anything ( from meta )  Here's what we discussed: Introduction to Bunting Labs: Get to know more about Brendan and Bunting Labs, w...

GNSS receivers - why precise positioning will not be coming to your phone any time soon   Igor is the CEO and cofounder of Emlid.com a company that started out making high-precision GNSS receivers in his kitchen and crowd-funded the first batch on Kickstarter.    But that was over ten years ago so today on the podcast Igor is going to tell us about the innovations that made this possible, give a great explanation of RTK and PPP and explain why we should expect to see high precision positioning on your phone any...

Refactoring the Way you Talk About your geospatial skills: It is Costing you Money Some of the key topics in this episode  1.Our Geospatial Skills and Marketability: There's a realization that while our traditional geospatial skills are valuable, they might not always be marketed effectively to match the broader IT and data analysis job markets. We discuss the benefit of framing our skills in terms that are more widely recognized outside the niche of geospatial technology, such as data science or IT. 2.The Spatial Discount: We explore the concept of the spatial discount, w...

Modern geospatial - not the bleeding edge of geospatial but modern geospatial - what is it? Well my guest Will Cadell, the CEO of SparkGeo describes modern geospatial as the intersection of the cloud, smart space, open source data/standards, AI and smart devices - that's modern geospatial  And as you will hear during the discussion it's important to understand the difference between modernisation and innovation when we think about moving people from where they are now to where they want to be with regards to their geospatial capabilities.  You might be wondering...

The main topics discussed during this episode include: Basics of LIDAR data and its applications. Differences between LIDAR and photogrammetry. Processing chain of LIDAR data. Challenges in classifying point clouds. Applications of LIDAR technology in vegetation mapping, terrain modelling, and infrastructure inspection. The future of LIDAR technology includes the potential for more affordable and widespread use. Importance of automated processing tools for handling large volumes of data. Connect with Nejc Dougan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nejcdougan/ or at https://www.flai.ai/    Recommended listening    Cloud Opti...

Alex Leith is a Digital Earth Architect and in this episode, you will learn what Infrastructure as code is  - hint it is the opposite of the "clicky-clicky" and so much more! Connect with Alex here https://auspatious.com/   Recommended Listening  Cloud-Optimized Point CLounds https://mapscaping.com/podcast/cloud-optimized-point-clouds/   Cloud Native Geospatial  https://mapscaping.com/podcast/cloud-native-geospatial/   Planet Scale Tiled Maps without a Server https://mapscaping.com/podcast/planet-scale-tiled-maps-without-a-server/   What is Modern GIS h...

GeeMap is an open-source Python library that provides tools for interactive mapping with Google Earth Engine (GEE), which is a platform for earth science data and analysis ... and today you are going to hear from the creator of GeeMap!   Connect with Qiusheng Wu here: https://wetlands.io/   This episode is sponsored by Planet learn more at https://www.planet.com/gis/   Recommended Listening Introduction to Google Earth Engine https://mapscaping.com/podcast/introducing-google-earth-engine/   Introduction to Sentinel Hub <...

GPS reimagined? Why do we need to reimagine GPS? ... Is it broken?   Recommended Podcast Episodes   How Google Calculates Your Location https://mapscaping.com/podcast/how-google-calculates-your-location/   From GNSS To VPS https://mapscaping.com/podcast/from-gnss-to-vps/   Navigating The Past Present and Future of GNSS https://mapscaping.com/podcast/navigating-the-past-present-and-future-of-gnss/   SatelliteBased Augmentation System - A Base Station In The Sky https://mapscaping.com/podcast/satellite-based-augmentation-system-a-base-station-in-the-sky/  

Nyall Dawson is a QGIS developer, cartographer, and owner and founder of North Road, a company specializing in open-source geospatial software. His journey into geospatial began with personal interests in mapping and cartography, which later evolved into a business called North Road. But that's not why I wanted to make this episode for you, I wanted to share this story with you because it could be your story too.  You could decide to have a story that starts with contributing to something you care about, which leads to you becoming a known expert w...

This episode is all about making beautiful maps ... I am not a cartographer but my guest Mamata Akella is a professional cartographer at Felt!  So today on the podcast we are talking about Essential Elements of Map Design: Which of course starts with questions like - who is it for, what is it for and how do we get it to them? And then moves on to Visual Hierarchy,   Zoom-Based Styling, Color Palettes, and Interpretation We discuss a few practical examples during the conversation and you can find links to those in...

Planet manufactures and manages the world’s largest constellation of earth observation satellites! Imaging “Just about everywhere on earth just about every day – Making change visible, accessible, and actionable” … and the hope of this episode is to help you understand how they do that – along the way you will hear about their two constellations and how they work together Learn the difference between ghost ships and dark ships and find out that there are very few ground control points in the ocean and why that matters Find out what this means for GIS and permit enfor...

This episode is a story about wide-angle imaging for fire mapping and maritime search but it's also a story about changing the culture and getting people to trust a new way of doing things.   My guest today is Alison Harrod - mission success manager at a start-up called Overwatch imaging    Whenever I work with a company like Overwatch Imaging it is hard to know which story to tell, we could just as easily have made an episode about AI and object detection or about smart sensors because they do those things too...

It's not about becoming an influencer it's about creating opportunities for yourself   In this episode, we tackle the common misconception that personal branding is solely for influencers, revealing how it's actually about creating the right visibility and opportunities in your professional sphere. Helena Merschdorf shares her unique insights, drawing from her rich background in GIS and marketing, and discusses: Solving the Obscurity Problem: Discover how personal branding can help you get noticed by the right people, not just everyone. Effective Communication in Technical Fields: Learn the art of conveying complex GIS concepts t...