Sven Schmitz-Leuffen, GIS and Technical Solutions Lead at the International Committee of the Red Cross has a problem, how to know where and to whom should the ICRC be delivering support to? Well here is where the Gap Map comes in, a comprehensive collection of needs assessments that allow the ICRC to identify the literal 'gaps' in support. We discuss the practicalities of such a map, the pros and cons of the UN cluster system (and the potential existence of a Data Cluster), and the joys of working within the legal parametres laid out in the ICRC's mandate.

From time to time, one feels the need to break with tradition, and while this podcast has normally only dealt with planetary GIS and mapping, in this episode we go beyond our atmosphere and look up and out. Prof. Sung Huang, associate professor at the Department of Astronomy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, lets us into his universe and tells us bout his dream map - a four dimensional rendering of the universes almost infinite galactic bodies. Though the subject matter is out fo this world, Prof. Huang's perspective highlights the importance of understand the galaxy on the future of humanity and our development as a species. So come learn the importance of having dark skies, the impact satellite mega constellations have on our mental health, and why what is going on out there is so important to what is going on down here.

Links:

Dark Skies International

Interactive dark sky map

Song's experiment: The Multiplexed Survey Telescope

In this episode I am joined by Maaz Sheikh, young GIS entrepeneur and start up king. Ageospatial, the platform he created, uses AI agents and large language models (LLMs) to assist the less GIS savvy in creating their maps. While a contentious issue, he says his platformed is designed to improve accessibility to geospatial data. He tells us about his passion for calisthenics and sports and why so little geospatial data is available for outdoor activity areas. His map would take down the boundaries of data accessibility held within private servers and location data that is simply not geocoded yet.

Links:

https://ageospatial.com