Podcasts about foss4g

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Tim Steward presents Unity in Code: The Power of Community. Tim explores the shift between commercial entities and open-source projects, emphasizing the critical role that a vibrant "village" or community plays in the long-term success of software projects like PostgreSQL and PostGIS.Drawing from his early career in the Oracle ecosystem to his global travels with the PostgreSQL community, Tim discusses how open-source collaboration fosters professional growth, diversity, and innovation. He highlights the ubiquity of PostgreSQL—often hidden behind the scenes of major ride-sharing, banking, and betting applications—and details how its flexibility, high-transaction performance, and spatial capabilities through PostGIS make it the database of choice for modern enterprise environments.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Maggie Cawley and Jake Low of OpenStreetMap US presents the Trails Stewardship Initiative: Improving Outdoor Recreation Data. The presenters discuss the critical role of OpenStreetMap (OSM) as the primary data source for popular recreation apps like AllTrails and Strava, and the real-world safety and environmental challenges caused by missing or inaccurate trail metadata.Maggie and Jake detail the collaborative efforts of the Trails Stewardship Initiative, a working group bringing together land managers (NPS, USFS, BLM), app companies, and the mapping community to standardize trail schemas and rendering guidelines. They showcase pilot projects in Washington and Utah that improved data for over 300,000 miles of trails, and introduce new tools like "Layercake"—which republishes OSM data as GeoParquet for traditional GIS workflows—and the Digital Trail Ambassador program designed to bridge the gap between volunteer mappers and professional land managers.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Jason Gilman of Element 84 presents When LLMs Meet GIS: Building Reliable Geospatial AI Systems. Jason explores the practical integration of Large Language Models into geospatial workflows, moving beyond the hype to focus on building software that is reliable, cost-effective, and meet real-world user needs.The presentation introduces two open-source libraries: E84-GDAL-AI-Common, which provides core utilities for LLM interaction and structured data extraction, and Natural Language Geometry (NLG), a library that translates human-readable spatial descriptions—like "within 10 miles of the coast"—into precise GIS polygons. Jason also discusses the trade-offs between autonomous "agents" and deterministic "workflows," the importance of tracing and evaluation suites, and how Element 84 built their own geocoding database to overcome the relevancy and polygon-retrieval limitations of traditional tools.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Sophia Parafina, a cloud advocate for the EarthScope Consortium, presents Geophysics in the Cloud. Sophia introduces the mission of EarthScope, a nonprofit organization funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that provides the global scientific community with access to high-quality geophysical data—including seismic, GNSS, SAR, and magnetotelluric observations.The presentation details EarthScope's massive "lift and shift" migration from legacy on-premise infrastructure to a cloud-native environment in AWS, managing over a petabyte of open data. Sophia showcases "GeoLab," a specialized JupyterHub environment that allows researchers to process large-scale geophysical datasets directly in the cloud using tools like Dask, PyTorch, and Apache Arrow. She also demonstrates real-world applications of geophysics, such as using GNSS reflectometry to measure snowpack and soil moisture with millimeter precision.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Adeel Hassan, a senior machine learning engineer at 84.2, presents Bringing it all Together: Knowledge Graphs, LLMs, and Cloud-Native Geospatial Data. Adeel discusses the Noah Knowledge Mesh project, an ambitious initiative funded by NOAA to bridge the gap between complex satellite datasets and real-world user questions through natural language processing.The presentation details a sophisticated architecture that combines Knowledge Graphs for data discovery with Large Language Models (LLMs) for data analysis. By translating natural language queries into a structured, custom formal language, the system can autonomously navigate thousands of NetCDF files, perform complex spatial-temporal computations using Xarray and Dask, and deliver high-level insights directly to the user.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Pete Gadomski of Element 84 presents Cloud Native Geospatial Metadata with STAC GeoParquet. Pete explores the practical application of the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) specification and how the emerging GeoParquet format is addressing the scalability limitations of traditional static and API-based metadata catalogs.The presentation compares traditional "static" (JSON blobs on blob storage) and "dynamic" (API/database-backed) access patterns, highlighting where each falls short when handling millions of items. Pete demonstrates how STAC GeoParquet provides a middle ground—enabling bulk metadata access, efficient full-scans, and direct-to-file searching without the overhead of a database. He also showcases "stac-map," a browser-based visualizer that uses DuckDB to filter and display GeoParquet files directly in the browser, and discusses how organized metadata snapshots can be used to feed and train Large Language Models (LLMs).Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Bruce Momjian, a co-founder and Core Team member of the PostgreSQL Global Development Group, shares his decades of experience on Building Open Source Teams. Bruce explores the unique challenges of leading a global community of volunteers and how "servant leadership" is the key to sustainable open-source success.Moving beyond typical corporate management, Bruce explains why traditional organizational structures often fail in open-source environments. He dives into the deep-seated motivations that drive developers to contribute—ranging from intellectual stimulation to a belief in helping others—and provides a roadmap for how leaders can foster a culture of ownership and pride in code.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Sina Kashuk, co-founder of Fused, presents DuckDB + Rasters: High-Performance Geospatial Analytics with H3 Hexagons. Sina explores how to overcome the traditional challenges of joining raster and vector data by converting raster datasets into a uniform H3 hierarchical grid system, enabling high-speed analytics directly in the browser via DuckDB-Wasm.The presentation features a live demonstration of "Fused Canvas," a serverless Python runtime that processes massive datasets—including CDL (Cropland Data Layer), DEM (Digital Elevation Model), and ERA5 climate data—on the fly. Sina showcases how "hexagonifying" data allows for complex spatial joins, real-time histogram updates, and petabyte-scale time-series analysis while bypassing the limitations of traditional cloud-optimized geotiffs. He also conducts a browser-based stress test, pulling 67 million records and nearly a gigabyte of data in seconds to demonstrate the power of parallelized, cloud-native parquet queries.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Randal Hale of North River Geographic Systems presents Dragging Some FOSS4G into your Closed Source Life. Randal shares a decade of experience transitioning public and private organizations from proprietary GIS stacks to open-source solutions like QGIS and PostGIS.Through a series of candid—and often humorous—case studies, Randal explores the "messy middle" of open-source adoption. He details the reality of replacing expensive commercial software in small-town 911 centers and state agencies, offering practical advice on managing IT hurdles, securing leadership buy-in, and avoiding the "easy button" trap. The talk emphasizes that moving to FOSS4G is a journey rather than a weekend switch, requiring careful planning, community engagement, and a healthy dose of patience.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Calvin Metcalf of the Sanborn Map Company takes a deep dive into an unlikely hero of the modern web: **Cloud Optimized Shapefiles**. While shapefiles are often seen as a relic of the past, Calvin demonstrates how these multi-file structures can be modernized to work natively on the web through clever indexing and byte-range requests.Calvin breaks down the anatomy of shapefiles—from the .shp and .dbf to the often-overlooked .shx, .prj, and .cpg files—and explains the engineering required to make them "cloud optimized." By implementing a QIX (spatial index) file and leveraging Hilbert curves for spatial ordering, he shows how to structure geospatial data so users only download the specific parts they need, significantly reducing data overhead and server requests.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Annie Cartas from the University of Maryland's CATT Lab presents Evolving the Trip Analytics Platform. Annie shares the technical journey of modernizing a transportation analysis web application—transitioning from a legacy Leaflet-based system plagued by "fog of war" loading screens to a high-performance stack powered by MapLibre, PostGIS, and vector tiles.The presentation provides a candid look at how the CATT Lab optimized their geospatial architecture by moving heavy processing from the front-end (Turf.js) to indexed spatial databases, implementing robust three-pronged caching strategies, and leveraging modern open-source tools like deck.gl and PGTILESERVE. Annie also discusses the practical use of AI helpers for PostGIS syntax and MapLibre styling, and the performance benefits of adopting STAC and cloud-native visualization techniques for historical vehicle trip data.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Dan Baston of I-Sciences presents GDAL's New CLI: A Ground-Up Redesign for Consistency and Power. Dan explores the significant overhaul of the GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) command-line interface, moving away from the "swiss-army knife" approach of massive, inconsistent tools like gdalwarp and ogr2ogr toward a suite of single-purpose, highly predictable commands.The presentation introduces the concept of "pipelines," a powerful new way to chain geospatial operations—such as clipping, reprojecting, and simplifying—without the need for intermediate files on disk. Dan also details the new Python API mapping, enhanced tab-completion for complex options, and over 10 brand-new native C++ utilities for raster calculation, zonal stats, and geometry cleaning that were previously only available as Python scripts or separate libraries.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Thomas Machler from Planet introduces a powerful solution for "tame dependency hell"—Pixi. As a fusion of UV and Conda, Pixi is designed to handle the complex intersection of Python dependencies and system-level binaries that often plague geospatial developers.Thomas shares his firsthand experience at Planet, where managing custom GDAL versions and GPU-supported libraries like TensorFlow required hours of manual configuration. He demonstrates how Pixi automates this process by merging PyPI and Conda dependency trees into a single, reliable lock file, ensuring your local environment perfectly matches your CI/CD and production Docker images.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Julia Signell and Jarrett Keifer of Element 84 present Is Zarr the New COG? The presenters tackle the growing debate around whether the Zarr data format is poised to replace Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs) by providing a technical comparison of how each format handles multi-dimensional arrays, chunking, and compression.Julia and Jarrett break down the "apples to oranges" comparison, explaining that while COG is a specialized specification built on top of the TIFF format, Zarr is a generic format for storing hierarchies of n-dimensional arrays. They explore the critical roles of chunking and compression codecs in data performance and demonstrate how, with identical settings, the bytes on disk for a Zarr chunk and a COG tile can be virtually the same. The talk also looks ahead to emerging Zarr conventions, such as GeoZarr and multi-scales, that aim to bring COG-like features to the Zarr ecosystem.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Michele Tobias, a data scientist at UC Davis DataLab, presents Remote Sensing for Plants that are Hard to See. Michele explores the intersection of coastal ecology and geospatial data science, focusing on the challenge of identifying beach vegetation—the "forgotten" architects of protective dune systems—using publicly available remote sensing data and open-source tools like R and QGIS.The presentation highlights the technical difficulties of monitoring beach plants, which are often silvery or sand-covered, making standard greenness indices like NDVI ineffective. Michele tests alternative methods, including the "Cacti Index" adapted for Sentinel-2 data and topographic position indexing (TPI), while discussing the limitations of current public data resolution and the critical need for perfectly paired imagery and elevation datasets to track these rapidly changing environments.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Jarrett Keifer of Element 84 presents ReMaking Cirrus: Reflecting on Five Years of Open Source Data Orchestration. Jarrett takes the audience through the evolution of Cirrus, a specialized framework designed to handle massive geospatial data processing pipelines—from ingest and metadata generation to indexing into searchable STAC catalogs.Jarrett shares the project's journey from its roots in NASA's Cumulus project to its current state as a lightweight, STAC-native orchestrator used to manage over 30 petabytes of data. He provides a candid look at the technical "pendulum swings" the project has experienced, including the bold decision to remove all infrastructure-as-code dependencies and serverless framework logic in response to licensing changes, while distilling five years of development into three key lessons on funding, project vision, and managing technical debt.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Brian Timoney of IQGeo delivers a thought-provoking presentation titled Selling the Contemporary Enterprise Software Experience. Brian reflects on the evolution of open-source geospatial software—from the early days of "selling free" to the modern era where tools like PostgreSQL and PostGIS have won the developer community's hearts but face new challenges in enterprise environments.Brian explores the critical factors that drive enterprise software adoption, including user experience, security, and the "derisking" of technology for decision-makers. He offers a candid look at the importance of maintaining open-source infrastructure in a culture obsessed with the "new and shiny," and makes a bold prediction about the future of GIS in the age of AI.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Ted Banken presents Simplifying the Retrieval of Open Places Data. Ted discusses the challenges of working with massive open datasets like Overture Maps, which contains billions of points globally, and the technical hurdles that prevent non-engineers from easily accessing this data.The presentation provides a practical guide to retrieving "Places" (Points of Interest) data using a variety of open-source tools—from QGIS plugins for visual learners to streamlined packages in R and Python for developers. Ted demonstrates how to find every bagel shop in New York City using cloud-native GeoParquet formats, and introduces "pyplace," a Python package he developed to reduce complex SQL queries into simple, one-line functions for exploratory spatial analysis.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Christopher Seeger, a professor at Iowa State University, presents Teaching FOSS: Building Local Capacity with Open Source Geospatial Tools. Christopher discusses the critical role of University Extension programs in empowering rural communities through data literacy and accessible, free, and open-source software (FOSS).Drawing from over 20 years of experience in geospatial outreach, Christopher outlines a specialized "stack" of tools designed for users who may not be tech-savvy—from city clerks to retired volunteers. He explains how low-barrier tools like geojson.io, Tableau Public, and OpenStreetMap (OSM) can be used to unlock "hidden" community data, such as water usage records or local infrastructure needs, and turn them into actionable insights for local decision-making.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Joseph Holler, Matthew Mills, and Samuel Bernard of Middlebury College present Reproducing Geographic Analysis Studies: Open Science Project-Based Learning. The presenters discuss a unique NSF-funded curriculum that teaches advanced GIS students to apply open science research practices by attempting to computationally reproduce published GI science studies.The presentation provides a deep dive into the course structure, which uses a Project-Based Learning (PBL) framework to move students from introductory GIS software to high-level spatial analysis in R and Python. The students share their experience reproducing a high-profile study on hazardous heat exposure in prisons, detailing the technical hurdles they encountered—such as missing data grids, inconsistent code scripts, and undocumented environments—and how overcoming these obstacles deepened their understanding of geographic validity and the full research life cycle.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Nathan McEachen, founder and CEO of TerraFrame, presents Scalable GeoAI: Harnessing Agents, Knowledge Graphs, and DGGS. Nathan discusses the critical need for scalable, real-time geospatial intelligence in disaster response and resiliency contexts, moving beyond simple chatbots to systems that understand the semantic relationships between geographical features and their downstream impacts.The presentation details a multi-agent architecture that leverages Spatial Knowledge Graphs (SKGs) to model complex relationships and Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) to normalize and aggregate statistical data. Nathan demonstrates how these technologies work together to provide traceable, deterministic answers to natural language questions—such as identifying which census areas are compromised by power failures during a flood—while emphasizing the importance of semantic identity and interoperable data publishing standards to avoid creating new information silos.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Ian Horn from the Kentucky Division of Geographic Information presents KyFromAbove on AWS: Transitioning to an Open Data Platform. Ian shares the story of how the Commonwealth of Kentucky moved its massive library of aerial imagery and elevation data from legacy FTP and physical storage systems to a cloud-native, open-data registry on AWS.The presentation details the technical shift to cloud-optimized formats (COGs) and the implementation of a STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog) API, which now manages over 340 terabytes of data, including high-resolution 3-inch oblique imagery and statewide LiDAR. Ian provides a candid look at the lessons learned during this rapid migration—from mastering the AWS CLI and Python to the significant cost savings achieved by leveraging open data programs—while offering practical advice for other public agencies looking to modernize their data distribution.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Jessica Breen presents Open Access for Open Source. Jessica discusses the launch of a new collaboration between FOSS4G North America and the open-access journal STAX, aimed at bridging the gap between open-source geospatial practice and academic literature.The session outlines an opportunity for conference presenters—whether they delivered talks, workshops, or posters—to publish their work in a dedicated special issue. Jessica explains the benefits of open-access publishing, including retaining copyright and reaching a global audience, while detailing a transparent, collaborative peer-review process designed to be constructive and practitioner-friendly. She also provides practical tips for first-time authors on structuring short "two-pager" articles and sharing data through open repositories.Highlights:

In this session from FOSS4G NA 2025, Tom Allnett and Stephen Smith of Green Info Network present Accessible Mapping for the Parks for California Grant Application Website. The presenters discuss the technical and design challenges of remediating a geospatial web application to meet WCAG accessibility standards, ensuring that complex interactive maps are usable for everyone, including individuals with low vision, color blindness, or those who rely on screen readers and keyboard navigation.Tom and Stephen detail their approach to "comparable experiences," which prioritizes high-contrast visual design, structured text descriptions, and accessible keyboard controls over purely visual map interactions. They share practical implementation strategies using a FOSS stack—including Django, PostGIS, Leaflet, and MapServer—to generate dynamic, deterministic text summaries of spatial data, while also explaining why they currently opt for traditional database intersections over non-deterministic AI solutions for accessibility descriptions.Highlights:

Summary The video recaps the 2024 FOSS4G North America event, highlighting key discussions and innovations in open-source geospatial technology. Highlights Overview of the FOSS4G NA event, focusing on open-source geospatial advancements. Insightful discussions on collaborative projects and community contributions. Presentations from industry leaders and experts in geospatial technology. Networking opportunities that fostered connections among participants. Emphasis on future trends and challenges in the open-source geospatial sector. Keywords #FOSS4G #geospatial #technology #open-source #community #innovation

Nessa semana o Prof. Gustavo Ferreira representou o GeoSensor no FOSS4G, Conferência de Software Livre e de Código Aberto para Geoespacial - Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial - que ocorreu em Belém, PA. Gustavo apresentou o que vivenciou no evento e a importância da integração com a comunidade que atua nessa filosofia de software livre. Parabéns a organização, em especial a Profa. Tati Pará, que foi a Conference Chair. Vale a pena conferir o episódio. Um grande abraço!

Andrea Aime discusses how GeoServer facilitates the serving of Earth observation data, focusing on capabilities like cataloging, filtering, and image mosaicking from satellite data. Highlights

Jenna Dolecek discusses the vital role of open GIS data in investigating human rights violations, presenting projects that leverage geospatial analysis to track detention facilities in Tibet and document the destruction of villages in Myanmar. Highlights

Adeel Hassan discusses the significance of geospatial vector embeddings derived from imagery, highlighting their potential in the geospatial domain through open-source models and tools. Highlights

The FOSS4G NA B2B social brings together open-source leaders from government and industry to network, discuss industry trends, and form partnerships. B2B fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and new business opportunities, aiming to strengthen industry connections and drive growth for participating companies. The mission of B2B is to facilitate networking and interpersonal connections that carry collaboration beyond the FOSS4G NA event and will include attendees from both industry and government. This year's event was hosted by Greater St. Louis, featured a keynote from Square Co-Founder and Author Jim McKelvey.

Elizabeth Christensen discusses effective management of Postgres and PostGIS databases, focusing on operations, resource management, and the importance of indexing. Highlights

Peter Herman and Karina Hoyer discuss beginner-friendly methods for scraping geospatial data from web maps, including techniques using R and Google Sheets. Highlights

The talk presents the Overture Map Foundation, a collaborative initiative aimed at creating reliable and interoperable open map data. The foundation seeks to streamline map data management and provides a unified approach to geographic features through a Global Entity Reference System (GERS). Highlights

Wes Richardet's talk at FOSS4G NA 2024 focuses on improving search capabilities within spatial data lakes using GeoParquet and Apache Lucene. He discusses the evolution of data storage, the need for efficient search solutions, and the integration of different technologies to enhance performance. Highlights

Michele Tobias shares insights on using publicly available data for remote sensing of sandy beaches, emphasizing the challenges of traditional data collection methods and the potential of open-source tools. Highlights

Michael Byrne's keynote at FOSS4G NA 2024 emphasized the interconnection between broadband investment and geospatial development. He highlighted the importance of public policy and funding in fostering these ecosystems, particularly in the context of the U.S. government's role. Highlights

Alex Mandel discusses the challenges in geospatial data exchange, emphasizing the importance of effective data delivery and accessibility. Highlights

Matthew Whitehead discusses leveraging open-source software (FOSS) to create an Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) visualization and analytics framework. The framework aims to analyze publicly available data for decision-making and threat assessment. Highlights

The presentation discusses the development and integration of a render extension for STAC metadata standards to enhance raster visualizations for Earth data science. Highlights

Mark Mathis discusses the integration of artificial intelligence with geospatial data, showcasing tools and techniques to enhance data accessibility and usability. Highlights

Nadine Alameh, PhD, delivered an insightful keynote at FOSS4G NA 2024, emphasizing the importance of open-source geospatial technologies in addressing contemporary challenges. Highlights

The presentation discusses the Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS) used by the U.S. Census Bureau, which leverages open-source tools to streamline geospatial data updates. The software, developed on QGIS since 2015, enhances collaboration with local governments, allowing automated and manual updates of geographic features. A demo showcases user-friendly tools for boundary adjustments, aiming to replace traditional paper methods. Highlights

Joe Burkinshaw discusses the development of a React component library aimed at enhancing user interfaces for geospatial web applications. He emphasizes the challenges of repetitive coding and the need for modular, reusable components to streamline development. Highlights

Rekha Khandhadia presents a comprehensive overview of geospatial analytics using GeoParquet and discusses challenges in traditional GIS data pipelines, while introducing the Crunchy Bridge analytics platform for enhanced data integration and efficiency. Highlights

David Miller and Kevin McGrath discuss advancements in web-based National Weather Service (NWS) guidance data displays using FOSS4G technologies. They highlight the evolution of their web mapping tools, focusing on improved interactivity and data accessibility. Highlights

The talk presents the Overture Map Foundation, a collaborative initiative aimed at creating reliable and interoperable open map data. The foundation seeks to streamline map data management and provides a unified approach to geographic features through a Global Entity Reference System (GERS). Highlights

Nathan McEachen discusses the integration of geospatial awareness into large language models (LLMs) through open-source software, emphasizing the importance of interoperability and knowledge-sharing in addressing complex societal issues. Highlights

Tracy Homer discusses the intersection of open-source mapping and art in her presentation, showcasing various artistic map projects she has completed using open-source tools and technologies. Highlights

Dan Pilone discusses the complexities of choosing between building, buying, or adopting open-source software, particularly in the geospatial software development context. He emphasizes the importance of decision-making criteria to mitigate risks and enhance project success rates. Highlights

Matthew Hanson discusses recent updates and challenges surrounding the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) at the FOSS4G NA 2024 conference, emphasizing its open-source ecosystem and the importance of data extensions. Highlights

Dan Baston presents “exactextract,” a library designed for efficient raster/vector zonal statistics analysis. This tool accurately transfers information from raster datasets to vector datasets, addressing limitations in existing methods. Highlights

Isaac Brodsky discusses the integration of H3, an open-source hierarchical hexagonal grid system, with DuckDB, an analytical SQL database, to enhance geospatial data analysis. This combination enables efficient querying and manipulation of diverse datasets in real-time. Highlights

Brian Monheiser emphasizes the importance of relationships in the geospatial community during the FOSS4G NA 2024 keynote. He reflects on personal experiences and professional journeys that shaped his career, underlining how connections contribute to individual growth and industry development. Highlights

Lauren Frederick, CTO at Element 84, discusses the launch of the 2024 Geospatial Tech Radar, highlighting its evolution and the growing influence of AI in geospatial technology. Highlights

Nicholas Knize discusses optimizing geospatial indexing and hybrid search using advanced data structures within the Lucene framework at FOSS4G NA 2024. He emphasizes reducing cloud infrastructure waste and improving geospatial data processing efficiency. Highlights

The presentation by Jonathan Mason and Jian Wu discusses the use of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), specifically sail drones, for tracking vessels at sea. It highlights the unique challenges of ocean exploration and monitoring, and how sail drones, powered by wind and solar energy, enable efficient data collection for various applications including maritime domain awareness. Highlights

Jason Gilman from Element 84 discusses the integration of large language models (LLMs) with geospatial data to enhance search and analysis capabilities in his talk at FOSS4G NA 2024. Highlights

Qiusheng Wu's presentation on Leafmap at FOSS4G NA 2024 highlights its capabilities for interactive geospatial data visualization using Python. Leafmap simplifies data access and mapping tasks, making it ideal for users at all skill levels. Highlights

Eduardo Neerhut discusses Mapillary, a collaborative street-level imagery platform, highlighting its extensive data collection and innovative applications for mapping and urban planning. Highlights

Highlights

Summary: Chris Holmes, the keynote speaker at FOSS4G NA 2023, discussed the progress made in building a queryable Earth and highlighted the need for a Cloud Native Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). He emphasized the importance of making geospatial data easily accessible and usable, and proposed a simplified approach to SDI called the Cloud Native SDI. Highlights: - Chris Holmes discussed the vision of a queryable Earth, where users can ask specific questions about the state of the planet and receive notifications. - He acknowledged the progress made in foundation geospatial technologies, but noted that more work is needed to make global data sets available for querying. - Chris Holmes highlighted the need for a Cloud Native SDI that simplifies the sharing and use of geospatial information. - He emphasized the importance of simplicity in the SDI architecture and mentioned the Cloud Native Geospatial standards as a step in the right direction. - Chris Holmes introduced two mature standards: PM tiles, which enables instant visualization and styling of geospatial data, and Geopar, a simple standard for geospatial columns on top of Parquet. - He discussed the potential of PM tiles for filtering and searching through large amounts of image footprints, and the benefits of Geopar in terms of smaller and faster geospatial formats. - Chris Holmes highlighted the ability of Parquet to partition huge data sets, enabling a more intuitive geospatial workflow for querying and downloading specific data.

Summary: FOSS4G NA 2023 panel discussion on "Open Science Meets FOSS4G" explores collaborative efforts between NASA, Earth Mover, NOAA, and Planet in advancing open science and utilizing open-source software. Highlights:

Summary Openness as a Strategic Advantage is discussed by Will Cadell in his presentation at FOSS4G NA 2023. Will emphasizes the importance of open technology and open source in shaping the future, highlighting the uneven distribution of technological advancements. He explores the concept of openness as an approach that encourages sharing, accessibility, and innovation, discussing open source data standards, open interfaces, and open science. Will argues that openness should be a pivotal part of every organization's strategy, providing a competitive edge. Highlights

Summary Vicky Vergara delivers the keynote address at FOSS4GNA 2023, highlighting the collaborative and inclusive nature of OSGeo (Open Source Geospatial Foundation). She emphasizes the role of individuals as OSGeo members and showcases various ways to participate, including project involvement, committee contributions, and community engagement. Highlights

Summary: Brandon Liu discusses the shift of Protomaps from open core to open source, highlighting the challenges and trends in open source projects, particularly in web mapping. He explores the dynamics between open source software and software as a service (SaaS), emphasizing the advantages of SaaS in terms of adoption, digital rights management (DRM), and price discrimination. Liu delves into the dilemma of building a SaaS product using open source software and addresses the sustainability of open source projects. Protomaps, an open-source map of the world and a vector tiling system, aims to create a sustainable open ecosystem for web maps, addressing underserved use cases. Highlights:

Summary Danielle Stollak and Kyle Heisey discuss investing $1 million in the open ecosystem at FOSS4G NA 2023. They highlight two key programs at Cesium: the Cesium Certified Developer Program and the Cesium Ecosystem Grants. Cesium, an open platform for 3D geospatial applications, has a broad impact on industries like renewable energy and industrial simulation. The Certified Developer Program recognizes expertise, with 63 certified developers globally. The Ecosystem Grants program, initiated with a $1 million fund, supports projects contributing to 3D geospatial advancements. Highlights

Summary: Building FilmDrop, an open-source platform for Earth observation, involved overcoming challenges and learning key principles. The journey included a shift from a small company mindset to growing a business, with open source as part of the strategy. Highlights:

Summary: Todd Barr discusses building a FOSS4G forward product strategy and ecosystem, emphasizing the challenges of product management in the geospatial industry. He highlights the importance of influencing diverse stakeholders, employing positive-sum strategies, and fostering a growth mindset for successful product development. Highlights:

FOSS4G North America | FedGeoDay Panel: FOSS4G In Federal Agencies 2023 Moderator: Aaron Kelley Panelist: Amanda Bright Panelist: Emily Vratarich Panelist: Nathan Frantz Panelist: Stephen Mather Summary FEDGEODAY2023 panel discusses FOSS4G (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) in federal agencies. Panelists include representatives from NGA, Census Bureau, and Open Drone Map, sharing insights on open source geospatial tools. Highlights

Summary: FOSS4G NA 2023 speaker, Michael Terner, addresses the question of making money with FOSS4G (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) technology. He outlines three viable business models: the Red Hat model (service and support fees), integration of FOSS4G into larger solutions, and open-sourcing technology with a premium model. Terner emphasizes the evolving hybrid landscape where open source and proprietary technologies coexist, highlighting the importance of supporting and giving back to the FOSS4G community. Highlights:

Embracing Open-Source Geospatial Technology is easy as an individual but what if you want your organization to use FOSS4G How do you get strategic buy-in? It turns out that the software does not sell itself and that even in the age of AI we still have to convince a human if we want organizational change to to happen.  I think the temptation is to say hey look at this long list of specifications and notice how FOSS4G is often better or equal to the close source equivalent.  Or hey look at the price tag … it costs nothing which is way cheaper than this other thing which costs more than nothing. While this might be all the argumentation you need in some cases … in general, making change happen is hard,  and it's going to require more than that.  That's why I have invited Todd Barr back on the podcast to walk us through what it takes to get an organization to Embrace Open-Source Geospatial Technology.   Here are a few of the key points Getting buy-in for open-source software and addressing concerns about security and IP protection Perspectives of External and internal stakeholders on open-source Software Importance of collaboration, empathy, and understanding in decision-making and stakeholder management Challenges of implementing open source technology in a corporate environment Benefits of using open source solutions, such as faster analysis, increased stability, and flexibility for innovation Accessibility and support in open source communities, including direct interaction with developers and availability of external consultants Customization and development work required for creating vertical solutions with open-source components Finding skilled developers and training them in geospatial technology Cost-saving advantages of open source technology in cloud computing Leading arguments for implementing open source software: cost savings and freedom to modify and customize Advocacy for supporting and integrating with the open source community. The last time Todd was on the podcast we talked about Leadership and Mentorship in the Geospatial community https://mapscaping.com/podcast/skills-leadership-mentorship-and-the-geospatial-community/   If you are interested in FOSS4G you might enjoy these previous episodes   A Business built on Open Source GIS https://mapscaping.com/podcast/a-business-built-on-open-source-gis/   Monetizing an open-source geospatial project https://mapscaping.com/podcast/monetizing-an-open-source-geospatial-project/   Or just scroll through the archive to find episodes about QGIS, PostGIS, Geoserver, Geonode, Python, and a bunch of other open-source projects   I could use some support! please consider supporting this podcast on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MapScaping    

Nick Bearman and Kevin Williams, two of the organisers of the recent FOSS4G:UK 2022, join Steven to reflect on how the event went. For the first time the event was held in a unique hybrid format, with many different venues across the UK. The goal was to capture the benefits of in-person networking and experience, while also reducing the need to travel and, via online streaming, allowing participation from everywhere. Overall the experiment was deemed a great success, with over 300 people attending in-person across the nine venues (many more than previous in-person events), but there are of course lessons learned for future events. Finally, Nick and Kevin share plans for OSGeo:UK in 2023. Thank you to all the organisers of FOSS4G:UK! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

A special podcast episode this week as we look back on FOSS4G 2022, which took place from August 22-28th in Florence, Italy. Whether you attended or not, this inside look at the conference includes the voices of a range of attendees from first timers, to veterans, to sponsors. While the speaker videos are available online, if like Steven you were not able to attend, this will give you an idea of the energy at the return of in person FOSS4G. Find out how people connected and what people were excited about this year. With 25 different voices, this episode is sure to transport you to the lively event. Many thanks to everyone who shared their impressions. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

This week Ed speaks with Luca Delucchi, a member of the local organizing team for both State of the Map (SotM) and FOSS4G which will be held in Florence, Italy in August. It's wonderful not just that these events are again taking place in person (SotM will be August 19-21st, FOSS4G will be August 22-28th), but that they will be held in the same city, allowing geospatial open data and open source enthusiasts to easily attend both. Luca tells about the preparations and what attendees can expect. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

FOSS4G is the acronym for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. It is the annual recurring global event hosted by OSGeo, the non-profit organization that supports and promotes the collaborative development of free and open-source geographic technologies and open geospatial data.   find out more at https://2022.foss4g.org/   Early bird registration, for onsite and online: * https://2022.foss4g.org/registration_onsite.php * https://2022.foss4g.org/registration_online.php Travel grant program: * https://2022.foss4g.org/travel_grant_programme.php   More podcast episodes on Open Source Geospatial tools can be found on our website https://mapscaping.com/podcasts/   Consider supporting this podcast on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/MapScaping?   Or go to MapScaping.com to find out about sponsoring our website reach out on Twitter https://twitter.com/MapScaping or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielodonohue/ 

OSGeoLive is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything. It is composed entirely of free software, allowing it to be freely distributed, duplicated and passed around. It provides pre-configured applications for a range of geospatial use cases, including storage, publishing, viewing, analysis and manipulation of data. It also contains sample datasets and documentation. We spoke to Enoch about OSGeoLive and how to get started with it. He spoke at the State of the Map Africa conference on "Beyond mapping! Reusing OpenStreetMap Data and FOSS4G". This episode is the 2nd installment of the SOTM series and here Enoch dives deep to the discussion about OSGeoLive, his passion for Open Source and what he hopes to see in the future and the growth of Open Source software. More info on OSGeoLive Contact OSGeo Connect with Enock Seth Subscribe We're happy to connect On LinkedIn Twitter

https://go.dok.community/slack https://dok.community/ From the DoK Day EU 2022 (https://youtu.be/Xi-h4XNd5tE) Data doesn't magically appear in our data centers. There are usually several phases and several storage locations along its journey throughout your organization. New architectural patterns, such as microservices, and new technology, such as Kubernetes are changing how we can think about and manage the large volumes of data coming at us. In this talk we will begin by quickly introducing the architecture and technology and how they make our lives better. From there it's live demo time combining Java microservices, a processing caching service, a messaging layer, and a relational database all running in Kubernetes . This application will be handling frequently updated data, generating alerts on specific data events, and simultaneously populating a system of record. Come for the discussion, hands on demo, and witty banter! Steve is a Dad, Partner, Son, and Senior Developer Readiness Engineer for VMware Tanzu. In addition to showing off all the great work of the Tanzu team, he helps drive Tanzu developer experience. He can teach you about Containers, Kubernetes, Data Analysis, Java, Python, PostgreSQL, Microservices, and some JavaScript. He has deep subject area expertise in GIS/Spatial, Statistics, and Ecology. Before Tanzu, Steve was a developer Advocate for Crunchy Data, DigitalGlobe, Red Hat, LinkedIn, deCarta, and ESRI. Steve has a Ph.D. in Ecology and can easily be bribed with offers of bird watching or fly fishing. He has spoken at hundreds of conferences and done over 100 workshops including Monktoberfest, Red Hat Summit, MongoNY, JavaOne, FOSS4G, ODSC, AjaxWorld, GeoWeb, Where2.0, and OSCON.

Steven catches up with "one of the most thoughtful people in geo", Ivan Sanchez. Ivan is a long-time vocal member of the FOSS and open data community, and a frequent speaker (and singer!) at FOSS4G conferences. The discussion turns "the politics of geo", a wide-ranging reflection on the realities of building, maintaining, and funding open source software and collection of geographic data. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

We discuss issues around disruption in the EO/geo business system. In the news we mention Landsat-9, GDAL and machine learning. Amongst other things. If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom Shownotes: Landsat 9 is launched A nice EO based newsletter from Priya Patel Awesome spectral indices Being directly responsible for your career Machine learning resources UK Space Conf and FOSS4G are this week GDAL changes - be aware KTN Pavilion for COP26 Aravind's tweet 

Summer vacation is over, and school is back in session! Ed and Steven look back on their summers, mull the return of in-person Geomobs, and provide updates on their projects. At OpenCage the focus is on geosearch (join the early access list), while Mappery is celebrating its third birthday We discuss some episodes about new geo books (for example Episode 92 with Kenneth Field), and Steven is delighted by his new-found status as a geo "influencer". Don't forget FOSS4G is coming up (as previewed in episode 87). Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Steven speaks with Verónica Andreo and María Arias de Reyna, two of the organizers of FOSS4G 2021, about this year's conference which is coming up from September 27 to October 2nd. Registration is now open! The conference will be held online, and feature over 300 separate talks, five keynotes, live coding events, 50+ different workshops, ice breaker events, and much more. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Open source software is changing the world and growing a strong community from around the globe. In this episode of Location Matters, we speak with two Australian open source GIS enthusiasts, Nyall Dawson and John Bryant.  Heavily involved in the open geospatial community, Nyall and John chat with our host Sarah Butler about everything open source related - from QGIS being used by Indigenous people to care for country, to the online communities built for like-minded Geospatial enthusiasts. If you are looking to get involved in the open geospatial community, this podcast is for you!  https://newsroom.ngis.com.au/positioning-australia-for-the-future (Geodesy blog: Positioning Australia for the future) https://www.imwaustralia.com/ (Indigenous Mapping Workshop (IMW)) https://qgis.org/en/site/ (QGIS.org ) https://geogeeks.org/ (Geogeeks Perth) https://blog.qgis.org/2021/03/25/qgis-open-day-26-march-2021/ (QGIS Open Day) Maptime Oceania Slack group: https://join.slack.com/t/maptimeoceania/shared_invite/enQtNDU3MTU3ODkyMjU2LThiMWU4MjZjNjM0ZWRiMWZlNWE2OTZjYjM0ZTMzZDEwMzc5MTAzN2Q2MzMyZDMzYTMwNjc5NGIxYjY4MDRiMjM (join here) https://www.qgis-au.org/ (QGIS Australian User Group) https://twitter.com/MammothMapping (John Bryant Twitter) https://twitter.com/nyalldawson (Nyall Dawson Twitter)

One of our regular, shorter episodes in which we catch up on our projects and discuss the geonews. Ed and the OpenCage team are hard at work on wrapping things up before a bit of summer break. Meanwhile, Steve is helping a bit with the organization of FOSS4G, which causes him to reflect on the shift in attitude of large companies in favor of open source. See you at the June 16th Geomob, everyone! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

This is one of our regular, shorter episodes in which Ed and Steven catch up on their projects and discuss the geonews. Over at Mappery the team has spotted a new map based artist who has left us all saying "wow!". Ed meanwhile is grappling with the complexities of pricing a new product, and will soon be ready for beta testers of OpenCage's new geosearch service if anyone wants to volunteer. We start our discussion of geonews by reflecting on the tragic news of the recent death of Malena Libman, a pillar of the FOSS4G community, and one of the organizers of FOSS4G 2021. Steven has written a tribute post on his blog. We offer our condolences to her family, friends, and the FOSS4G community. We then discuss the news that Pixel8, whose founder, Sean Gorman, presented at Geomob last November, and was a guest on the podcast around the same time, has been acquired by Snap. Finally, we close with a few musings about border disputes. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

In this segment we mention the following: World Geo Chat Find it using #WorldGeoChat on Twitter or go to https://worldgeochat.wordpress.com/ The British Library Globe Digitization - 3D Digital Globe links: European globes of the 17–18th centuries in on the British Library’s Website in Sylvia Sumira’s article Virtual Globes Museum Mercator's Earth Globe and Mercator's Celestial Globe on the University of Lausanne's website Miranda's World Map (1706) and Coronelli's Terrestrial Globe in the State Library of New South Wales's Meridian application Clarke, Keir. (March 26, 2020). The British Library's Digital Globes. Maps Mania. http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-british-librarys-digital-globes.html North Korea Stagnation Koettl, Christoph. (March 26, 2020). CoronaVirus is Idling North Korea Ships, Achieving what sanctions did not. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/video/coronavirus-north-korea.html Project Sandstone. (March 26, 2020). Rickety Anchor: North Korea Calls its Illicit Shipping Fleet Home amid Coronavirus Fears. The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). https://rusi.org/commentary/rickety-anchor-north-korea-calls-its-illicit-shipping-fleet-home-amid-coronavirus-fears Adopt a Pixel About GLOBE Observer: https://observer.globe.gov/about Adopt a Pixel – Data Infrastructure. USGS. https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5320a2cee4b0224be0a97a14 Adopt a Pixel Photographs: 2013-Present. Department of the Interior. https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/adopt-a-pixel-photographs-2013-present GLOBE Observer – Get the App https://observer.globe.gov/about/get-the-app GLOBE Adopt a Pixel, NASA (video):. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13053 Landsat Science https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Project Geospatial Update Be sure to check out these episodes available on our website, podcasting platforms, and YouTube: Mapping Hospital Beds with John Nelson An Overview of FOSS4G 2020 with Jonathan Neufeld Weekly Pulse Update by Geospark Analytics Late Night Geo Discussion between Jeff Pearson and Myself As we wrap up I want to remind everyone that is listening that we are now accepting sponsorships for the show. If you want to know more about those please let me know by emailing info@projectgeospatial.com

In this episode, we welcome Jonathan Neufeld, CEO of Tecterra. Jonathan gives us an overview of the FOSS4G 2020 conference, what attendees can expect, and why open source technology is so critical to the community. As of this video, the FOSS4G Conference is still on schedule to happen on August 24-29th in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. You can find out more in the following link: https://2020.foss4g.org/ About Us Project Geospatial is a podcast hosted by Adam Simmons and Mason Rothman dedicated to increasing awareness of Geospatial Technology, education resources, and industry best practices. Our show is comprised of industry professionals who discuss diverse topics such as new geospatial projects, innovations, and resources that benefit the overall community. If you are an industry professional reach out to us, we’d love to hear your feedback or have you on the show. Listen in and check us out at projectgeospatial.com Support Us! Enjoy listening to the show? You can contribute to our continued operation through https://anchor.fm/projectgeo/support and https://www.patreon.com/projectgeospatial Your contribution keeps our website running and funds our ability to cover conferences on various events beyond the GEOINT Symposium. If you represent a company in the industry and would like to talk about your product or service on our show please, reach out to us. Thanks for listening!

Steven shares the background on his service Mappery.org and then discusses his experiences as an organizer of FOSS4G Relevant links: OSGeo FOSS4G 2020 (Calgary) FOSS4G 2020 Europe (Valmiera, Latvia)

Maps are used as a tool to communicate and document the culture and language of Indigenous communities and help us to preserve our Indigenous history. To acknowledge NAIDOC week this week we have Ngarluma man and Winyama's Managing Director, Andrew Dowding and Director of Digital Navigators, Moka Apiti on the podcast to explore how maps are impacting their Indigenous communities and discuss the upcoming Indigenous Mapping Workshop that will be held in Perth from July the 16th to 18th. In this episode:   1:30     Moka, could you please tell us about your background in GIS and mapping? 2:55     Andrew, how did you get started in mapping? 4:15     Moka, how did the Indigenous Mapping Workshop get across to New Zealand? 5:25     Andrew, how did you get involved with the IMW? 7:20     What do you see as the main difference between mainstream mapping workshops, like Foss4G and Geo for Good, and the IMW? 10:33    Who are the participants that are encouraged to attend the IMW? 13:30    What feedback have you received from the workshops in both New Zealand and Australia? 17:20    How have government departments responded to the IMW in Australia? 19:15    What message do you want attendees to take away from the workshop? 25:45    Andrew, how does this year’s NAIDOC theme ‘Voice. Treaty. Truth’ resonate with you on a personal level and with the work you do? 28:10    Can you give us a sense of the direction of IMW and what is leading the change? Links: NAIDOC Week: https://www.naidoc.org.au/ Indigenous Mapping Workshop: https://sites.google.com/earthoutreach.org/imw-australia/home Winyama: https://www.winyama.com.au/ Digital Navigators: http://digitalnavigatorsltd.com/ The Firelight Group: https://firelight.ca/

FOSS4G-NA is over and there is much that excites the boys. Check out Coleman McCormick's review of the conference (https://www.fulcrumapp.com/blog/a-growing-geo-community-foss4gna/) for details. Topics discussed were: Serverless Spatial (https://github.com/bitner/serverlessspatial) Pelias Geocoder (https://pelias.io) Cesium (https://cesium.com) Mago3D (http://www.mago3d.com/eng/) Paul Ramsey (http://blog.cleverelephant.ca)

At the junction of Computer Science and Geographic Information Science, GIScience lecturer Dr. Ben Adams is uniquely placed to witness and comment on blockchain technology's convergence with geographic information science. Explore how the merging of these two disciplines can help improve our lives or how their unintended consequences might make things worse. Listen for his subtle, yet profound, comments on privacy and data quality. For all aspiring “geochain” researchers, take note of his a call for articles for The Journal of Spatial Information Science at the end of the podcast. Enjoy.The Journal of Spatial Information Science - josis.orgThe Geospatial Knowledge Exploration and Acquisition (GeoKEA) Research GroupUniversity of Canterbury Geography DepartmentGuillaume Chapron, The Environment Needs Cryptogovernance, May 2017, NatureFree and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G)Blockchain startup references: foam, platin, blockcities.cobenjamin.adams@canterbury.ac.nzSupport the show (https://www.layoftheland.space)

Open source software is changing the world and growing a strong community from around the globe. Free software that is contributed to by the developer community underpins many of the spatial solutions that we build and Paul Ramsay, co-founder of PostGIS, explains why we all need to pay attention and start contributing to the project.   In this episode: 0:48 Why have you devoted so much time to open source software in your life? 3:12 What have you learned along the way since your first version of PostGIS up until now 17 years later? 7:05 There is a battle between open source and commercial products. When do you use each of them? 8:52 We have some clients who have had success with open source 9:36 The keynote at the conference was a call to arms - why should people use and contribute to open source? 12:08 Why wouldn't an organisation commit time and money to the open source community? 13:29 For those who do want to contribute to open source software, where do you recommend they start? 17:15 In a corporate setting, how do you sell the vision and convince them to commit funds or man hours to open source? 20:08 What are the most interesting conversations you've had and interesting things you've seen at the FOSS4G conference?   Links: PostGIS - https://postgis.net/ FOSS4G Conference Melbourne - https://foss4g-oceania.org/ Maori Maps cultural mapping - http://www.maorimaps.com

Main topic: John Schneider of Abaq.us. News: Spaceport, FOSS4G, and Spot Image.

Main Topic: Relevance of Geography.  News: Google My World, USGS Gadget, FOSS4G, and OSM in The Netherlands