Geomob

Joining Ed this week is Geomob London regular (and speaker back in May of 2015), and first full time employee of OpenStreetMap Foundation, Grant Slater. After 15 years of volunteering for OSM, Grant became a full time employee in May 2022 and has continued to work tirelessly to improve the service many in the geospatial community rely on. Listening to Grant speaking of the work he is still so passionate about after all this time is inspiring, especially when you know how small the team is. Tune in to hear about the challenges of operating such a popular service, the evolution of his role, the future of OSM Operations, and how you can get involved.

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

We hit 150 episodes! Ed recaps the recent highly-enjoyable and well-attended Geomob London event, which Steven unfortunately missed. Sadly it's not clear if it will be possible to have another event London this year due to possibly conflicting with the world cup. Steven will at least enjoy the second Geomob Tel Aviv coming up in early November. Next up is a discussion of the recent redesign of the Geomob website, and finally Ed shares a marketing success: the upcoming collaboration with MapScaping to promote OpenStreetMap projects (deadline for submission is Oct. 15th, so don't delay).

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

This week join Ed as he chats with Miguel Marques, founder and CEO of Mapidea. Miguel’s small team helps big companies like Vodafone and Domino's to use their own data to create maps with meaning for them. Ed and Miguel discuss the lack of spatial culture in companies and a lack of awareness about the simple solutions that already exist for them. How do you connect the user with their right solution? By educating and involving the user, Mapidea has managed to retain customers for the long term. Tune in for this lively chat about the difficulty of creating a simple GIS product and the startup scene in Portugal. Plus, learn how Miguel’s tool for visualising census data: Locali is helping people to tell the story of their surroundings.

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

If you’re a part of the GIS community there is little chance you haven’t heard of QGIS. This week Steven chats with one of the people behind QGIS, Marco Bernasocchi, chair of the QGIS association. Opensource advocate, consultant, and developer Marco explains how QGIS has evolved over the past 20 years, and how an open source project like this is financed. As Steven points out open source projects like this one are true miracles. The perfect example of the collaborative nature of the GIS community and what can be accomplished when people are willing to work together.

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 Steven speaks with geospatial tech leaders Colonel Paul Hammett and Major George McCrea of the British Army's Royal Engineers. Approximately one third of geospatial professionals work for the military. These particular geographic technicians are involved in many defence organisations operations by providing critical understanding of geospatial data to decision makers. Listen to learn about what they do, how they use existing technology to improve the user experience, and why paper maps will not to be phased out anytime soon!

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

As summer comes to an end Ed and Steven catch-up and update you on what to look forward to in the fall. With two Geomob events scheduled (London and Tel Aviv) there are also plans for events in Barcelona and Berlin. Steven gets ready to celebrate four years of Mappery, while Ed talks about plans for a future marketing project at OpenCage. How do you market your business when your main competitor is Google? Ed gives a sneak peak of a new partnership (with a rival geo podcast of all people). Listen to find out how you can use a Geomob event to present your geo-start-up project, and how you can participate in the next Geomob Podcast Catch-Up!

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

You’ll want to tune in to hear this week’s guest explain the origin story of her company: Proxi. Melinda Haughey explains how a "mom problem" led to the creation of a customised mapping system. Frustrated with the complexity of Google maps, Melinda and co-founder Chelsey Roney created a simple way of creating personal and shareable maps. Proxi aims to monetise unique maps by providing analytics back to the users/map creators, but that’s not their only aim. The big vision is to create a robust infrastructure of guides that are mapped. Melinda explains how mapped lists make life much more simple and why people the time for their service is now.

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

What started off as a hobby tube map collection, became a documentary. This week Steven chats with Anthony Norris-Watson, a non-geographer, with a collection of over 260 London tube maps about his new documentary Interchange. Anthony’s fascination with the tube diagram is obvious as he passionately discusses this three part YouTube doc that focuses on the map designs throughout the years, a discussion on what makes them 'iconic', and a look at how tube mapping may change in the not-so-distant future. Listen as Anthony explains how his love for tube maps began, what he learned along his journey, and how he would improve the diagram.

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Ed welcomes past Geomob speaker Ian Hannigan, the CEO and co-founder of indoor mapping start-up FORMATION. FORMATION is a location based approach to digitalising a business. Ian explains the evolution of FORMATION and explains how they cater to their clients based on their needs. FORMATION’s clients include the German Army, Bosch, and Kamax, and various research organisations. Ed wonders how the workers/employees feel about their bosses having their location, especially in a privacy hyper conscious country like Germany. Ian agrees, the drive for privacy is well founded, but the design of FORMATION takes that into account. Everything is designed with the workers themselves in mind because without their support, the system will not last for long. Tune in to learn how they map out indoor and outdoor spaces and what’s next for the company in this week’s episode!

Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.