Spatial Signals

Barb Ryan, formerly of the USGS and the World Geospatial Industry Council, joins us to talk about Barb’s 0,0 point at a hill and a creek in Dalton, New York, a trip to Las Cruces that stopped in Denver, joining the USGS at the water division, mass measurement of ground water wells, traveling to Antarctica, how Barb had a mountain in Antarctica named after her, Barb’s work as the Director of the Space Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), coordinating satellite observations of weather information, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), a system of systems, how the Landsat archive became free and open data, the economic return and benefits of the satellite industry, the interconnectedness of the Earth system, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Chris McGinty from Utah State University joins us a guest instead of a host for this special one-year anniversary episode to talk about building 3D models of terrain from tinfoil, winning a Geography bee, a choice of a business degree in college, Chris’ time as a coal miner, the day the dean recommended a GIS class, Utah Geographic Information Council (UGIC), the birth of UtahView, Chris’ time as AmericaView’s Program Manager and his path to becoming the Executive Director of AmericaView, communicating science and education on Capitol Hill, the importance of Earth Observation data, the future of AmericaView, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Nicole Kong from Purdue University joins us to talk about choosing environmental science as a major, remote sensing of giant panda habitats, a slightly different choice to work outside of academia in the transportation field, a GIS Day event with Larry Biehl, developments and opportunities in IndianaView, Nicole’s role as Associate Dean, the growth of geospatial information science at Purdue, GIS and remote sensing in business and public health, the importance of open source tools and open data, MultiSpec, multidisciplinary collaboration in research, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Kass Green of Kass Green and Associates joins us to talk about natural resource economics, Kass’ founding of Pacific Meridian Resources and how the company expanded, mapping old growth forest in the Pacific Northwest, SpaceImaging, lobbying for the Landsat Act, mapping change with high-resolution imagery, getting maps and information into the hands of decision makers in an intuitive form, using AI in imagery classification, lidar in mapping projects, Kass’ involvement in local politics in Sausalito, analysis of the impact of sea level rise on Sausalito, making decisions with data, Pacific Veg Map, Kass’ collaboration with Russ Congalton, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Jason Parent from the University of Rhode Island joins us to talk about not having any marketable skills from an environmental science degree, studying the expansion of cities over time through GIS, mapping cities with Landsat, field work with wind flow patterns around tree islands in the Everglades, dust from the Sahara reaching Florida, riding around in airboats, Jason’s work as the PI of Rhode Island View, modeling forest mortality with lidar and imagery, urban tree canopy analysis, mapping dead trees with aerial imagery, mapping vernal pools for habitat analysis, nature-based solutions, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Darci Snowden from Central Washington University joins us to talk about a documentary about the Voyager mission, Darci's attending Space Camp as a kid, geophysics and the application to planetary sciences, being a participating scientist in the Cassini mission, particles and fields, using radar for mapping Saturn’s moon Titan, remote sensing and planetary science, the Eclipse Ballooning project, NASA Science Activation Teams, the NASA’s VERITAS mission and SAR, using NASA AREN Aeropods, professional development workshops for teachers, inspiring students to feel like scientists, Europa Clipper, the Dragonfly drone mission to Titan, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Qiusheng Wu from the University of Tennessee joins us to talk about his being assigned to study GIS in China, the inspiration of Google Earth, the founding of TennesseeView, geemap, publishing geospatial books, Qiusheng’s book about Google Earth Engine and Python with Locate Press, the advantages of self-publishing, advancements in GeoAI, AI models applied to geospatial data, Qiusheng’s development of video tutorials and resources, sharing knowledge, advice for students, geospatial applications and careers, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Angela Lee from Esri joins us to talk about map libraries, Esri’s work with academic libraries, introducing GIS into K-12 education, developing a customized version of ArcView for K-12 schools, creating teaching materials for K-12 classes, helping people understand the world through maps, addressing career skills, the scientific method, spatial literacy, potential impacts of AI in teaching and learning, evolving the GIScience curriculum, the importance of critical thinking and asking the right questions, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

This is Round Three of our special “Squared Circle” episodes, where a group of guests gets together to wrestle with a particular topic. For this episode, we're joined by Dr. Paige Brochu from the University of Vermont, Dr. Tracy DeLiberty from the University of Delaware, Ms. Amy Logan from Iowa State University, and Dr. Dana Peterson from the University of Kansas and we are discussing working with remote sensing and imagery in K-12 classrooms.  We talk about the education-ready digital toolkits our guests are building, creating state level landcover maps, digital state atlases, lesson plans using maps and data in a variety of applications, challenges of incorporating geospatial technologies into a K-12 curriculum, supporting new teachers, curriculum insertion points, removing the software barriers and web applications, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Sam Batzli from the University of Wisconsin-Madison joins us to talk about the vestibule of the Manly Miles Building at Michigan State University, writing historical contexts for installations around the country for the US Army Corps of Engineers, selective availability for GPS, distributing Landsat imagery online, the Upper Great Lakes RESAC, the birth of WisconsinView, data wrangling, the Space Science and Engineering Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison, fire analysis via remote sensing and web mapping, burn scar mapping and the BRISK project, thermal anomalies, new developments of RealEarth, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com