Spatial Signals

JB Sharma from the University of North Georgia joins us to talk about JB’s transition from a physics background to geospatial technologies, grassroots STEM literacy, how to get students interested in remote sensing, JB’s work with AmericaView, AI-based techniques for handling the volume of remote sensing data, deep learning, GEOBIA for classifying UAS data, learning communities in online learning, ASPRS, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Joseph Kerski from Joseph Kerski LLC, University of Denver and Auburn University joins us to talk about growing up in a motel in western Colorado, making maps as a kid that included address ranges, working at USGS, being part of the Esri Education team, Joseph’s passion for teaching geography, spatial thinking concepts, multidisciplinary teaching, mathematics and spatial thinking, teaching with geospatial and developing a general public course, new education projects, and much, much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Lisa Wirth, the Program Director of AmericaView, joins us to talk about Lisa's graduate work in Fisheries in Alaska, tagging fall chum salmon on the Yukon River, having field instruments freeze up, tracking fish with radiotelemetry, thermal remote sensing of rivers, using SAR imagery in Alaska, using a FLIR camera on a Cessna, the Alaska Geobotanical Center, AlaskaView, Augmented Reality sandboxes, managing all of the StateViews of AmericaView, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com 

This is Round Two 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. Donna Delparte from the University of Idaho, Dr. Bruce Millett from South Dakota State University, and Dr. Lance Yarbrough from the University of Mississippi, and we're discussing all things drones. We talk about the state of the union of drones today, the impact of the National Defense Authorization Act (the NDAA) and the American Security Drone Act on drones, sensors, and data collection, the Blue List and the Green List for UAS and sensors, the future of drones in research and education, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Geoff Bland, Andy Henry, Lisa Ogiemwonyi, and Sallie Smith from the NASA AREN (Aerokats and Rover Education Network) team join us to talk about the beginnings of the AREN project, Aerokats and remote sensing via kites, flying the first educational UAS with sensors on the Channel Islands of California, RSESTeP, ICARUS, incorporating remote sensing into K-12 classrooms, place-based education, the development of Aeropods, the various camera systems and sensors that can be used on Aeropods, high resolution imagery from kites, looking at change over time in imagery, collecting air quality data, teacher training in the AREN workshops, local community projects, operations and teamwork, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Robbyn Abbitt from Miami University joins us to talk about working at an underground storage tank unit in Indiana, planning to work outside in Idaho but being assigned to an indoor GIS lab, the concept of lumping and splitting, getting hired as the GIS Coordinator for Miami University, the Ohio GIS Conference, Robbyn’s work with the original Gap Analysis Program and NHD, the Blue Line Program, the OGRIP Council, using drones in the classroom, digital twins, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Happy Earth Observation Day, everyone!  Our guests for this special Earth Science Week episode are Rebecca Dodge of Midwestern State University and Tom Mueller from the Massachusetts Bureau of Geographic Information (MassGIS), the founding parents of Earth Observation Day which is celebrated this week.  We delve into how Earth Observation Day came about, how it's grown, materials that have been developed over the years, and what’s happening around the country with it.  We also touch on current EOD activities such as the NASA Aerokats, Mapathons, Landsat imagery, data collection with your phone, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Forrest Bowlick from University of Massachusetts-Amherst joins us to talk about finding Svalbard on a globe at two years old, National Geographic Bees, a life-changing locked door, the McNair Scholars Program, taking Introduction to GIS three different times, the scholarship of teaching and learning, Forrest giving a TED talk on GIS, the development of MassachusettsView, the Geographer’s Craft, strategies for teaching GIS and incorporating new developments, teaching projections in a GIS course, a Roger Tomlinson documentary, the Impossible Map from 1947, and much more.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Joe Ortiz from Kent State University joins us to talk about using micro-fossils to learn about how climate changes over time, the Beaver-SCAT instrumentation, spending two months at sea in the North Atlantic, remote sensing and collecting sediment cores at sea, research at the Bering Strait, spending 3 days stuck in the ice, strategies for avoiding polar bears, identifying algae from space, harmful algal blooms, machine learning techniques, the benefits of open-source software for remote sensing and analysis, and multispectral UAS imagery analysis.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com

Greg Bonynge from the University of Rhode Island joins us to talk about working on a Alpaca farm in Pennsylvania, an internship with the USDA forest service, modeling the spread of the southern pine beetle, spatial statistics, working at a neuroscience lab, being a beta-tester for ModelBuilder, land cover change in Tanzania, SSEER (Scientific Support for Environmental Emergency Response), ingesting GIS data and documenting metadata, GIS data archiving, ArcGIS Indoors, indoor scanning with lidar for creating 3D building models, and hurricane response and modeling potential flood and wind impacts.  Show notes and photos are available at:  https://americaview.substack.com