Everything is Somewhere Podcast

Most digital maps are completely blank to blind and disabled people. Brandon Biggs is on a mission to change that before a major April 2027 accessibility deadline forces the issue. As the CEO of XR Navigation and an engineer at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, Brandon is building a future where maps are visual, audio, tactile, and interactive all at once—unlocking navigation and entire...

I used to work as a land surveyor in Dodge County, Wisconsin. Boundary work in Dodge County was complicated by a legendary courthouse fire that had taken place decades previously; what it meant for me was that original deeds and maps were sometimes missing, which meant that boundary relocation sometimes amounted to guesswork based on minimal field evidence. According to legend, the fire was set in...

White South Africans are quietly reshaping labor in the Mississippi Delta, and the story is far more complicated than the headlines suggest. In this episode, Boyce Upholt returns to untangle the history, economics, and racial fault lines behind his New Yorker reporting, revealing why these workers are arriving, why Mississippi farms are hiring them, and what it all says about power, immigration, a...

On occasion I travel outside the country of my birth, and the prospect always fills me with dread. I am a timorous, paranoid traveler and border crossings especially make me faint with anxiety. I understand that my fears are imaginary, but then, so are borders—after all, a border is just an invisible line defined by fearful men. Borders are intangible constructs of civilization; they don't exist b...

In this episode, Dustin Gardner, land surveyor and folklorist, returns with the latest on his Creatures of the Compass game and Victorian-era book trilogy, offering deep insights into the folk magic and belief systems behind it all. If you love folklore, hidden histories, and speculative worlds, this episode is for you. During the conversation, Dustin explains how surveyors can become mediators "b...

The honeybee hive mind is one of the most sophisticated thinking machines on the planet, and even compares favorably with the thinking machine between our ears. Hives store 50 pounds of honey in a season. To do this, hive workers complete about 4 million foraging trips, flying a total of 12 million miles. They systematically find dozens or hundreds of food patches, exploit them, and move on. This...

A 911 call now triggers a drone launch in under 90 seconds—and across Southern California, that speed is transforming emergency response in real time. In this episode, Ben Ernst of Octave and Kenyon Mossberg of the Ontario Police Department reveal how intelligent software, CAD data, and a direct API to SkyDio are giving dispatchers a faster, more reliable way to get eyes on scene before ground uni...

Amanda Manos, a pioneering surveyor and CEO of Darling Geomatics, shares her insights on technological advancements, industry challenges, and the future of land surveying. This episode explores how innovation and mentorship are shaping the profession. In a world where technology is rapidly evolving, Amanda Manos, CEO of Darling Geomatics, is pioneering a new era in land surveying. As a progressive...

I accepted my writer friend Craig Child's unusual invitation to spend a few days in a cornfield—in the middle of Iowa, in the middle of July, in the midst of what turned out to be an historic climax of heat and humidity called a 'heat dome'—not because I was in sympathy with his evident masochism, nor merely because I knew that he needed somebody to provide comic relief. In fact, I had reasons of...

In this episode, Angus sits down with Tony Bauer and Ofri Lehmann of Exodigo to reveal how cutting-edge AI and geophysical sensors are transforming subsurface utility location. Instead of traditional, manual detection, Exodigo utilizes systemized data collection and advanced algorithms to map underground utilities with inches of precision, dramatically reducing accidents, delays, and costs. Ultima...

In the century past, I was a committed and even a fanatical player of Dungeons and Dragons, and spent much of my time, especially classroom time, drawing dungeon level maps on graph paper, creating characters, I favored paladins, and memorizing arcane rule books, all so that I and friends could gather together around a table in some basement and roll dice together for a few hours. And why did I de...

Uncover the astonishing story of the last missing female pilot of World War II, Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins, and how cutting-edge underwater technology might finally bring her home. In this episode, Angus and returning guest Pete Kelsey discuss how modern multi-beam sonar and autonomous underwater vehicles are transforming underwater archaeology and search-and-rescue efforts. They also address the f...

It is sometimes said that the only perfect circles available for the contemplation of early humans were the sun, the full moon, and the iris of the eye. I think this is overstated. The ripples formed by a pebble falling in still water come to mind as do the circles formed in the center of sunflowers, such as sunflowers. But still, the point stands. Perfect circles were unusual in the life of early...

Most bridges are designed to be functional—this one was crafted to be a striking work of art that blends seamlessly with its natural surroundings. In this episode, Frank Artmont, PE, PhD a senior engineer at Modjeski and Masters, reveals the innovative design secrets behind the award-winning Hawk Falls Bridge in Pennsylvania's scenic state park. From the strategic use of weathering steel to comple...

Anna Riling is a seasoned geologist and award-winning cartographer based in Durango, Colorado. She's recognized for her stunning, purpose-driven maps that blend aesthetics with environmental advocacy and cultural storytelling. If you've ever wondered what goes into making a map that's both exquisite and meaningful — or how maps can serve as powerful tools for activism and education — this episode...

The late and mostly unlamented anarchist philosopher, Peter Lamborn Wilson, under the pseudonym Hakim Bey, wrote extensively about the pirate utopias of the 18th century and from them derived the concept that he labeled temporary autonomous zones. If you were at the Solstice party at my place a few summers back, you were in a rather excellent temporary autonomous zone or TAZ. The party was tempora...

In this episode Angus talks with Petersen Products' Phil Lundman and design engineer Henri Kinson about the strange, high‑stakes world of inflatable plugs and custom mechanical solutions for pipelines and critical infrastructure. We start with the company's roots in a Danish immigrant's drain‑cleaning tool and follow its evolution into a design‑build shop that routinely solves one‑off problems for...

689 years ago, in April, the Italian poet now known as Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux in Provence. By the standards of recreational hikers in my home state, Colorado, it wasn't much of a climb—Mont Ventoux is just a little over 6,200 feet, and Petrarch was done with his climb well before dinner. But by the standards of his day, the climb was apparently sensational. In a widely-published letter he w...

In this episode, Angus talks with Nate Dang of Accurate Surveying & Mapping and Kevin Grover, Head of Customer Success at Looq AI, about pushing reality capture into everyday surveying. They walk through an award‑winning project on a historic opera house in Soldier, Idaho, where Nate deliberately skipped the total station and combined Looq's handheld QCAM imagery with GNSS and drone data to delive...

At the conclusion of a long series of curious circumstances—which is to say, my life—I found myself stuck in traffic, for hours, in Houston, on my way to a conference devoted to high-tech land surveying equipment. Such conferences are more exciting than they sound—they'd almost have to be wouldn't they?—and I find them inspiring; the speakers at these events look around at our crumbling world, at...

In this wide-ranging conversation, Angus talks with geographer and phenomenologist David Seamon about the life, work, and legacy of architect and thinker Christopher Alexander. Seamon, editor of the long-running journal Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology , explains what phenomenology is, why "lifeworld" and "natural attitude" matter, and how these ideas illuminate Alexander's quests for...

In this epsiode, Angus enjoys a wide-ranging conversation with writer and cultural critic Walker Larson. The two discuss Walker's journey from teaching literature and history at a classical academy to becoming a full-time freelance writer, novelist, and author of the Substack newsletter  The Hazelnut . From there, the discussion dives into Walker's article "A Case for Beauty in Our Cities," explor...

In this conversation, Michael Daoud and Aleksandar Jevremovic discuss the significant digital transformation of the Santa Barbara County Surveyor's Office. They explore the challenges faced with paper-based processes and the innovative solutions implemented to streamline operations. The discussion highlights the impact of technology on efficiency, customer service, and the future of surveying in t...

The Four Corners Monument, marking the common corner of four southwestern states, can seem perverse and arbitrary, memorializing nothing more than 4 invisible lines coming to a point in desolate country. There is little to do: no rides, no museums, just a few booths selling food and trinkets and the monument itself, a metal disk encased in a massive wheel of imported granite. And yet we do come, b...

In this episode, Angus talks with returning guest Yodan Rofe about Christopher Alexander's four‑volume magnum opus, The Nature of Order , and its impact on architecture, teaching, and daily life. Rofe, who studied and worked closely with Alexander, explains how early work on pattern language led to the deeper geometric and experiential insights developed in The Nature of Order . The conversation e...