Spatial Signals

Kashif Mahmud from Midwestern State University joins us to talk about his time as a lecturer in Civil Engineering, a journey that went from Bangladesh to Australia to America, Kashif’s work with TexasView, the El Paso Science Festival, the activities of the Landsat Advisory Group (the LAG), being an editor of the Journal of Earth Observations and Geospatial Applications, lidar analysis, surface an...

Rodney Yantis and Courtney Poirier Chicola from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette return to talk about a disheartening lack of raptors, the origin of the GEOSERVICE workshop series, rising water and its effects in south Louisiana, NASA Aerokats, the various geospatial technologies activities for middle and high school students at the GEOSERVICE workshops, Earth Observation Day, generational...

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 Sp...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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, N...

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 developmen...

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 lea...

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...

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...

Jason Tullis from the University of Arkansas joins us to talk about finding fossils in the mountains, the question of seeing a moon in a blue sky, attending school in England, being introduced to GIS in the US Forest Service summer program, mapping with aerial photos, cold-calling the University of South Carolina for graduate work, a choice between the CIA or academia, the importance of data prove...

Chris Cooper from G2G Consulting joins us for this special episode to talk about the whole process behind federal funding which influences so many activities and projects today - we discuss coloring in maps in red and blue on election night as a child, Chris’ work on Rob Portman’s 2010 Senate race, the job of a Staff Assistant in a Congressional office, addressing policy issues on Capitol Hill, th...

Karen Schuckman from RRC Companies and ASPRS joins us to talk about riding Argentinian horses on vacation, living the farm life and an equestrian background, Karen’s time as an international-level gymnast in high school, meteorologists who study meteors, remote sensing and oceanography, photogrammetry courses for surveying, a momentous summer picnic, teaching at Penn State, participation in ASPRS,...

Santosh Panda from the University of Alaska Fairbanks joins us to talk about coal mine reclamation in India, a choice between petroleum and remote sensing, helicopter flights to remote field sites, Alaskan permafrost modeling and mapping, AlaskaView, statewide forest health and change, boreal forest change through time, MOOC development for GIS and remote sensing, a traveling permafrost exhibit, s...

Robert Washington-Allen from the University of Nevada, Reno joins us to kick off 2026 with an extra-length episode where we talk about Robert’s time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, the Curlew National Grassland, time-series imagery analysis, kudzu bug distribution, the REDD program, applications of Terrestrial Laser Scanner technology around the world, the dynamics of the Niassa Special Res...

Jeong Chang “JC” Seong from University of West Georgia joins us to talk about staying up all night to beat Tetris, the power of a PhD degree, working for Erdas with Landsat 7 data, being a faculty member at Northern Michigan University, a database for managing AmericaView’s activities, the state of Georgia atlas project, GeorgiaView mini-grants and collaborations, the Geographical Bulletin online...

Pablo Viramontes from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture joins us to talk about his time as an ROTC cadet, GIS in the intelligence field, an internship with the Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico, gathering data at the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, geospatial work with the TRIO Upward Bound program, K-12 geography education, visiting the White House, the National Space...

Paige Brochu from University of Vermont joins us to talk about the influence of Jurassic Park, archeology in the Caribbean, mapping Lake Champlain shipwrecks, Benedict Arnold’s gunboat, the Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL) at UVM, interning with the Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island, a spatial connection via Strava that ended up in a Postdoc position, planetary health, meeting with policy makers on Cap...

Tyler Erickson from VorGeo joins us to talk about foldable paper maps, working with remotely sensed data at a technology non-profit, the founding of MichiganView, open Landsat data, Google Earth Engine, Tyler’s time working at Google on the Earth Engine project, the founding of VorGeo and the work being done there, CTrees and above-ground biomass measurement, OpenET and water data, SAR data, SatCa...

Nancy French from the Michigan Tech Research Institute at Michigan Technological University joins us to talk about the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM), SAR applications, field data in conjunction with radar remote sensing to analyze fire effects, the Bettles fire in Alaska, MichiganView, wildfires and remote sensing, wildfire smoke and health, estimating fuel consumption, fuel...

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,...

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 ge...

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...