Geomob

This week Ed chats with one of the most active long-time members of the OpenStreetMap community: Simon Poole. Simon has contributed to OSM in many ways over the years: as a mapper, as developer of one of the most popular editors, as a local organizer of the Swiss OSM community, as a leading member of the Legal working group, and as Chair of the OpenStreetMap Foundation board. He is the perfect person to weigh in on the health of the project, particularly in the context of the latest open mapping news about the start of the Overture Maps Foundation. Ed and Simon discuss the challenges OSM faces and the difficulties of moving forward in a massive global collaborative project. Tune in to hear Simon’s perspective on how to improve communication and push progress along. Spoiler Alert: it starts with taking a step back to truly understand the issues Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Shortly before Christmas the Overture Maps Foundation was announced, a collaboration between tech giants Amazon Web Services, Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom to "create reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data". The geospatial world exploded with speculation about what this might mean for OpenStreetMap and for players like Google and Apple. Is Overture a threat, an opportunity, both, or something else entirely? Our guest today is Marc Prioleau, geospatial industry veteran (having worked at deCarta, Cloudmade, Mapbox, Uber, and as a consultant for many others) and currently Meta's head of business development for Mapping and Location, to discuss exactly what Overture Maps hopes to be, why it was formed, and its intended place in the geospatial ecosystem. This is the first time one of the members of the OMF consortium has spoken publicly about the initiative.   Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

We kick off 2023 with fellow podcaster Maxime Lenormand, a geospatial data scientist and the man behind Minds Behind Maps. Steven chats with Max about his geospatial podcast which focuses on the people who create maps. The unique thing about Minds Behind Maps is the long format. If the idea of listening to a three hour long podcast seems daunting, you’re not the only one, but Steven, a self-declared long-form sceptic, was quickly convinced it’s worthwhile. Tune in to find out how the project began and which big names in the mapping community he’s spoken with so far. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

What would Christmas be without traditions? Just like in years past we offer a special episode for the holiday period. Join Steven Feldman and his band of geo-elves - Ken Field, Mark Iliffe, Denise McKenzie, Alex Wrottesley, Jeremy Morley, and Ed Parsons - as they look back on 2022 and forward to 2023.   We wish all of our listeners a restful holiday break and a geotastic 2023!   Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

As the year 2022 comes to an end, Ed and Stephen reflect and look ahead to 2023. This year saw a return to in-person events with London, Tel Aviv, and Barcelona events, and Ed shares a summary of November's GeomobBCN. Chatting about the eventful year about to end, it’s impossible to leave out the effect of the war in Ukraine and the changing economic conditions. Listen to hear Ed and Stephen discuss the challenges and upsides for OpenCage and Mappery in this memorable year. They also look back at the nearly three years of Geomob podcasting. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

The way people get around is rapidly changing. This week’s guest Christian Bäuerlein is CTO at ioki, where they build the software behind on-demand transport solutions. The idea is to make it easy and available for all. Christian explains who the clients are, and how the service works. You’ll want to tune in to this episode if you’re interested in the evolution of the mobility space or if you love a good data horror story. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Ed chats with Chris Barrington Brown this week. Chris spoke at Geomob London in September about his ambitious retirement project: creating a digital record of the build up to D-Day. Focusing on the logistics, Chris sorts through a massive amount of information to complete the archive in time for the 100th anniversary of WWII. Ed wonders how Chris intends to preserve this data in a tech world where things are constantly evolving past their original technology. Listen in to find out if you can help! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

With the season of giving approaching we catch up with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team's Monica Nthiga, director of HOT's Eastern and Southern Africa Open Mapping Hub. Monica chats with Ed about four new focus areas for HOT: public health, gender equality, climate change, and migration. Previously focussed primarily on disasters as they were happening, HOT has now shifted their focus on what needs to be done ahead of time in order to respond better. Monica explains how you can contribute, and why OpenStreetMap data is necessary to better deal with these issues. Listen in to find out what HOT has been up to in 2022 and how to get involved in this impactful organisation. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

This week Ed talks developer marketing with Adam DuVander. Adam is the founder of consultancy Every Developer, and the author of the book Developer Marketing Does Not Exist. Adam and Ed cover the most common mistakes when it comes to marketing for developers, and discuss the best way to tap into new markets. Adam shares his advice on how to build trust with authentic and consistent content and reveals the key to effective marketing for developers. Spoiler Alert: when done right it is invisible. Listen in and find out how you can read this insightful book. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Steven and Ed catch up on this week’s episode that focuses on the most recent Geomob Tel Aviv event and the future of Twitter. The hosts discuss what makes a great talk by comparing Geomob events around the world. Steven ponders what is more interesting to cover during geo talks: It is the the how or the why? They also discuss the best ways to spread the word about Geomob events and companies. Are we witnessing the end of Twitter? How do you navigate both now that Mastodon has entered the conversation? Listen in and then join the conversation there. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.