Geomob

You’ll want to tune in to hear this week’s guest explain the origin story of her company: Proxi. Melinda Haughey explains how a "mom problem" led to the creation of a customised mapping system. Frustrated with the complexity of Google maps, Melinda and co-founder Chelsey Roney created a simple way of creating personal and shareable maps. Proxi aims to monetise unique maps by providing analytics back to the users/map creators, but that’s not their only aim. The big vision is to create a robust infrastructure of guides that are mapped. Melinda explains how mapped lists make life much more simple and why people the time for their service is now. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.  

What started off as a hobby tube map collection, became a documentary. This week Steven chats with Anthony Norris-Watson, a non-geographer, with a collection of over 260 London tube maps about his new documentary Interchange. Anthony’s fascination with the tube diagram is obvious as he passionately discusses this three part YouTube doc that focuses on the map designs throughout the years, a discussion on what makes them 'iconic', and a look at how tube mapping may change in the not-so-distant future. Listen as Anthony explains how his love for tube maps began, what he learned along his journey, and how he would improve the diagram. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Ed welcomes past Geomob speaker Ian Hannigan, the CEO and co-founder of indoor mapping start-up FORMATION. FORMATION is a location based approach to digitalising a business. Ian explains the evolution of FORMATION and explains how they cater to their clients based on their needs. FORMATION’s clients include the German Army, Bosch, and Kamax, and various research organisations. Ed wonders how the workers/employees feel about their bosses having their location, especially in a privacy hyper conscious country like Germany. Ian agrees, the drive for privacy is well founded, but the design of FORMATION takes that into account. Everything is designed with the workers themselves in mind because without their support, the system will not last for long. Tune in to learn how they map out indoor and outdoor spaces and what’s next for the company in this week’s episode! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

In this midsummer catch up Steven and Ed discuss separating life from work, Southeast Asia’s super app Grab, and contemplate the future of Google Maps. Using real problems from his daily work at OpenCage, Ed compiles questions for a monthly Twitter Trivia contest. It’s just one way to establish himself as a ‘geo-expert’. The conversation then turns to Super-apps such as Grab provide a range of services from delivery to vehicle rentals and much more, and recently announced the launch of Grab Maps. What affect will their maps have on Google and OpenStreetMap? Ed and Steven debate the pros and cons in this week's episode Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

On this week's episode Ed chats with Andy Ashburner the founder of Pin Drop. Andy was a Geomob London speaker all the way back in 2014 when the app he created to save locations first took off. Andy provides a unique perspective on progress in geotech since he left the industry for some time. He is now working on a new and improved Pin Drop app that will be designed with users in mind. Ed and Andy marvel at the range of uses for an app like this, and Andy explains how he only found out when he returned to the app himself that many people were still using it. What for? Listen now to find out. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

If you’ve ever used a ride share app, bike share, or delivery app, you’ll understand the struggle this week’s guest is trying to solve. Adam Simkin is the COO and VP for autofleet.io, and has been trying to improve the most frustrating part of the app experience: "estimated wait times". As the demand for these services grows, so does the expectation. Customers want short, reliable, and accurate wait times but as Adam admits, this is still a bit of an "unsolved problem". With so many variables, and many competing apps, there is still a lot of work for Adam and his peers to do to improve the experience not only for clients but also drivers/vehicle owners. Find out how far we’ve come, and what the predictions are for the future (autonomous cars?) in this week's podcast! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Tune in to the latest episode which is all about "geoing in public". Ed chats with geospatial industry veteran (and repeat podcast guest), James Fee. James discusses his long career in the industry and how it all began for him. Whether it be blogging, YouTube, or social media, James has tried it all and shares his most important advice to those getting into the GIS sphere and working in public - be yourself. Despite some negative reactions to his posts in the past, James says the collaborative nature of sharing your work far outweighs any negatives he has encountered. They discuss the various social media platforms, how they can be used effectively, and Ed inquires about James’ rumoured entry into the world of TikTok. Will we see this social media master conquer the latest platform? Listen to find out. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Join Steven as he discusses his two favourite things with Dr. Motti Zohar, a geographer specialising in geoinformation and spatial analysis. Motti describes in great detail how he and his team have been able to extract the location of tweets. Only 1-3% of tweets have coordinates, Motti’s methods can increase that number to approximately 15%. How might this be useful? Well for one, distinguishing which tweets come from users that are actually near the event or phenomenon can help to resolve or filter out fake news. They can also analyse how people use Twitter during natural hazard events such as wildfires or floods. Motti spoke about this topic at the recent first ever Geomob Tel Aviv in April 2022. Listen to the fascinating discussion and learn more about the process of location extraction. 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 speaks with Luca Delucchi, a member of the local organizing team for both State of the Map (SotM) and FOSS4G which will be held in Florence, Italy in August. It's wonderful not just that these events are again taking place in person (SotM will be August 19-21st, FOSS4G will be August 22-28th), but that they will be held in the same city, allowing geospatial open data and open source enthusiasts to easily attend both. Luca tells about the preparations and what attendees can expect. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Ed and Steven catch up on the heels of two Geomob events. Ed compares the recent London event with the Barcelona event and ponders if London’s culture of sharing will eventually make its way to Barcelona. Focussing on the highlight of the Barcelona event, he describes the presentation by Bettermaps. Although still in the early stages, this app takes a written description of a location and turns it into a map. Ed and Steven discuss the possibilities of AI and the possible elimination of cartographers? We’re not quite there yet, but there certainly is potential in AI. Ed also discusses the recent launch of OpenCage's FlipCoords tool, while Steven shares that he will be presenting about Mappery at the British Cartographic Society annual event in September. Tune in to find out which other OpenCage projects are picking up momentum, where the next Geomob event will take place, and where you may bump into Ed in the summer months. Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.