The Scene From Above Podcast

In this episode of Scene from Above, Julia Wagemann speaks with Matthias Mohr, independent software developer and one of the key contributors to the STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog) and STAC API specifications.   STAC has become foundational to how Earth observation data is discovered and accessed across cloud platforms. But its origins lie in a fragmented landscape of portals, inconsistent metadata, and incompatible APIs. Matthias shares how STAC emerged from practical needs within the community and how it evolved into a widely adopted standard for geospatial data discovery.   Together, Julia and Matthias unpack: Why STAC was created and what problem it solved The difference between static STAC catalogues and STAC APIs How organisations struggle when adopting STAC internally The role of extensions and interoperability Where cloud-native geospatial infrastructure may head next   A thoughtful conversation for anyone working with large-scale Earth observation data, from analysts querying data, to engineers publishing catalogues, to decision-makers shaping data infrastructure.   Host: Julia Wagemann Guest: Matthias Mohr

Aimee Barciauskas, a data engineer at Development Seed who helps make Earth observation data cloud-friendly, explains what cloud-friendly really means beyond just storage. She discusses network-optimized formats, indexing, tooling, and community. Short takes cover AI as a productivity aid, practical learning paths, and the cultural and technical roadblocks to reproducible, frictionless geoscience workflows.

In this episode, we speak with Swetha Kolluri, who works on AI and Digital Innovations at the World Bank. Previously serving as Head of Experimentation at UNDP in India, Swetha has dedicated her career to applying frontier technologies to social and environmental challenges. With her background spanning rural development, data science, and sustainability initiatives across India and the US, she brings unique perspectives on transformative solutions using AI and cloud computing. In this conversation, Swetha shares insights from her work designing innovative development experiments, and her vision for how earth observation, citizen science and AI can address global challenges such as environmental degradation and climate change. She also shares some tips managing cloud costs for organisations who may have low resource bases. --- Sign-up for thriveGEO's Cloud-Native Geospatial 101 training and use the exclusive discount code CNGPODCAST - https://bit.ly/geospatial_cloud ---   More about Swetha: LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/swetha-kolluri/   Projects that Swetha mentioned in the episode: GeoAI for brick kilns in India. This digital innovation applied AI to detect 48,287 brick kilns from satellite data with an accuracy of 96%, empowering environmental regulators in India to expedite climate action.  https://geo-ai.undp.org.in/   DiCRA (Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture) is an accredited digital public good (DPG) that has democratized satellite data for informing climate finance in agriculture. This innovation provided data and intelligence on climate resilience across 50 million hectares of agriculture land across 7 states in India. https://github.com/undpindia/dicra   ‘VAYU – OpenAir’ with open software, open algorithms and open data collected on air pollution produced through hyperlocal mapping of air pollution in two cities - Patna and Gurgaon. This dataset is used to map point sources of air pollution and enable cities take action on specific sources.  https://github.com/undpindia/VAYU_OpenAir   More about thriveGEO - https://thrivegeo.com/

Welcome to Season 15, during which we will host a series of conversations around the question: 'Is the future of geospatial in the cloud?' With ever increasing amounts of satellite data and computational power available, moving geospatial workflows to the cloud opens the doors to powerful insights. But what does it take to really switch to doing things in a cloud-native way? Let's find out together. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Brianna R. Pagán, Deputy Manager of the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Centre. In her current role, Brianna is responsible for orchestrating the transition to the cloud while managing various engineering, science, and data curation teams. She has also recently been appointed as an Editorial Board member of the Cloud-Native Geospatial Forum. Brianna shares about her career trajectory, her reflections on the intersection of technology, climate change and social justice, why she believes that the future of geospatial is all about collaboration and how the cloud is one piece of the puzzle… --- Sign-up for our Cloud-Native Geospatial 101 training and use the exclusive discount code CNGPODCAST - https://bit.ly/geospatial_cloud   --- More about Brianna: Website - https://www.briannapagan.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-r-pagán-phd-8a49a46b  More about Openscapes - https://openscapes.org/   More about the NASA TOPS initiative - https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/tops/    Watch this episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/HB9ycjEsg0M  --- Season 15 of Scene from Above is brought to you by thriveGEO. 

Jed Sundwall, Executive Director of Radiant Earth, is a key player in the realm of open geospatial data and cloud technology. He discusses the transformative potential of cloud-native geospatial workflows, emphasizing improved data accessibility and collaboration. The conversation explores the evolution of cloud technology since 2015 and its implications for the future of Earth observation. Sundwall highlights the importance of community engagement and the shift towards inclusive platforms that empower both experts and newcomers in the field.

Dr. Vivian Ribeiro, senior data scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, discusses the challenges and opportunities of the European Union Deforestation free Regulation (EUDR). Topics include progress in combating deforestation, geospatial data for indigenous lands, traceability in commodity supply chains, and the role of remote sensing in a sustainable supply chain.

In the last episode of Season 13, we talk to Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo about SAR, LiDAR, passive multispectral data, mangroves, biomass estimation, carbon stocks, payment ecosystem services, science communication & much more.  Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo, is a NASA scientist!! She is Research Scientist in the Biospheric Sciences Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center based in Maryland, USA, where she studies forest ecology and ecosystem structure with multi-source remote sensing. Dr. Fatoyinbo has a Doctorate in Environmental sciences from University of Virginia, with a focus on Forest Ecology and Remote Sensing of Mangrove Wetlands. She serves on the GEDI and ICESat-2 Mission Science Teams and is Principal investigator on NASA Earth Science research.  Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarthToLola Research: https://mangrovescience.org/ NASA Directory Page: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/lola.fatoyinbo    Season 13 of Scene from Above is brought to you by Geoawesomeness and UP42. Be sure to check out the EO Hub article by Ishveena Singh featured on S13E6: https://geoawesomeness.com/eo-hub/esa-biomass-maps-climate-change/    Stay tuned for a bonus episode this summer to round out Season 13 of Scene From Above recapping the season and prospecting what comes next. And as always, thanks for listening!   Shownotes: Dr. Fatoyinbo’s 2011 Presidential Early Career Award: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2012/12-064.html  Minecraft Mangrove Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkR6xX_v0pw Mangrove Science Data Portal: https://mangrovescience.org/data-portal-2/ Global Mangrove Dataset: https://daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dsviewer.pl?ds_id=1665 NASA Biodiversity: https://cce.nasa.gov/biodiversity/ Dr. Sassan Saatchi: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/saatchi/  Dr. Marc Simard twitter: https://twitter.com/MarcLovesEarth Dr. Woody Turner: https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/about/our-team/woody-turner    S13E6 News Links: A new web-based mapping application: Sentinel-2 Land Cover Explorer:https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/imagery/global-land-cover-revealed/?adusf=twitter&aduc=esri_conserv&adut=341c8636-83a0-4da0-859d-54ffafe29c71  ESA's wind mission helps to investigate the nature of volcanic plumes:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-27021-0#Abs1  Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor Anomaly:https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/news/recent-landsat-9-tirs-anomaly-pauses-processing-new-landsat-9-data  ESA Biomass satellite will be launched in 2024:https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2023/02/24/esa-biomass-satellite-set-to-map-earths-essential-old-growth-forests/amp/    News Correspondent:  Rafaela Tiengo: https://twitter.com/RafaelaTiengo_ Subscribe to Rafaela’s Newsletter! https://rafaelatiengo.substack.com/   Hosts: Dr. Gopika Suresh: https://twitter.com/Go__pika  Dr. Flávia de Souza Mendes: https://twitter.com/flasmendes  Dr. Morgan Crowley: https://twitter.com/morganahcrowley 

This episode features Sabrina Szeto, who is a geospatial consultant who empowers organizations to use geospatial data and technology. She is a Google Developer Expert for Earth Engine. Sabrina has a Masters in Forestry from Yale University and a BA in Anthropology from Princeton University. She also is the co-founder and former Director of Women+ in Geospatial and is currently based near Munich, Germany. Website: https://sabrinaszeto.com/our-work Twitter: https://twitter.com/SabrinaSzeto Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@sabrinaszeto Season 13 of Scene from Above is brought to you by Geoawesomeness and UP42. Be sure to check out the EO Hub article by Aleks Buczkowski: ‘https://geoawesomeness.com/eo-hub/understanding-the-earth-observation-value-chain/’ -------- Show notes: Earth Engine User Meetup YouTube: https://youtube.com/@EarthEngineUserMeetup Fostering user-driven learning communities in-person and virtually: Examples from Earth Engine meetups: https://figshare.com/articles/poster/Fostering_user-driven_learning_communities_in-person_and_virtually_Examples_from_Earth_Engine_meetups/21803250 Earth Engine Community Tutorials: https://sabrinaszeto.com/talks-and-outreach/creating-community-tutorials-for-earth-engine https://github.com/google/earthengine-community/tree/master/tutorials Ten Steps to Build an Inclusive Future for the Geo for Good Community: https://medium.com/google-earth/ten-steps-to-build-an-inclusive-future-for-the-geo-for-good-community-9f808000ab28 Women+ in Geospatial: Women+ in Geospatial Website: https://www.womeningeospatial.org/ Women+ in Geospatial Twitter: https://twitter.com/geospatialwomen Women+ in Geospatial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-geospatial/   Hosts: Dr. Flavia de Souza Mendes https://twitter.com/flasmendes Dr. Gopika Suresh https://twitter.com/Go__pika Dr. Morgan Crowley https://twitter.com/morganahcrowley News correspondent: Rafaela Tiengo https://twitter.com/RafaelaTiengo_ Rafaela's newsletter: https://rafaelatiengo.substack.com/   Previewing our next guest on S13E6: They are a remote sensing research scientist with NASA, They have used SAR, LiDAR and passive optical data in their research, They created the first 3D mangrove forest structure map for Africa.

This episode features Dr. Lujia Feng, a Principal Research fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She  is a geodesist who is trained as a geologist and geophysicist and now explores the atmosphere. In her research, Dr. Feng uses GNSS to study natural hazards related to tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes and climate. Listen in as Dr. Gopika Suresh talks to Dr. Lujia Feng about Southeast Asia, seismology, atmospheric water vapour from GNSS, challenges of being an immigrant and how diverse voices bring diverse perspectives to remote sensing.  Dr. Lujia Feng: EOS page https://earthobservatory.sg/about-us/our-people/feng-lujia Dr. Lujia Feng's Email: lfeng@ntu.edu.sg  -------- Show notes: Research paper about Earthquake in Costa Rica:  The paper before the earthquake:  Feng, L., Newman, A. V., Protti, M., González, V., Jiang, Y., & Dixon, T. H. (2012). Active deformation near the Nicoya Peninsula, Northwestern Costa Rica, between 1996 and 2010: Interseismic megathrust coupling. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 117. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JB009230 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2012jb009230 A paper describing the story after the earthquake Protti, M., González, V., Newman, A. V., Dixon, T. H., Schwartz, S. Y., Marshall, J. S., et al. (2014). Nicoya earthquake rupture anticipated by geodetic measurement of the locked plate interface. Nature Geoscience, 7(2), 117–121. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2038 https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2038 SuGAr Network: https://earthobservatory.sg/research/tectonics/geodesy-group/sumatran-tectonic-geodesy-sugar- Exploring the Application of GPS for Climate Research https://earthobservatory.sg/news/blog/exploring-the-application-of-gps-for-climate-research Dr. Feng's role model: Prof. Kristine M. Larson (https://www.kristinelarson.net/) What is GPS? https://earthobservatory.sg/earth-science-education/earth-science-faqs/miscellaneous/what-is-gps What are the uses of GPS? https://earthobservatory.sg/earth-science-education/earth-science-faqs/miscellaneous/what-are-the-uses-of-gps Earth Science FAQs - Geology and Tectonics https://earthobservatory.sg/earth-science-education/earth-science-faqs/geology-and-tectonics Hosts: Dr. Flavia de Souza Mendes https://twitter.com/flasmendes Dr. Gopika Suresh https://twitter.com/Go__pika Dr. Morgan Crowley https://twitter.com/morganahcrowley News correspondent: Rafaela Tiengo https://twitter.com/RafaelaTiengo_ Rafaela's newsletter: https://rafaelatiengo.substack.com/   Season 13 of Scene from Above is brought to you by Geoawesomeness and UP42. Be sure to check out the EO Hub article by Aleks Buczkowski: ‘https://geoawesomeness.com/eo-hub/understanding-the-earth-observation-value-chain/’   Our next speaker: They are a self-employed Earth observation expert, They are a long-time user of Google Earth Engine, They cofounded Women+ in Geospatial.    

Dr. Tahisa Kuck and Prof. Tatiana Pará discuss deforestation in the Amazon biome, emphasizing the need for collaboration between the public sector and the community. They explore the significance of GNSS monitoring and address the urgent problem of deforestation. The speakers also touch on evolving topics, community involvement, and the relationship between money and various aspects of life.