Uncategorized

The Real State of Geospatial AI: What Foundation Models, Embeddings, and Earth Observation Can (and Can’t) Do Today

The Real State of Geospatial AI Geospatial AI feels like it’s moving fast, but if you look closely, it’s still early days. Not in a discouraging way. In an exciting way. A “wild west” moment where incredible tools exist, but the rules, workflows, and best practices are still taking shape. In a recent Spatial Stack […]

Uncategorized

Global POI Is Table Stakes: Foot Traffic, Mobility Gaps, and the Trust Layer with Dataplor’s Emily Lisle

A market analyst pulls a Starbucks foot traffic report. The numbers look fine. The store-by-store breakdown is clean. The chart is presentable. Then someone asks how the brand is performing in Mexico, and the report has nothing to say. You were looking at about half the company. In episode 45 of The Spatial Stack, I […]

Uncategorized

A5 and the Future of Global Grids: Why Pentagons May Redefine Spatial Indexing

Every decade or so, a new idea emerges that quietly shifts the entire trajectory of geospatial technology. H3 did that for the 2010s. S2 did it before that. But today, we’re looking at something entirely new. In a conversation with Felix Palmer, creator of A5, I realized just how much latent innovation still exists in […]

Uncategorized

The Future of Geospatial Is Bigger Than Geospatial

Every so often, an insight lands that shakes the foundation of how an entire field sees itself. During my conversation with Nadine Alameh, one line did exactly that: “Stop introducing yourself as a geospatial person.” Not because geospatial isn’t important. But because we’ve unintentionally built walls around a discipline that powers almost everything people do […]

Uncategorized

Edge Computing in Space: How Novi Is Rewriting the Economics of Earth Observation

Earth observation is at a breaking point. We have more satellites than ever, more sensors in orbit, and more raw data streaming to the ground every day. Yet most of that data is never used. And the cost of collecting, storing, and analyzing it has kept the industry locked behind government budgets, exclusive contracts, and […]