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Spatial Signals

AmericaView

Spatial Signals is a podcast about remote sensing, GIS, and geospatial technologies - but more importantly it’s a podcast about the people who use and apply them. This podcast is sponsored by AmericaView, the national remote sensing network dedicated to empowering Earth Observation. Your hosts are Dr. Bradley Shellito from Youngstown State University and Mr. Chris McGinty, the Executive Director of AmericaView. New episodes every Monday morning.

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20 episodes
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Avg 39 min
English

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#73
Monday · 37 min
Payment For Ecosystem Services with Mary Schorse
Mary Schorse from the University of Delaware joins us to talk about her background in education and how it connects with geospatial technologies, the expansion of geospatial technologies into a multitude of fields, the Delaware Center for Geographic Education (DCGE), inserting GIS and remote sensing into K-12 lessons, Mary’s collaborations with Tracy DeLiberty, Mary’s work with environmental impact assessment in Trinidad, payment for ecosystem services and applications and issues of scale with that, inserting geospatial technology tools into instructor resources, summer education outreach programs for students, the challenges of working with K-12 students and teachers, dual enrollment courses, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#72
August 17 · 37 min
Map Layouts and Band Combinations with Parinaz Rahimzadeh
Parinaz Rahimzadeh from the University of Maine joins us to talk about finding GIS and remote sensing on her first day of university, creating map layouts and band combinations, Parinaz earning her doctorate in Japan, and the birth of MaineView, forest health, detecting the severity of pathogen-induced damage on the landscape, forest susceptibility, applied research with GIS and remote sensing, pest monitoring, defoliation detection, the abundance of forests in Maine, worksforce training for GIS and remote sensing forest health monitoring, creating products for decision making, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#71
August 10 · 58 min
Teaching GIS - The Squared Circle, Round Five
This is Round Five 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 Ms. Robbyn Abbitt from Miami University, Dr. Forrest Bowlick from University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Dr. Courtney Poirier Chicola from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and we’re discussing all things about teaching GIS today. We talk about approaches to teaching GIS, mixing fundamentals and application, students working on local projects, producing tangible products, incorporating topoquads and remote sensing, students taking on different roles in projects, relevancy of tasks, incorporating maps from current events, the challenges of online GIS courses, showing why things are happening, collaboration on GIS problems, fundamental changes in what’s been taught in GIS courses, data handling challenges, GeoAI, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#70
August 3 · 41 min
Breaking The Law of Gravity with Jason Lorenzon
Jason Lorenzon from Kent State University joins us to talk about his wanting to be a pilot from an early age, sneaking to the Windsor airport to get a private pilot license, Jason's training as a concert pianist, teaching aviation law, leading the UAS program at Kent State, training both manned and unmanned aircraft pilots, the NTSB and the definition of an aircraft, the 100th anniversary of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, Bessie Coleman and barnstormers, aircraft regulations, the tiny percentage of people who have actually touched aircraft controls, never losing the awe of flying after takeoff, the intersection of aviation and geospatial technologies, a dynamic Earth, the development of laws related to UAS, the usage of drones by first responders, air taxis, collaboration and cooperation with aviation and remote sensing, national airspace and geospatial technology, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#69
July 27 · 39 min
Russ and Kass' Excellent Adventure with Russ Congalton and Kass Green
Russ Congalton from the University of New Hampshire and Kass Green from Kass Green and Associates return to talk about how they briefly met a first time, a second meeting at the first national GIS conference, Russ’ heading up the next GIS conference in San Francisco, Russ working with Kass on mapping old growth forest with Landsat imagery, the partnership of practical ideas and new technologies, the critical importance of quantitative accuracy assessment, the impact of Chernobyl on remote sensing, co-authoring two books, CART analysis, Cluster Magic, both Russ and Kass’ serving as ASPRS Presidents, an attempt to hire Robin Williams to entertain at a banquet, both Russ and Kass being recipients of the William T. Pecora award, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com/.
#68
July 20 · 42 min
The Author Is Always The Last One To Know with Aaron Maxwell
Aaron Maxwell from West Virginia University returns to talk about his first book in supervised learning being publishing, where the book’s concept came from, Aaron’s co-authors, the whole writing process behind the book, designing figures and graphs, visual design, how Aaron learned about the book’s release, the storytelling of science, the supervised learning process being more spatial, advice for future authors, having passion for the topic, the development of a companion e-book, R, the tinymodels framework, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com/.
#67
July 13 · 42 min
No Escape From Geology with Umesh Haritashya
Umesh Haritashya from the University of Dayton joins us to talk about trying to major in zoology and ending up in geology instead, then trying to get into petroleum and ending up in remote sensing instead, ASTER data evaluation and the Global Land Ice Measurement from Space project, glacier datasets that paved the way for modern geospatial studies of the cryosphere, research in Nepal, the long trek to Lake Imja, the advantages of learning through field work, studying changes to glaciers in relation to climate, the impact of glaciers on freshwater resources, the effects of melting glaciers, using DEMs and field measurements for measuring glacial changes, scenario modeling of lake outburst floods, machine learning applications, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#66
July 6 · 40 min
Surrounded By Maps with Morgan Crowley
Morgan Crowley from the Great Lakes Forestry Centre joins us to talk about growing up with maps and aerial images, Russ Congalton’s mentorship of Morgan at the University of New Hampshire, Ladies of Landsat, WildFireSat, fire monitoring, Canadian wildfires, Morgan’s co-editing a book on Google Earth Engine, deep learning models, trusting data, using remote sensing data for fire management and monitoring, science outreach, knowledge exchange, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#65
June 29 · 32 min
Sagebrush and Locust Habitats with Ramesh Sivanpillai
Ramesh Sivanpillai from the University of Wyoming joins us to talk about his taking a mandatory remote sensing class for his physics degree, remote sensing data access, how Wyoming and Kazakhstan look striking similar, the 25th anniversary of WyomingView, training the future workforce, students connecting satellite imagery to what’s on the ground, Congressional outreach, Ramesh’s time on the AmericaView Board of Directors, Ramesh’s work with disaster management as Project Manager for the International Charter, student involvement with disaster activations, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#64
June 22 · 37 min
The Connection Between Science and Art with Anita Simic-Milas
Anita Simic-Milas from Bowling Green State University joins us to talk about her encounter with GIS and Unix in her very last course as an undergraduate student, GRASS GIS software, developing net primary productivity maps, Anita’s time working at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS), groundwater modeling with remote sensing, the development of SPLIT, the SPLIT summer programs and field data collection, OhioView, students learning from their peers, remote sensing connecting science and art, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#63
June 15 · 31 min
Looking Down Is Looking Up with John McGee
John McGee from Virginia Tech University returns to talk about the state of the union about drones today, the advantages to data collection with drones as “data on demand,” the lack of cost-effective drone options for basic entry-level mapping drones, the importance of sensors in data collection, the drone cage at Virginia Tech, teacher trainings for drones and Part 107, data-driven decisions, multi-platform sensors, agricultural applications of remote sensing, real-time management with data collection, drone delivery of packages and people, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com/.
#62
June 8 · 34 min
Science As A Way Of Thinking with Sarah Slack
Sarah Slack from Intermediate School (IS) 223 in Brooklyn, NY joins us to talk about termite flatulence, joining the New York City Teaching Fellows program, teaching science, changes to Earth’s climate, Sarah’s traveling to Antarctica with PolarTREC, being on an icebreaker at the onset of the Covid pandemic, GIS class on a boat while going through Drake Passage, Sarah’s experience as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, examining urban heat island effects, the Landsat Explorer app, the Climate Education Leadership Team, building pathways for students to enter the earth sciences as a career path, student engagement with collecting temperature and analyzing urban heat data, science as a way of thinking rather than just facts, applications of online remote sensing and GIS apps in the classroom, the Geospatial Semester at JMU, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#61
June 1 · 35 min
Toledo Was Without Water For Three Days with Joseph Ortiz
Joseph Ortiz from Kent State University returns to talk about remote sensing of Mars, Joseph’s work with his collaborators on a National Geographic funded project at Vaal Dam in South Africa, water quantity issues in a semi-arid environment, a time when the region came within five days of running out of water, a water level drop of one to two stories, microcystis, water quality issues, renewable energy sources, boat problems at night with a lack of fuel and a shoal, measuring different types of algae with a multichannel fluorometer, Joseph working with students from Wits University, open source software for hyperspectral imagery analysis of South Africa, Whitebox tools for lidar analysis, MultiSpec, analyzing harmful algal blooms, the red edge bands from Sentinel, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com/.
#60
May 25 · 28 min
I Never Heard of Geology with Caiyun Zhang
Caiyun Zhang from Florida Atlantic University joins us to talk about a competitive college test, being randomly placed into the Ocean University of China to study Geology, being introduced to GIS and aerial photography in graduate school, hyperspectral lidar, Caiyun’s love of all things Florida, the birth of FloridaView, Alaskan permafrost assessment and studies, wetland mapping in the Everglades, working with the National Park Service at Canaveral National Seashore for assessing damage from hurricanes, community mapping for flood estimation, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#59
May 18 · 39 min
Human Brains Work on Short Time Frames with Chandana Mitra
Chandana Mitra from Auburn University joins us to talk about games with paper atlases, being a Geography Geek, GIS in school in India, quantifying the growth of Kolkata, the perils of old digitizing techniques, teaching GIS, AlabamaView, Earth As Art highlighting Alabama, collaborations within the AmericaView network, measuring temperature differences with iButtons and GIS, weather and climate models, human impacts of heat, neighborhood land uses and urban heat, desktop VR modules, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#58
May 11 · 46 min
Remote Sensing and Wildfire Management - The Squared Circle, Round Four
This is Round Four 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. Sam Batzli from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Nancy French from the Michigan Tech Research Institute, and Dr. Aaron Maxwell from West Virginia University, and we’re discussing all things wildfire management with remote sensing and geospatial technologies. We talk about fire detection through remote sensing, the impact of emissions from fires, fuel mapping, post-fire analysis and potential impacts like debris-flow and landslides, fire danger assessment, Landfire, radar remote sensing for examining moisture conditions on the ground, terrestrial laser scanning before and after fire events, prescribed burns and fire behavior, NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center), measuring fuel moisture, FireSat, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#57
May 4 · 39 min
A Record Of What Has Been Lost with Elise Laugier
Elise Laugier from Utah State University joins us to talk about her background in archeology, landscape ecology, the CORONA Atlas project, viewing landscape changes through CORONA imagery, the Spatial Archaeometry Lab (SPARCL), UtahView, the archeological and environmental science projects of the LEGASYS Lab, the development of the USU certificate programs in remote sensing and geospatial AI, examining high resolution historical imagery, storytelling with imagery, flying UAS in northern Iraq, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#56
April 27 · 34 min
I Always Ride The Waves with Kashif Mahmud
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 and subsurface modeling, using lidar in caves, new algorithms for lidar analysis and feature extraction, advances in lidar technology, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com
#55
April 20 · 50 min
You Come To Learn, Engage, and Eat with Rodney Yantis and Courtney Poirier Chicola
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 learning, the role of undergraduate student mentors in the workshops, 26 years of Disaster Response workshops, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2025 Disaster Response activities and topics, the role of Geospatial First Responders, the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, how to register for the upcoming 2026 workshops, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com/.
#54
April 13 · 48 min
One Person's Noise Is Another Person's Signal with Barb Ryan
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 Space Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), coordinating satellite observations of weather information, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), a system of systems, how the Landsat archive became free and open data, the economic return and benefits of the satellite industry, the interconnectedness of the Earth system, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

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