The Scene From Above Podcast

S16E4: GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover – with Phil Cooper, AWS and Nadine Alameh, LunateAI

In the final episode of Season 16, Julia Wagemann speaks with Phil Cooper, Geospatial Global Tech BD for the Amazon Public Sector team, and Nadine Alameh, Founder of LunateAI and former CEO of the Open Geospatial Consortium.
The conversation closes the GenAI for Geospatial Challenge takeover by looking beyond the individual prototypes and asking what this moment means for the wider geospatial industry.
Phil reflects on the evolution of Earth observation from a time when researchers might spend months analysing a single satellite image to today’s world of petabyte-scale data, cloud infrastructure and AI-enabled analysis. Generative and agentic AI are now helping organisations engage with geospatial data without needing years of specialist experience, opening the field to new industries, users and ideas.
Nadine describes this as a moment in which anyone with a strong idea can begin turning it into a prototype, solution or business. She also reflects on the Challenge’s role in demonstrating the art of the possible, lowering barriers and supporting teams working on meaningful problems across climate, health, oceans, infrastructure, insurance and spatial intelligence.
The episode explores the patterns that emerged across the 14 winning teams. Unlike earlier experiments focused primarily on the technology itself, many of this year’s projects were grounded in specific domain challenges, including methane monitoring, malaria planning, cocoa supply-chain transparency, marine intelligence, disaster risk and insurance.
Phil and Nadine also discuss the rapid move from generative AI towards agentic systems, multimodal geospatial foundation models and natural-language interfaces. As these tools become more operational, the conversation turns to trust, data governance, standards, provenance and the need to help users understand where information comes from and how it has been processed.
The episode also considers which sectors may adopt geospatial AI first, why energy and finance are already moving quickly, and how geospatial intelligence could become embedded into everyday decision-making across industries.
Host: Julia WagemannGuests: Phil Cooper and Nadine AlamehOrganisations: AWS and LunateAIEpisode focus: The future of generative AI and geospatialSeries: Scene From Above, Season 16 – GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover

S16E3: GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover – In Conversation with BolgiaTen

In Episode 3 of Season 16, Sabrina Szeto speaks with Dr Cormac Purcell, astrophysicist turned geospatial scientist at BolgiaTen.
BolgiaTen’s project, developed through the GenAI for Geospatial Challenge, focuses on marine domain awareness: helping users understand where vessels are, what they are doing, and whether their reported movements can be trusted.
The project addresses a major challenge in maritime intelligence. Automatic Identification System, or AIS, data is widely used to track vessels, but it is based on an open trust system and can be affected by GPS jamming, spoofing, or deliberate manipulation. This matters because incorrect or falsified vessel positions can have real consequences, from insurance risk and sanctions compliance to dark port calls, ship-to-ship transfers and activity in protected marine areas.
In this conversation, Cormac explains how BolgiaTen combines AIS data, vessel context, ownership and maintenance information, and Earth observation data from open and commercial sources to build a more reliable picture of vessel behaviour.
The episode also explores the role of generative AI in the project. BolgiaTen uses foundation models to accelerate vessel detection in Earth observation imagery and generative AI to support a natural language interface for the analysis pipeline. What once required specialist analysts to process imagery, interpret results and answer business questions can increasingly be supported through an agentic interface that helps orchestrate the workflow.
Cormac also shares how AWS cloud credits helped the team move beyond an isolated prototype towards a more professional deployment pathway, closer to the environment used by their partner Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The credits supported experimentation, integration and a higher technology readiness level prototype that can be tested with customers more quickly.
The conversation also covers the importance of customer education: helping business users understand what Earth observation can and cannot do, how resolution, cadence, coverage and cost shape what is possible, and why clear communication of uncertainty is just as important as the underlying science.
Host: Sabrina SzetoGuest: Dr Cormac PurcellOrganisation: BolgiaTenProject focus: AI-enabled maritime domain awarenessSeries: Scene From Above, Season 16 – GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover

S16E2: GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover – In Conversation with RASID

In Episode 2 of Season 16, Julia Wagemann speaks with Reda Haidar, Commercial Director at RASID.
RASID’s project, GoPilot, is an agentic Earth observation platform developed through the GenAI for Geospatial Challenge. It allows users to ask questions in natural language and receive clear, evidence-backed geospatial intelligence without needing to manually search satellite archives, download imagery or run complex workflows.
The project began with a focused use case around methane monitoring, using RASID’s Methane Mapper system to detect methane emissions from satellite imagery. During the Challenge, the team realised that the same architecture could support a much wider set of Earth observation workflows, from agriculture and environmental monitoring to infrastructure analysis and change detection.
In this conversation, Reda explains how generative AI acts as the reasoning layer in GoPilot: understanding user intent, selecting the right tools, retrieving relevant data, coordinating analytical workflows and synthesising results into actionable answers.
The episode also explores the role of AWS cloud credits in helping the team experiment at scale, including the generation of more than 100,000 synthetic methane plumes, model training, and the development of an agentic geospatial platform using AWS tools and infrastructure.
Host: Julia WagemannGuest: Reda HaidarOrganisation: RASIDProject: GoPilotSeries: Scene From Above, Season 16 – GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover

S16E1: GenAI for Geospatial Challenge Takeover – In Conversation with BigData Ghana

In the first episode of Season 16, Sabrina Szeto speaks with Nana Akua Afra Owusu-Addo, Technical Writer for the Earth Observation Team at BigData Ghana Limited and Project Lead for ForestTrace AI.
ForestTrace AI is an AI-powered forest and land use intelligence platform developed through the GenAI for Geospatial Challenge. The platform helps governments, environmental agencies, cocoa sector actors and sustainability teams monitor forest change, detect deforestation risk and turn satellite data into clear, decision-ready insights.
In this conversation, Afra shares how the team is using generative AI to make geospatial intelligence more accessible to non-technical users, including policymakers, sustainability officers, field teams and local stakeholders. Rather than simply showing maps and dashboards, ForestTrace AI helps users ask questions in natural language, understand what the data means and identify what action may be needed.
The episode also explores BigData Ghana’s journey through the challenge, the role of AWS cloud credits and technical support, the importance of responsible data governance, and the team’s ambition to scale ForestTrace AI into a broader African land use intelligence platform.
 
Host: Sabrina Szeto
Guest: Nana Akua Afra Owusu-AddoOrganisation: BigData Ghana LimitedProject: ForestTrace AI

S15E5: STAC – A common language for finding geospatial data

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

S15E4: What “cloud-friendly” really means for Earth observation

In this episode of Scene from Above, Julia Wagemann speaks with Aimee Barciauskas, Data Engineer at Development Seed, about what it actually takes to make Earth observation data usable at scale.
 
For the past seven years, Aimee has worked closely with NASA’s IMPACT team, supporting the agency’s transition to cloud-native workflows. From initiatives like the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP) to community-driven tooling and documentation, her work sits at the intersection of data engineering, open science, and real-world impact.
 
Together, Julia and Aimee unpack:
What “cloud-friendly” really means (beyond storing data in the cloud)
The technical and cultural barriers teams still face
Why reproducibility is as much about habits as it is about tools
How frictionless workflows could shape the future of Earth science
 
A practical conversation for anyone working with large-scale geospatial data and thinking about how to move from experimentation to repeatable, shareable workflows.
 
Host: Julia Wagemann
Guest: Aimee Barciauskas (Development Seed)

S15E3: Is the future of geospatial in the cloud? A conversation with Swetha Kolluri

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.
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Sign-up for thriveGEO's Cloud-Native Geospatial 101 training and use the exclusive discount code CNGPODCAST - https://bit.ly/geospatial_cloud
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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/

S15E2: Is the future of geospatial in the cloud? A conversation with Dr. Brianna R. Pagán

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…
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Sign-up for our Cloud-Native Geospatial 101 training and use the exclusive discount code CNGPODCAST - https://bit.ly/geospatial_cloud  
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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 
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Season 15 of Scene from Above is brought to you by thriveGEO. 

S15E1: Is the future of geospatial in the cloud? A conversation with Jed Sundwall

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 the first episode, we talk to Jed Sundwall, the Executive Director of Radiant Earth. Jed has been instrumental in bringing open geospatial data to the cloud. Under Radiant Earth, he started two initiatives, the ‘CNG - the cloud-native geospatial forum’ and the ‘source cooperative’. In this conversation, Jed will shed some light on where he sees the geospatial industry heading...
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Sign-up for our Cloud-Native Geospatial 101 training and use the exclusive discount code CNGPODCAST - https://bit.ly/geospatial_cloud  
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Github discussion about the definition of cloud-native geospatial data - https://github.com/cloudnativegeo/cloudnativegeo.org/issues/18 
More about Jed:
Website - https://jed.co/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedsundwall/ 
More about Radiant Earth - https://radiant.earth/ 
More about the Cloud-Native Geospatial Forum (CNG) - https://cloudnativegeo.org/ 
 
Watch this episode on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-86IH4DouY 
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Season 15 of Scene from Above is brought to you by thriveGEO. 

S14E1: European Union Deforestation free Regulation (EUDR) with Dr.Vivian Ribeiro

In the first episode of Season 14, we talk to Dr. Vivian Ribeiro about the challenges and opportunities of the new European Union Deforestation free Regulation (EUDR) in the Earth Observation Sector. Dr. Vivian Ribeiro is a senior data scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute and currently leads the spatial intelligence team in the Trase - Intelligence for Sustainable Trade initiative. She is also the co-founder and technical coordinator of the Do Pasto ao Prato app, a collaborative initiative aimed at increasing transparency in the Brazilian meat industry. Vivian holds degrees in biology from the University of Goias and masters and Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Brasilia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vivihrbr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivian-ribeiro-276357a8/
 
Shownotes:
Do Pasto ao Prato: https://www.dopastoaoprato.com.br/
Trase: www.trase.earth
 
Season 14 of Scene from Above is brought to you by Geoawesomeness. Be sure to check out the EO Hub article by Muthukumar featured on S14E1: https://bit.ly/EUDREarthObservation
 
News Correspondent: 
Rafaela Tiengo: https://twitter.com/RafaelaTiengo_
Subscribe to Rafaela’s Newsletter! https://rafaelatiengo.substack.com/
 
Hosts, co-host and organizers:
Dr. Flávia de Souza Mendes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fl%C3%A1via-de-souza-mendes-phd-1456362b/
Dr. Yhasmin Mendes de Moura https://www.linkedin.com/in/yhasmoura/
Dr. Michelle Picoli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-picoli-234709a2/
 
Editor and translation:
Dr. Flávia de Souza Mendes
 
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.