March 7, 2024

GEOTalks Podcast – Learning from the World of GIS

Written by: Meg Scribner

At Blue Marble Geographics, creating valuable resources for our current and future users is an essential part of what we do. In this vein, we’re excited to reveal a project we’ve been working on: we’re launching a podcast! GEOTalks is a podcast where you’ll hear stories from professionals around the world and learn how they use GIS technology to solve critical challenges. Since our software users are experts in their fields, we’re excited to foster conversations about the stories behind their work and dive into how they’re leveraging geospatial technology for their projects.

Episode 1 – Studying Coastal Salt Marshes with Drones/UAVs featuring Andrea Celeste Curcio

Our connection with geospatial professionals gives us the unique opportunity to talk with people who are making innovations in GIS. In our first episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Andrea Celeste Curcio, a PhD student at the Universidad de Cádiz in Spain. Andrea’s team has been evaluating the performance of high spatial resolution drone/UAV technology for researching coastal salt marshes with Global Mapper Pro.

“The first time I saw a salt marsh from above, I was really amazed. What I saw… it looked like a complex network of veins, like our body system carrying nutrients. That’s exactly what a salt marsh does; these tidal channels guide water all around, bringing nutrients to keep the whole ecosystem growing.” – Andrea Curcio

Her team has been establishing a process for collecting high-resolution drone/UAV data to analyze the health of salt marshes over time. They developed this method to assess circumstances, including climate change effects like rising sea levels and coastal squeeze.

“Drones are perfect for mapping and monitoring this ecosystem because they can be equipped with different sensors and detect information in a nonevasive way. When we couple these drones with hyperspectral sensors, we can recognize specific salt marsh plants by their unique spectral shape.” – Andrea Curcio

The team wants to use their findings in Cádiz Bay as a model for understanding similar ecosystems around the world, and they are proud that their research is open access through academic platforms like Google Scholar. You can learn more about Andrea’s team’s research by listening to the episode, which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Music.

Learning From The World of GIS

We love the geospatial community. On GEOTalks, we want to learn about global initiatives, understand challenges from new perspectives, and have conversations about GIS! These episodes will feature a range of topics – everything from conservation efforts to drone/UAV data collection and analyses to applications of Global Mapper and more. Everyone has a unique approach to their work, and we’re excited to learn from new perspectives every month.

Profile of a point cloud in Global Mapper Pro captured by a drone, including elevation values.

In our first episode, Andrea shares her insights when addressing the elephant in the room – climate change. Salt marshes are facing major threats from climate change, including the effects of coastal squeeze and pollution. She tells us how using drones/UAVs lets them monitor the marsh more freely, enabling them to analyze the effects of climate change on the system over time. We learned that Cádiz, Spain, now has a greater hand in the preservation of its coastal salt marshes because of their research efforts.

Get Involved in Future Episodes of our Podcast!

The GEOTalks Podcast is about sharing experiences and highlighting the amazing work of our peers. If this sounds like you, join us for an episode! We’re excited to be hosting in-depth conversations about how professionals are making strides in their field using geospatial tech.

To get the ball rolling, you can email a description of your project/the scope of your work to marketing@bluemarblegeo.com. We’ll reach out to you with the next steps. In the meantime, happy listening!

How Can I Support the Show?

If you’re looking for ways to support the GEOTalks podcast, look no further! We’re delighted to be starting our podcast journey and need your help to start strong. Here’s how you can support us:

Join us for new episodes on the 3rd Wednesday of every month
Download our episodes on your preferred listening platform, and listen on the go!
Tell your friends/colleagues about our super-cool geospatial podcast
Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new episodes

Get involved with GEOTalks by emailing us at marketing@bluemarblegeo.com

References

Curcio, Andrea. Saline’s wall. Universidad de Cadiz, dron.uca.es

Curcio, Andrea. Study area in false colors, highlighting vegetation in red and muddy soil in blue-green hues. Universidad de Cadiz, dron.uca.es

Curcio, Andrea. Point cloud profile. Universidad de Cadiz, dron.uca.es