The geospatial field in Africa has transformed in the past two years. In this episode, host Iniobong Benson breaks down five stories reshaping the continent, from the African Space Agency's continental collaboration to AI that reads satellite imagery in real time.

What's changing? The African Space Agency is finally moving from conversation to action. Botswana just launched its own satellite. Machine learning is automating geospatial analysis. Climate tech is saving lives. And the talent pipeline is already thriving across universities, startups, and government.

In this episode:🔹 African Space Agency: from conversation to continental action🔹 Botswana in orbit - why BotSat One matters🔹 Machine learning reading satellite imagery faster than manual digitization🔹 Climate monitoring & drought indices protecting communities🔹 The talent is already here - careers in GIS, remote sensing, and data science across Africa

Timestamps00:00 Welcome00:58 Five stories that shaped geospatial Africa02:21 African Space Agency04:34 Botswana in orbit (BotSat One)07:34 AI + machine learning08:34 Climate monitoring & drought09:55 Talent & opportunity in Africa11:55 Keep mapping, keep building

Learn moreAfrican Space Agency [https://africanspaceagency.org/]continental collaboration on Earth observationBotSat-1 [https://www.biust.ac.bw/botsat-facts/] - Botswana's Earth observation satellite

Host: Iniobong Benson - Creator, Geospatially Africa Podcast

Get African geospatial news every two weeks: The Grid newsletter [https://geospatiallyafrica.com/newsletter]

#Geospatial #Africa #EarthObservation #Space #AI #RemoteSensing #GIS #ClimateAction

Five Stories Reshaping Geospatial Africa

Discover OpenAerialMap (OAM), the “OpenStreetMap of imagery,” in this 2023 episode with HOT’s Christiana and DK. Learn how OAM empowers drone pilots and satellite providers to share openly licensed imagery for humanitarian mapping, from the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake response to Tanzania’s flood risk assessments.

Explore its cloud-based tech and community-driven model. Visit openaerialmap.org to explore imagery, join the community at slack.hotosm.org, or contribute on GitHub [⁠https://github.com/hotosm/OpenAerialMap]



Listen now to uncover tech for good!

OpenAerialMap: Building a Global Hub for Free Aerial Imagery

Modern state-of-the-art satellite technology and sensing capabilities, enabling constant and consistent monitoring of anywhere in our Planet, are changing the way we study and improve life on Earth.  But how affordable are these satellite systems?


In this episode we explore Satellogic, a commercial leader in submeter EO satellite technology, and how they’re working to increase cost-savings for more affordable Space Systems.
Opeyemi speaks with David Raskovan, Strategic Business Development Senior Director at Satellogic, as he takes us on the journey of how Satellogic has evolved through years of iteration, achieving significant internal cost savings that make it possible to offer fully functioning space systems for a fraction of traditional costs–becoming a leader and disruptor in satellite systems, imagery, and data delivery



Connect with David [https://es.linkedin.com/in/david-raskovan-13b22a45]on LinkedIn



Get the show notes https://geospatiallyafrica.com/episodes/slug-2https://geospatiallyafrica.com/episodes/slug-2



Remember to subscribe!

Accelerating New Space with Affordable Satellite Systems - A Satellogic Story

Spatial SQL, also known as SQL for Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is a powerful tool for working with and analyzing geospatial data. In this podcast, we will explore the capabilities of Spatial SQL and how it can unlock the power of geospatial data in various fields and industries.

Matt Forrest spoke about

1️⃣ Commons hurdles with getting started with Spatial SQL 🎯

2️⃣ Learning Spatial SQL 📘

3️⃣ Spatial SQL on the cloud ☁

Towards the end, he shares an interesting project he is working on, which a lot of people would be interested in/

Get the show notes here [https://geospatiallyafrica.com/episode/20]

Get in touch with Matt Forrest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbforr/]

Don’t forget to subscribe!

Remember you can also request an episode by filling out this form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScUsqfIAzWLnOIbrAdt2HCPbiwkbXl97TbSA3CtKn_CcAK4bA/viewform]



The intersection of GIS and SQL: How Spatial SQL is Changing the Game

Geospatial innovation in Africa is growing and Locana [https://locana.co/]is learning a lot from this through their work in Africa. We sit down with Todd Slind, Locana’s Vice President of Emerging Markets, who also leads the Open Data & Development (OD&D) unit, to discuss some of their numerous projects within the African space, and how they help foster collaborative development (cross-fertilization) between Africa and the rest of the world.  

Tune in to know about the work they have done and some of its impact on socio-economic development across Africa.  

In this episode Todd discusses;

 * Some past and current projects he is excited about within Africa,
 * Innovative usage of OpenStreetMap data in disaster relief. 
 * Their approach to new spatial data types and making it more accessible to ordinary users, such as organizations in need of such data.
 * Opinion on open-source vs proprietary data



Connect with us at https://twitter.com/geospatialy

Visit our website https://geospatiallyafrica.com [https://geospatiallyafrica.com/support-us/]

Find out how to support https://geospatiallyafrica.com/support-us/

Africa Geospatial Innovation - a spotlight on Locana in Africa

Kart provides distributed version control for geospatial and tabular data. Kart stores geospatial and tabular data in Git, providing version control at the row and cell level, it also provides repository working copies as GIS databases and files, and allows edit to be done directly in common GIS software without plugins.

See the show notes [https://geospatiallyafrica.com/episode/18] 



Get to know more about Kart https://kartproject.org/

Kart on GitHub https://github.com/koordinates/kart/



Connect with Hamish on Twitter https://twitter.com/polemic

Connect with Iniobong https://www.linkedin.com/in/linibenson/



Connect with us at https://twitter.com/geospatialy



Visit our website to learn how to support https://geospatiallyafrica.com/support-us/

Geospatial Data Version Control with Kart 

As a young African geospatial professional, you can get access to a wide range of ESRI tools including ArcGIS Online, Story Map, Survey 123, and many more, as well as powerful datasets from various partner organizations including Africa’s very own data cube – Digital Earth Africa - absolutely free of charge forever (no strings attached)

Well, if you didn’t already know that, this episode introduces you to the Africa Geoportal [https://www.africageoportal.com/] powered by ESRI. In this episode, Opeyemi sits down with Pauline Okeyo [https://www.linkedin.com/in/okeyopauline], the Solution Engineer at ESRI Africa, and Project Manager of the Africa Geoportal initiative as she takes us behind the scenes of this initiative.

Questions answered include:

 * · How to get on board (A simple sign-up)
 * · Some details on tools and resources available (Tools, Datasets, Training)
 * · What inspired this initiative by ESRI
 * · What do we mean by free forever
 * · About credits
 * · Current user statistics

Links mentioned:

 * Africa GeoPortal Signup [https://africa.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/oauth2/signup?oauth_state=aWRG3sa684dPVK4v0KkHExw..pNhMjp17srQAxxEtSoBKKBYov0YBhpO3OXf3fFWNu42LO64rOa_42gYnK3jXb_8ycbp3heLXR4XgAHAdBCGureBeZii-RyzpT1osjgwErA_mkPgBbv_EiYxfdaqf2DC-StmKqm7MNFk5hxKaXbvBN8_MgPXmOROhQKQddO83MUyNKH9fZX_emtpOg6GgAS2fIv1Rawwz7YiPrrHGifssOsJf9R4M6zARQ9LhkWSuIc8BSqQkUiYIWH9xFeYccpZSz02EoosYs3SjJRwqLjLTWb5csAgU-Fe1Jauci6buyHm015pW2L3n3gXfRPRCzJ63WpGyF3r--c2rI6Xr8UeSEK4JUx7a5cQGoMZAHhGtWR2Fm6AVi0AIDOCG-WMrTy6vPyvGXHWGTCkJDp5dC1iZtnXgg6408pBIVtHbhvrABAYu62IIsTw.]
 * Digital Earth Africa [https://www.digitalearthafrica.org/] on Africa Geoportal (Data [https://deafrica.africageoportal.com/], Explorer App [https://livingatlas2.arcgis.com/africaexplorerexec/index.html?], Training [https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/get-started-with-imagery-for-africa/])
 * MapRI Storymap [https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/495573915ce046c996fd4c40b1494a87]
 * GEO Week 2022 Registration [https://www.earthobservations.org/index.php]
 * Africa Symposium Registration [https://afrigeosymposium2022.rcmrd.org/#home]

Connect with Pauline on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/okeyopauline/]

For more episodes, go to geospatiallyafrica.com/episodes [//geospatiallyafrica.com/episodes]

Find us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/geospatialy]and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/geospatially-africa-podcast/]



Getting Started with Africa Geoportal

Building your portfolio as a geospatial professional is important, even more so are the experiences that make up the portfolio. In this episode we sat down to talk about volunteering as a way to improve your skills and build your portfolio.

We also explore the types a well as organizations that you can volunteer you geospatial skill to.

Below is a summary of the  benefits of volunteering covered in this episode;

a. Developing technical as well as soft skills

b. Gaining experience working with global teams

c. Confidence building (in your skills and abilities)

d. Working on projects you can showcase in your portfolio (seek permission before you can showcase them as your own)

e. Gain valuable real world/Industry experience.

f. Expanding your network

We also covered how to get started volunteering for the following organisations;

Some Organizations to volunteer with

a. UN Volunteers [https://www.unv.org/become-volunteer]

b. URISA GISCorps [https://www.giscorps.org/]

c. GIS-E [https://www.gis-e.org/]

d. GRMI [https://www.georiskmap.org/]

f. YouthMappers [https://www.youthmappers.org/]

g. HOTOSM [https://www.hotosm.org/]

h. MapAction [https://mapaction.org/get-involved/join-us/]

i. MapRoulette [https://maproulette.org/]

j. MapSwipe [https://mapswipe.org/]

k. Greenstand [https://greenstand.org/contribute/volunteer](Can volunteer as GIS Developer)

l. African Women in GIS [https://africanwomeningis.org/]

m. Women in Geospatial+ [https://womeningeospatial.org/]

The skills you gain from volunteering could be invaluable; they could add up to your experience and might just be the ticket you need to land your next job. It could also tell recruiters that you are passionate about making a positive impact.

To suggest more geospatial volunteer opportunities and organization. Send us an email at gspatially@gmail.com or on Twitter.

Follow us on twitter @geospatialy [https://twitter.com/geospatialy?s=20&t=-WciqB_fdavUH1h1-rXWZA]

We are happy to connect with you on LinkedIn

Iniobong Benson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/linibenson/]  Opeyemi Kazeem-Jimoh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/opeyemikazeemjimoh/]

Volunteering to build your portfolio

What tool is currently taking the geospatial world by storm, making it easier to get a comprehensive, sharable portfolio done in minutes. Well, its Spatial Node [https://www.spatialnode.net/]!

In this episode, your hosts Opeyemi and Iniobong, Speak with Spatial Node founder and CEO, Emmanuel Jolaiya on what it takes to create such an amazing tool.



The discussion revolved around

 * Emmanuel's Background
 * The problem that birthed Spatial Node as the solution
 * More features to look forward to on Spatial node in the coming months
 * The role of open source in building the platform and the tools and technologies used
 * And a little hint on how to build and maintain valuable partnerships to further your goals



Listen through for these and more in this awesome Mid-Year episode!

Some link from this episode

Spatialnode.net [https://www.spatialnode.net]

Emmanuel on Spatialnode [https://www.spatialnode.net/emmanuel]

Emmanuel on [https://www.spatialnode.net/emmanuel] Linkedin [https://ng.linkedin.com/in/emmanueljolaiya]



Let's connect with on Linkedin

Geospatially Africa Podcast [https://ng.linkedin.com/company/geospatially-africa-podcast]

Iniobong [https://ng.linkedin.com/in/linibenson]

Opeyemi [https://ng.linkedin.com/in/opeyemikazeemjimoh]



Spatialnode - A Portfolio Platform for Geospatial People

OSGeoLive [https://live.osgeo.org/] is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything. It is composed entirely of free software, allowing it to be freely distributed, duplicated and passed around.

It provides pre-configured applications for a range of geospatial use cases, including storage, publishing, viewing, analysis and manipulation of data. It also contains sample datasets and documentation.



We spoke to Enoch about OSGeoLive and how to get started with it. He spoke at the State of the Map Africa conference on "Beyond mapping! Reusing OpenStreetMap Data and FOSS4G". This episode is the 2nd installment of the SOTM series and here Enoch dives deep to the discussion about OSGeoLive, his passion for Open Source and what he hopes to see in the future and the growth of Open Source software.



More info on OSGeoLive [//live.osgeo.org] 

Contact OSGeo  [https://live.osgeo.org/en/contact.html]

Connect with Enock Seth  [https://www.osgeo.org/member/nyamador/]

Subscribe



We're happy to connect

On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/geospatially-africa-podcast/]

Twitter [https://twitter.com/geospatialy]

Getting Started with OSGeoLive

Geospatially Podcast (@geospatiallypodcast) · Zencastr

Geospatially Podcast (@geospatiallypodcast)

This is a podcast about the amazing world of geospatial and people using geospatial technology to innovate and solve problems. Join us as we talk to industry experts and professionals about how they are using geospatial technology in different areas. Stay informed about the latest trends and developments in the geospatial world in Africa and across the world.

Geospatially Africa Podcast |The Podcast for the Geospatial Community. GIS, RS, Drones, Technology