What happens when a heated LinkedIn debate turns into a real conversation?

In this episode, I sit down with Kyle Satterfield, GISP, after a spirited online exchange about geospatial tools — specifically, the classic open-source versus Esri debate.

What started as a back-and-forth in the comments became a deeper conversation about the choices we make in GIS: buy versus build, custom versus out-of-the-box, IT-driven versus GIS-led approaches, and how the right answer isn’t always as simple as we make it seem online.

Kyle shares candid stories from his work launching GIS programs at the county level, navigating the tug-of-war between IT departments, administrators, and GIS teams. We talk about the value of fast wins, the realities of budgets and buy-in, and why sometimes being "boxed in" by a platform can be a good thing.

This episode isn’t about who’s right — it’s about getting past the hot takes and hearing real perspectives from both sides of the geospatial world.

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Why is geospatial data still stuck in its own world — and what will it take to finally integrate it with the rest of the data ecosystem?

In this episode, I talk with Javier de la Torre, founder of Carto and one of the original architects of modern spatial analytics. We explore the history of GIS as a siloed discipline, the cost that isolation has had on the industry (and professionals), and how open formats like GeoParquet are finally changing the game.

Javier shares his journey from biodiversity research to building Carto, insights from working with major cloud platforms, and the behind-the-scenes story of how geospatial data became a first-class citizen in the analytics world.

If you've ever wrestled with incompatible file formats, siloed teams, or the slow pace of innovation in GIS — this conversation will feel like a breath of fresh air.

We cover:

Why GIS has been isolated for decades
The hidden costs of geospatial silos
How GeoParquet was born — and what it changes
What it means to make spatial data “just a join away”
The future of cloud-native geospatial

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of spatial, data, and innovation.

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What if the way we map the Earth is reinforcing the very inequalities we aim to solve?

In this episode of The Spatial Stack, I sit down with Dr. Nadine Alameh, one of the most influential voices in geospatial and AI for Earth. With a background spanning NASA, the United Nations, and the Open Geospatial Consortium, Nadine brings a unique systems-level perspective to the urgent question: Who gets to define the map?

We dive into:

How AI models can fail without local context and community input
The tensions between global institutions and grassroots data efforts
The importance of open tools, inclusive standards, and rethinking what “ground truth” really means
What it will take to make Earth intelligence equitable, actionable, and trustworthy

Whether you’re building geospatial systems, training machine learning models, or working on climate and land use policy, this conversation will reshape how you think about data, power, and place.