Spatial Jam Podcast

Spatial Jam Podcast

Talking about maps, technology and all things spatial.

Season 1

As a crowd of geospatial nerds we spend a lot of time at Esri UK talking about maps, spatial technology and all things in between. We get excited about what’s new in GIS tech, share stories about the amazing ways GIS is used across all industries, and swap tips and tricks. A group of us decided to hit record on some of our coffee chats and share them as the Spatial Jam podcast. We hope you’ll join us.

Have any ideas? Get in touch.

    Episode 10: ArcGIS in 2021

    By Esri UK |

    As 2021 and season 1 of the Spatial Jam draw to a close, regulars Alasdair, Elleni and Sam look back their year in ArcGIS. What have been their tech highlights and favourite maps? What were yours?

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    Episode 9: Bringing GIS Indoors

    By Esri UK |

    Indoor mapping brings some specific technical challenges, but we have two very knowledgeable Esri guides Rainer Wolfsberger and Ben Flanagan to steer us through them. Join us to hear how indoor mapping is changing business operations and user experiences.

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    Episode 8: Spatial data: the jam in the GIS cake

    By Esri UK |

    Without spatial data we’d have no maps or analysis, so we gave it an extended episode. Beth and Elleni are joined by Liz De Guzman and Hannah Fieldsend from Esri UK to talk all things data. Don’t miss the treat at the end when Hannah gets the inside story on TravelTime, one of our amazing data partners.

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    Episode 7: Experiencing ArcGIS in a new way

    By Esri UK |

    ArcGIS Experience Builder has brought a new style of app building to ArcGIS. We invited our colleague, Rosie Gardner, to join us for a chat about what opportunities building experiences brings.

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    Episode 6: Imagery paints a thousand features

    By Ellie Hawkins |

    In this episode we introduce you to the world of imagery, joined by our Esri UK imagery expert Zoe Taylor to guide us through the conversation. We explore some exciting developments within the imagery space, focusing on emerging technologies and how the GIS community is using it.

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    Episode 5: GIS and the climate emergency

    By Esri UK |

    In this episode we welcome two special guests to help explore the role that GIS plays in the climate emergency. We uncover the impact that GIS has already had within the conversation of climate change, whilst also looking ahead beyond COP26 and how important GIS will be as our climate changes.

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    Episode 4: The ArcGIS Pro Appreciation Society

    By Esri UK |

    Join the Spatial Jam regulars for a meeting of the ArcGIS Pro Appreciation Society. On the agenda are favourite features, some hidden gems, and tips for a smoother Pro experience.

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    Episode 3: Teaching machines to map

    By Esri UK |

    Machine Learning is changing the way we collect and process spatial data. We invited Richard Mumford onto the Spatial Jam to help us translate the acronyms and unpack the technology. Join us and explore where AI might take mapping. 

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Meet the hosts

Beth Adams

Beth is a product manager in our Content team and is also responsible for the product marketing for all Esri UK data and data service offerings. She works with all our data partners and coordinates the UK content in the ArcGIS Living Atlas – an amazing repository of spatial data riches.  

Favourite part of ArcGIS: The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World! 

Top tip: Join a MOOC – you can learn a lot, alongside thousands of others

Favourite map: Children’s Map (Living Atlas)  

Favourite non-GIS thing to do: Spending time with my dog 

Favourite river: River Ribble – just for the name! 

Sam Bark

As our resident Cartographer, Sam is usually found putting ArcGIS Pro through its paces to create his next amazing map. You might have seen some of them in the national media – including the Guardian and the BBC. Sam also loves a storymap and has been known to combine these with another passion – photography. 

Favourite part of ArcGIS: Pro’s recently added colour picker  

Top tip: In ArcGIS Storymaps you can use google fonts with over 1,000 choices 

Favourite map: The Global Sharknado Threat by John Nelson 

Favourite non-GIS thing to do: Photography 

Favourite river: Chicago River 

Alasdair Hind

Alasdair’s ArcGIS story started over 20 years ago and he has been with Esri UK for most of that time. Working in the Product Communications team, he uses his experience to help deliver technical content across our blogs, webinars and events. He’s always looking for new ways to share the stories of the ArcGIS tech and how it can help users. 

Favourite part of ArcGIS: ArcGIS Storymaps 

Top tip: Learn a bit of Arcade 

Favourite map: any OS Explorer map 

Favourite non-GIS thing to do: hill running  

Favourite river: River Dee 

Elleni Rogers

Elleni is part of our Critical National Infrastructure team and uses her amazing technical knowledge to apply location intelligence across the utilities  and telco sectors. Elleni brings her yoga zen to the challenge of tackling complex operational and logistical scenarios using GIS.

Favourite part of ArcGIS: Deep learning packages in the Living Atlas

Top tip: Try the learning plans on Esri Training 

Favourite map: 3D Mars map 

Favourite non-GIS thing to do: Yoga / Meditation

Favourite river: River Chess (technically a stream)