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15 Minute Maps: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Hugo Powell
This podcast is dedicated to those people making positive change in the world using GIS, mapping and cartography. Each guest is given 15 minutes to describe their dream map, and how it could impact the work they do. Hello and welcome to 15 Minute maps, where I ask my guests to let their minds roam free and come up with a new idea for their dream map. The first known map of the world was created three thousand years ago, (of a flat disc-like world surrounded by water,) and today we are making maps of the furthest reaches of the known universe. In between lie a myriad of mapping possibilities. What if we could do away with resource limitations… think beyond the conventions of time, space and political boundaries? What new kinds of map could we dream up?
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Jun 8, 202623 min
Episode 25 - Momin Ashraf: The Foggara System
Forget Silicon Valley. The most innovative "smart technology" for water management might have been invented 1,500 years ago in the Algerian desert. Host Hugo Powell welcomes Momin Ashraf—Oxford graduate, Esri Young Scholar Award winner, and GIS consultant at Satellite Applications Catapult. Momin has done the impossible: using synthetic aperture radar to spot fuel trucks in the desert and tracking human trafficking via informal mines. But his dream map is something entirely different. He want...
- May 31, 202621 min
Episode 24 - Éloïse Neff: All Terrain GIS
What if the best map isn't a map at all—but the system that makes mapping effortless? Eloise Neff spent seven years at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) building geographic information systems from the ground up. But when asked for her dream map, she has a surprising answer: she doesn't have one. Instead, she wants something better. A dream information system. In this episode, Eloise—an engineer turned GIS manager—explains why the "...information system" part of GIS is too often forgotten. She a...
- May 25, 202620 min
Episode 23: Willa Sumer - Wildlife and water... Tackling a Californian Crisis
Why do biologists wake up at 4 AM to look for birds? And what does that have to do with California’s housing crisis? In this episode, California based GIS analyst and conservation expert Willa Sumer takes us inside the world of wildlife surveys, mitigation banking, nature conservation and environmental regulation. She explains why early morning field work is non-negotiable (rattlesnakes, reclusive species, and nesting season), how GIS helps developers avoid wiping out endangered habitats, and...
- May 18, 202620 min
Episode 22: Mathew Roberts - Where the Money Flows
What if you could see exactly where the world’s money goes—in real time? From Swiss bank accounts to mobile money in Sierra Leone, and from colonial resource extraction to modern "resource nationalism," this episode pulls back the curtain on the hidden flows that shape global inequality. Host Hugo sits down with Matthew Roberts, Head of Geography at the International School of Geneva (and Hugo’s alma mater). Matthew shares a provocative dream map: a real-time, interactive visualization of glo...
- May 5, 202620 min
Episod 21: Max Malynowsky - Offline is the New Online
What if humanitarians had an offline-first mapping tool as reliable as a Garmin GPS? In this episode, Max Malynowsky — software engineer at the OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data — dreams out loud about a future where field teams can sync trusted, up-to-date geodata anywhere, even with near-zero bandwidth. From the chaos of contested admin boundaries to the quiet genius of ODK and XLS forms, Max and Hugo unpack why the hardest part isn't building the app — it's building the data infrastructure...
- Dec 22, 202518 min
Episode 20 - Saïd Abou Kharroub: The One-Stop-Shop Map
What if all the data needed to respond to a humanitarian crisis already existed — but was scattered, siloed, and hard to use? In this episode of 15-Minute Maps, I’m joined by Saïd Abou Kharroub, a GIS specialist turned information management expert, former CEO of Civ API, and current board member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). Saïd’s dream map isn’t a single map at all, but a one-stop, layered view of the world’s crises — aggregating data on conflict, displacement, funding, inf...
- Dec 15, 202520 min
Episode 19 - Yann Rebois: Mapping the Invisible in Cities
Urban crises are some of the hardest environments to map — and yet that’s where millions of the world’s most vulnerable people live. In this episode of 15-Minute Maps, Hugo Powell is joined by Yann Rebois, Earth Observation Strategist at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and former Head of Geodata & Analytics at the ICRC. Drawing on decades of field experience and satellite analysis, Yann shares his vision for a map that can finally make urban vulnerability visible. Yann’s dream map focuses ...
- Dec 9, 202519 min
Episode 18: Cornelia Scholz - The Dragon's Map
What if our most trusted maps are quietly lying to us? This week on 15 Minute Maps, GIS technical advisor Cornelia Schultz (Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre) joins Hugo to reveal a hidden truth about the world’s most vulnerable places: the places we think are empty may simply be unmapped. Working at the intersection of climate change, conflict, and humanitarian response, Cornelia explains why entire communities — especially remote, nomadic, or conflict-affected populations — are missing ...
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About 15 Minute Maps
This podcast is dedicated to those people making positive change in the world using GIS, mapping and cartography. Each guest is given 15 minutes to describe their dream map, and how it could impact the work they do. Hello and welcome to 15 Minute maps, where I ask my guests to let their minds roam free and come up with a new idea for their dream map. The first known map of the world was created three thousand years ago, (of a flat disc-like world surrounded by water,) and today we are making maps of the furthest reaches of the known universe. In between lie a myriad of mapping possibilities. What if we could do away with resource limitations… think beyond the conventions of time, space and political boundaries? What new kinds of map could we dream up?
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It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of 15 Minute Maps as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
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When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
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