The Mappyist Hour

Written By Adam Simmons
Tee Bar

Tee

Co-Host

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Silas

Silas

Co-Host

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Featured
The Mappyist Hour - Auld Lang Syne
The Mappyist Hour - Auld Lang Syne

Silas and Tee talk about the first calendar year for The Mappyist Hour....The Year Recap

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The Mappyist Hour - Host to Host
The Mappyist Hour - Host to Host

In a special "hostful" episode, Tee and Silas take the mic solo for the first time in months to catch up on everything from electric scooters to conference travel plans. The duo dives into the polarizing "scooter wars" in cities like San Francisco and Denver, debating the merits of micro-mobility versus urban clutter. They also discuss the upcoming FOSS4G conference in Bucharest (and maybe San Diego?), the challenges of teaching GIS to a new generation, and why sometimes you just have to embrace being a "stick in the mud" about new tech trends.

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The Mappyist Hour - Women in Spatial
The Mappyist Hour - Women in Spatial

With Silas away at a team dinner, Tee Barr flies solo to host a candid roundtable on the experience of women in the geospatial industry. Guests Haynes Bunn and Shannon Dermont share their "accidental" journeys into GIS—from political campaigning to environmental resource science—and discuss the disparity between the diverse workforce and the male-dominated conference circuit. The group explores the persistence of imposter syndrome, the hesitation to claim the "developer" title, and the critical role of mentorship in closing the gender gap on stage and in the boardroom.

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The Mappyist Hour - Rapping with Students about GIS
The Mappyist Hour - Rapping with Students about GIS

In this episode, Tee and Silas connect with the next generation of geographers from Humboldt State University. Dr. Amy Rock (Director of the Online GIS Certificate) joins students Melissa Collin and Sean Fleming to discuss how they "accidentally" discovered GIS—from marine biology dreams to hydrology conferences. The group explores the evolving curriculum that now includes Python, R, and web mapping with tools like Canvas Map, debating whether traditional desktop software like ArcMap is becoming obsolete. They also touch on the "imposter syndrome" that plagues even seasoned professionals and the importance of hands-on projects, like mapping strawberry fields and modeling watersheds, to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

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The Mappyist Hour - Lost Podcoast
The Mappyist Hour - Lost Podcoast

In this episode of The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas head north to the misty redwood coast to chat with Hank Sims, editor of the Lost Coast Outpost. The trio discusses the evolution of local journalism in Humboldt County, from the "weed or no weed" interactive map game to tracking police calls in real-time. Hank shares how open-source tools like Leaflet and Django have allowed a small-town news site to punch above its weight, creating a hyper-local digital community that rivals major metro papers. They also touch on the anxiety surrounding the legalization of marijuana, the "Thunderdome" nature of internet comment sections, and why Humboldt County remains a unique outpost of American culture.

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The Mappyist Hour - AGS Geography 2050
The Mappyist Hour - AGS Geography 2050

Tee and Silas sit down with Dr. Chris Tucker and Dr. Marie Price, the leadership duo behind the American Geographical Society, to preview the upcoming Geography 2050: Powering Our Future Planet symposium. From visualizing the energy grid of the future to mapping the "state secrets" of global wind patterns, this episode explores how geography is the ultimate tool for understanding our changing world. The group also discusses the resurgence of geography education in high schools, the democratization of mapping through open data, and why everyone—from CEOs to high school students—needs to think spatially to solve tomorrow's problems.

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The Mappyist Hour - The State The State The State is on Fire
The Mappyist Hour - The State The State The State is on Fire

As fires continue to ravage California, Tee and Silas bring in expert David Jones from TechnoSilva to explain the critical role of GIS in wildfire response. From printing paper maps for firefighters in the field to using satellite imagery for real-time heat detection, this episode covers the full spectrum of emergency management technology. The trio also discusses the challenges of predicting fire behavior, the impact of population growth on fire risk, and why "pot-hole" insurance might be the next big thing.

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The Mappyist Hour - Feemous
The Mappyist Hour - Feemous

Silas and Tee talk to James Fee, about how and why he decided to retire his blog, the future of Spatial, and how ArcIMS was the peak of single tenant web mapping.

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The Mappyist Hour - The Drunk One
The Mappyist Hour - The Drunk One

Recorded live (and very loose) from Bucharest, Romania, this is the infamous "lost episode" of The Mappiest Hour. Tee and Silas take the microphone to the streets—and bars—of FOSS4G 2019, capturing the raw energy of the global geospatial community. Between shots of ţuică and local beers, the hosts interview a revolving door of conference attendees, debating the merits of open-source software, the intensity of the "hallway track," and why this community feels more like a family than a tech sector. Be warned: the audio is raw, the takes are unfiltered, and the editing is... minimal.

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The Mappyist Hour - Dammit Tee, its Bucharest
The Mappyist Hour - Dammit Tee, its Bucharest

In this episode of The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas prepare for the global stage as they discuss the upcoming FOSS4G 2019 conference in Bucharest, Romania. The hosts dive into the controversy surrounding corporate editing in OpenStreetMap, debating the balance between open data purity and corporate utility. They also tackle the ever-present "imposter syndrome" in the tech industry and share their excitement (and travel anxieties) about bringing their podcast to an international audience.

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The Mappyist Hour - From Redlands to Manhattans
The Mappyist Hour - From Redlands to Manhattans

Linda Stevens (Hecht) discusses her career at ESRI, the future of GIS, and the role of Open Source Spatial in that future.

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The Mappyist Hour - Meow Wolf
The Mappyist Hour - Meow Wolf

In this mind-bending episode of The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas step away from the map interface and into the multiverse of Meow Wolf. The duo explores the spatial chaos of Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return, discussing how the immersive art installation challenges traditional concepts of navigation and space. They also dive into the "Geospatial in the Jungle" conference, debating the logistics of mapping in extreme environments, and reflect on the importance of "unmapping" to truly get lost in an experience.

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The Mappyist Hour - House Prices and You
The Mappyist Hour - House Prices and You

In this episode of The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas welcome Blake Thompson and Damon Burgett, two Mapbox engineers with wildly different backgrounds—from aerospace engineering to garbage field trips. The conversation starts with the technical evolution of vector tiles and the creative misuse of mapping tools (dubbed "Hackbox"), but quickly pivots to the real-world impact of gentrification. Silas shares his "Data Hoods" theory, using alcohol license data to map neighborhood boundaries and track displacement in San Francisco. From electric scooters littering the streets to the skyrocketing cost of rent in mid-sized cities, this episode explores the intersection of tech, geography, and urban life.

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The Mappyist Hour - Box of Maps
The Mappyist Hour - Box of Maps

This week on The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas crack open a "Box of Maps" with special guests Blake Thompson and Damon Burgett from Mapbox. The group explores the evolution of web mapping, moving from standard slip maps to complex, browser-based analysis using vector tiles and WebGL. Damon shares his concept of "Hackbox"—creatively misusing tools to build joy division-style elevation maps—while Blake teases the upcoming Vector Tile 3 specification. From training machine learning models on raster data to the "scooter wars" of San Francisco, this episode covers the bleeding edge of geospatial tech.

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The Mappyist Hour - Banter
The Mappyist Hour - Banter

In the first episode to actually clock in at a full hour, Tee and Silas are joined by Anna Miller to cover the full spectrum of the geospatial experience. The conversation spans from the fields of precision agriculture—where Anna explains how GIS helps forecast berry yields—to the streets of San Francisco, where Silas recounts his time as an Uber driver and the crew debates the "scooter invasion" in modern cities. Along the way, they analyze the "City of Bonita Springs" job listing that demands an IT department's worth of skills for only $18.44 an hour, discuss the challenges of teaching Python to students, and celebrate the release of Silas’s third book.

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The Mappyist Hour - The One About Ag
The Mappyist Hour - The One About Ag

From aquatic biology to mapping raspberry yields, guest Anna Miller joins Tee and Silas to explore the burgeoning world of agricultural GIS. The trio discusses how farmers are (and aren't) using drone data, the challenges of predicting crop yields from space, and why "precision agriculture" is more than just a buzzword. The conversation shifts to the broader industry, tackling the persistence of "imposter syndrome" among professionals and a scathing review of a job posting in St. Petersburg that demands cloud architecture skills for less than $19 an hour.

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The Mappyist Hour - Career Stuff
The Mappyist Hour - Career Stuff

In this episode of The Mappiest Hour, hosts Tee Barr and Silas Toms fly solo to tackle the nitty-gritty of geospatial careers. They start by discussing the challenges of teaching advanced Python and the shift toward tools like Jupyter Notebooks and the Orfeo Toolbox for machine learning. The conversation takes a sharp turn into the realities of the job market, where the duo roasts a job posting for the City of Bonita Springs that requires an entire IT department's worth of skills for less than $18 an hour. They wrap up by discussing imposter syndrome, the importance of mentorship, and why "Data Cleaning" should be a mandatory class for every aspiring geographer.

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The Mappyist Hour - Identity Crisis
The Mappyist Hour - Identity Crisis

In this episode of The Mappiest Hour, Tee and Silas welcome their very first guest, Alex Morrow from GEEI Consulting, to discuss his controversial blog post about the "identity crisis" currently facing Esri. The trio dives deep into the friction caused by the industry giant's shift from traditional desktop software to a cloud-based, "named user" model, debating whether this move leaves the average GIS analyst behind. From the rise of developer-centric tools like Mapbox to the eternal struggle of data cleaning, this conversation covers the growing pains of a changing geospatial landscape.

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The Mappyist Hour - Episode 1
The Mappyist Hour - Episode 1

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Mappiest Hour! Hosts Tee Barr and Silas Toms kick things off by sharing their "accidental" journeys into the world of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—from 90s Excel macros in DC to water resource policy in Northern California. In this episode, the duo explores the intersection of ancient history and modern tech, discussing how LiDAR is revolutionizing archaeology by uncovering lost Maya cities in the jungle. They also dive into a debate on "Geospatial Big Data," the transition from desktop clicking to Python scripting, and the real-world frustrations of data silos in city government.

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Adam Simmons