The Scene From Above podcast
Alastair Graham (@ajggeoger) and Andrew Cutts (@map_andrew) come together to present an informal podcast (@eoscenefrom) looking at the world of modern remote sensing and Earth observation. Fuelled by their passion for all things raster and geospatial, the #scenefromabove podcast aims to be a mix of news, opinion, discussion and interviews.

Sometimes the embedded player won’t work on Google Chrome. If this is the case, please click on ‘Direct link’ and the podcast should play OK for you. Information on how to listen to the podcast using iTunes and a variety of methods is also available here. The podcast links are also available from the podcast page of my co-host Andrew Cutts (@map_andrew).
S10E6: DIGITAL TWINS
We talk about EO and digital twins. In the news we mention Remote Pixel, Landsat 9 and STAC. Only those. Not other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Sensat and Khalid
- STAC RfP
- Remote Pixel is done
- Landsat 9 has a snazzy new page
- Creating a digital twin of the Earth
- The Earth archive
- Microsoft Planetary Computer
- Destination Earth
- Smart City Digital Twins
- Digital Twin Fan Club podcast
S10E5: RECRUITMENT ISSUES
We discuss issues about recruitment in the EO and geospatial sectors. In the news we mention RSGISlib, urban planning and Fregata Space. Only those. Not other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Sensat and Khalid
- RSGISlib has a new release coming
- Fregata Space announcement
- Urban planning in Vienna
S10E4: DEA Coastlines
We talk to Robbi from Geoscience Australia. In the news we mention Earth Blox and MOOCs, Iceye and 10m landcover! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Observing Earth from Space MOOC
- Sentinel-6 data
- Sponsored SAR data for research
- ObSERVE 2 aerial surveys
- 10m Landcover data
- Digital Earth Australia Coastlines
- Open Data Cube
- Digital Earth Australia notebooks and tools repository
- Robbi’s Twitter
S10E3: Tiledb
We talk to Stavros and Norman from TileDB. In the news we mention GEE again and R! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- awesome-gee-community-datasets code & datasets
- SAR Watcher! and awesome-earth-engine-apps
- Introducing G.AI.A – the promises and pitfalls in using AI in conservation
- Superpixels in R from Jakub Nowosad
- Alastair’s new job as Sparkgeo lead in the UK
- TileDB
- TileDB and geospatial
- Norman’s presentation to Radiant Earth
S10E2: TYLER TALKS GEE
We talk to Tyler Erickson from Google about Google Earth Engine. In the news we mention launches, the EO clinic and Digital Earth Africa! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- The ethics of using geospatial data
- Interesting use cases from the EO Clinic:
- Satellite Vu on its way to a thermal constellation
- Alba Orbital funding round
- Albedo funding round
- Continuing the trend of high quality tutorials in 2021
- Digital Earth Africa portal and training
- Best Available Pixel on Github and GEE
- Earth Outreach digital event hub
- Geo for Good Summit 2020
- Publishing an Earth Engine App to Accompany your Research Paper
- Earth Engine Community pages Training Resources
S10E1: SAR ML with Shay
We talk to Shay Strong from Iceye about SAR, machine learning and more. In the news we mention the MEGA NEWS and hackathons! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- The Mega News
- Microsoft Planetary computer
- Google Earth timelapse
- Planet Carbonmapper
- GDAL financial support
- RSGISlib on Twitter
- awesome-gee-community-datasets catalog
- Is EO starting to go mainstream?
- Geo-Podcasts list
- Noel Gorelick Medium posts
- ICESAT2 Hackweek
- Going nuts about Geopandas
- SpaceNet 6
- Iceye
- Iceye flood monitoring:
- EO College Echoes in Space – Intro to Radar Remote Sensing:
- GitHub SAR tools:
- Shay on Twitter
- Shay on Medium
S9E6: Vincent Sarago
We talk to Vincent Sarago about COGs and Remote Pixel and more. In the news we mention the Ever Given, LiveEO and tutorials! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Ever Given is all over the internet
- “The Space Speedometer“
- LiveEO closed their Series A
- The pace of excellent tutorials is incredible:
- Mapbox
- Remote Pixel
- Development Seed
- Cloud Optimised GeoTiff
- titiler
- aiocogeo
- deck.gl-raster
S9E5: GEO
We chat to Phoebe and Angelica about AfriGEO and AmeriGEO. In the news we mention our Tweets, STAC and SPAC! Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- STAC 1.0.0 RC1 released
- A really great discussion on Twitter
- What is SPAC?
- Updates: geopandas and gdal
- FAAAARRRRMS FROM SPAAAAACCCCE
- Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
- AfriGEO
- AmeriGEO
- GeoGLOWS
- Inter-American Academy of Geosciences & Applications
- RCMRD
S9E4: Viability
We discuss issues around a viable EO ecosystem. In the news we mention Etna, dual-band SAR satellites and HLS. Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Alpha-Insights SAR
- Etna erupts
- Simon Proud’s tweet
- Updated hydrological dataset
- Harmonised Landsat Sentinel-2 data
- Step-by-step flooding tutorial
- Terrawatch Space podcast episode
- Geomob podcast episode
- The Twitter poll
- GIM article
S9E3: SOS
We talk to Laura, Gopika and Sarah from the Sisters of SAR. In the news we mention INPE, COGs (again!) and Google Earth. Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- COGs and the OGC
- COGs and Geoserver
- LiveEO and the US power network
- The INPE Amazon mission
- Michael Jones and Google Earth
- If GDAL breaks, how many EO businesses fail?
- Sisters of SAR
- 2021 – the year of SAR?
- #TrainingTuesdays tweets can be found by typing “#TrainingTuesdays @SistersofSAR” in the Twitter search tab.
- NISAR mission
- ICEYE public archive
- Ladies of Landsat
- Women in Geospatial+
- 500 Women Scientists
- She Maps
- GeoNadir
- A new section of the MDPI journal ‘Remote Sensing’ called “Discoveries in Remote Sensing” aims at increasing diversity and representation in RS and offers fee waivers for manuscripts from underfunded and underrepresented groups.
Season 9 episode 2: Care about COGs
We have a chat about the rise of cloud optimised geotiffs. In the news we mention elephants, Landsat 9 and #eochat. Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- ONDA MOST announced
- Elephants from space
- Head Aerospace and its assets
- “It’s not just about throwing flood maps over the fence and hoping people use them”
- Landsat 9 launch date announced
- Illegal Gold Mining down 78% in the Peruvian Amazon
- #eochat Sundays 8-9pm GMT and Wednesdays 2-3pm GMT
- STAC and COG links:
- https://www.cogeo.org/
SEASON 9 EPISODE 1: 3 Years!
It’s our 3 year anniversary episode, and also one where we look back at 2020 and think about what 2021 might have in store. In the news we mention Iceberg A68a, PanGeo and Rasters Revealed. Amongst other things.
If you have questions, comments or corrections then you can contact Alastair (@ajggeoger) and Andrew (@map_andrew) on Twitter using #scenefromabove or @eoscenefrom
Shownotes:
- Rasters Revealed 2021 Online
- The ONS Data Science Campus water tool
- The Irish space collaboration hub launches
- So many Iceberg A68a stories
- Climate Trace
- Mapbox release GL JS v2 and it’s proprietary
- PanGeo stuff:
- More awesome GEE work from @giswqs
- Slack bought out by Salesforce
Podcast music: Crackerjacks & Tin Whistles by Ocean Heights is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.