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 global capital, resource wealth, and historical injustices. They discuss how AI is changing the classroom, the "geography of hope" needed to fight student eco-anxiety, and why a pen, paper, and clipboard are still the most vital tools in fieldwork. Plus, Matthew introduces the work of Social Income—proving that just 1% of your income can create a direct line of solidarity across continents.

LINKS:

Social Income

Mathew's Linkedin

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 behind it. If you've ever tried to print 20,000 settlements or wished for a universal translator for geodata, this one's for you.

Links:

Max's LinkedIn

HDX

OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data

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, infrastructure, population, and satellite imagery into a single, accessible platform for decision-making.

We discuss:

• What information management really means in humanitarian contexts — beyond tools and technology
• Why decision-making often struggles to connect field realities with available data
• How aggregating existing datasets can unlock faster, smarter responses to crises
• The role of APIs, open source data, and platforms like HOT and Civ API
• Why better data doesn’t replace human judgment — but strengthens it

This episode is a deep dive into how data becomes information, and how information becomes action — especially when lives are at stake.