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 wants to build a dynamic, interactive visualization of the Foggara system—an ancient, gravity-fed underground water network that communities have used for centuries across North Africa and Asia. Why? Because modern French-colonial dams and canals are losing 50% of Algeria's water. Meanwhile, the Fugara's secret isn't just engineering—it's a radical social justice philosophy where downstream communities hold the power, and "water elders" negotiate allocations face-to-face.

This episode is a takedown of Cartesian reductionism, a love letter to indigenous knowledge, and a warning about fighting "12 rounds with Mother Nature." Plus, Momin offers early-career GIS pros a simple roadmap through the noise (hint: start with ArcGIS/QGIS, then Python, then have fun).

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 argues that most analysts spend more time fighting their software than solving problems. Her vision? A flexible, sustainable, secure system that matches your actual needs (not your vendor's sales pitch). She walks us through the delicate balance between flexibility and sustainability, the critical role of ETLs, and why data protection in humanitarian contexts can be a matter of life and death.

She also shares hard-won wisdom on navigating the headquarters vs. field divide, why GIS professionals are uniquely positioned to bridge both worlds, and the single most important skill that has nothing to do with technology: truly listening.

• Why GIS is first an information system, second a mapping tool
• The Ferrari vs. 4x4 philosophy of system design
• Flexibility vs. sustainability: the eternal trade-off
• ETLs explained (extract, transform, load)
• Data as a weapon: information security in humanitarian contexts
• Headquarters vs. field—and why GIS sits perfectly in between
• The lost art of listening to users

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 the idea of “selling” restored land to offset construction impacts. All this under the fascinating idea of 'Mitigation Banking' a topic I must admit I had never heard of.

Willa also pulls back the curtain on California’s manipulated landscape and reveals data is so difficult to access, and when it is available, why its hard to implement actionable plans. If you’ve ever wondered whether conservation can coexist with affordable housing, this episode is for you.

LINKS:

Willa's personal site

LinkedIn

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.

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 on one of humanitarian response’s biggest blind spots: understanding who lives where in dense, damaged, and rapidly changing cities — and what “habitability” really means after conflict or disaster.

Together, they discuss:

• Why population estimates break down in urban crises
• The limits of building footprints and satellite imagery in cities
• How proxies like water tanks and solar panels can reveal where people have returned
• Why “destroyed” doesn’t always mean “uninhabited”
• How GIS and Earth observation directly shape medical, water, and vaccination responses
• The challenge of detecting flooding and damage in dense urban environments

This episode offers a rare inside look at how satellite data, field knowledge, and humanitarian logistics come together — and why better urban maps are essential for effective aid.

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 from global mapping platforms. And when disaster hits, that invisibility can mean the difference between receiving aid and being overlooked entirely.

In this episode, Cornelia unveils her “Dragon’s Map,” inspired by the ancient cartographer’s warning Hic sunt dracones (“Here be dragons”). The idea: a map that finally shows us where the blind spots are — not where nothing exists, but where our data ends.

We discuss:
– Why many regions show up as “blank” not because they’re empty, but because no one mapped them.
– How climate disasters reveal entire communities that digital maps fail to show.
– The risks of humanitarian planning in a world where only data-rich places get attention.
– How the digital divide — and the economics of mapping — leave the world’s most vulnerable people invisible.
– Why highlighting what we don’t know can transform emergency response.

A must-listen for anyone working in GIS, climate, humanitarian response, or global development — and for anyone who’s ever assumed that “no data” means “no people.”

Links

Red Cross Red Crescent Map Library

Cornelia's LinkedIn