The GLaD Podcast
From the creators of the Spatial Analytics + Data interview and seminar series, we bring you the GLaD Podcast—Geography, Life + Data. A little geography, a little (academic) life, a little ”geography life”, and LOTS about data, mostly spatial. Join your hosts, Dani Arribas-Bel, Rachel Franklin, and Levi Wolf for conversations, interviews, and even a few hot takes.
Episodes

4 hours ago
4 hours ago
Today, we’re talking about time management. Or, rather, the lack thereof (both time, and management). It feels like we’re always over-committed. Always running behind. 24h a day sounds like so much and feels like so little. Why? Fasten your seatbelts, let’s find out!

Monday Feb 03, 2025
Monday Feb 03, 2025
In this episode we talk to Geoff Boeing, streets and urban form expert, mastermind behind OSMnx, and urban planner at USC. We talk (a lot) about disasters and cities, street networks, and open source software. Several callbacks to previous episodes, including our Vibe Check on Cities and Computing Geographically with David O'Sullivan episodes. Also Davis and Weinstein (2002), "Bones, Bombs, and Break Points: The Geography of Economic Activity" and the New York Times on trash, streets, and urban form.

Thursday Dec 19, 2024
Thursday Dec 19, 2024
This week, join us for our own retrospective on the year, and a look forward to next. We'll talk a bit about all the data in a year of GLaD, the highs and lows of Work/Life Balance in a year of "too much yes", the NYT Spelling Bee, and all the new and awesome Geography and Data that came with the year.
As always, let us know how your year in GLaD went by emailing us at thegladpodcast@gmail.com
Until next year!

Friday Oct 25, 2024
Friday Oct 25, 2024
Today, we’re talking about what some would characterize the “topic” of the XXIst Century (others might perhaps not!): Digital Twins. Are we excited about them? Are our eyes so rolled that they’ll never recover? Or is this excited Vs eyeroll dichotomy not very helpful at all? Above all, what even are Digital Twins?
Episode notes
- Here is the Commentary Rachel mentions (free access):
Malleson, N., Franklin, R., Arribas-Bel, D., Cheng, T., & Birkin, M. (2024). Digital twins on trial: Can they actually solve wicked societal problems and change the world for better? Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 51(6), 1181-1186. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241262893
- The DT project for a bridge in Amsterdam, by The Alan Turing Institute: https://www.turing.ac.uk/about-us/impact/bridging-gap-between-physical-and-digital
- AI for continuous environmental project mentioned by Levi: https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/winners/ai-algal-monitoring/
- Larger scale aquatic “digital twin” project at Turing, mentioned by Levi: https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/probabilistic-programming-aquatic-ecosystem-models

Monday Sep 23, 2024
Monday Sep 23, 2024
In this episode your fearless co-hosts, Dani, Levi, and Rachel, talk about visibility and making a place for oneself in the worlds of research and academia. We chat about brands (do you need one?), clout (is it a thing?), and whether there's agreement about what it means to be an academic duck (maybe?). We've also got advice and lots of GLaD banter.

Thursday Sep 05, 2024
Thursday Sep 05, 2024
Today, we’re tightening our laces, checking our syllabi, and coming to terms with the coming term. Do you plan ahead? Or let the waves of work wash over you? Join Dani, Rachel, and Levi to chat about what it's like going back to school.
As always, let us know what you think by emailing us at thegladpodcast@gmail.com. We read every email, and if there's anything you're keen to hear us discuss, we'd love to hear it!

Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
If the academic life course were a sport, what would it be? Marathon? Hurdles? Bobsled? Find out how your GLaD co-hosts answer that question in this episode, as we discuss academic life course events, the various burdens that assail us at every stage, and how we manage (or don't).

Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Today, we’re giving you a sneak peek behind the editor’s desk at a peer-reviewed journal. Many academics publish, but organizing reviews, reproduction materials, and making the first (and final) call on a manuscript can be a very unique experience. We hope to answer your questions about life as an editor, and talk a little bit about efforts we’ve seen (or done) to make the process a little bit fairer, faster, and better.
Let us know what you liked at thegladpodcast@gmail.com We love hearing from you about questions or ideas for who you'd like to hear on GLaD. Thanks for listening!

Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
For this episode, we’re joined by David O’Sullivan to talk about his forthcoming book, Computing Geographically: Bridging GIScience and Geography.
We talk about how the book came together, what's in it, and also how "computing geographically" fits into the bigger picture of geography, (David's) life, and data. There's lots about David's disciplinary origin story, career trajectory, and how geographical analysis and computation align with the discipline of geography.
This is also the episode in which Rachel opens with a comment about our new recording platform and then proceeds to record using her headphone mic, with the result that she sounds as if she's talking into a tin can. Apologies in advance.

Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Today, we have a second “a day in the life of…” conversation, where we interview GLaD folks to get the scoop and the behind-the-scenes view on what it is like to live their life.
This time, we’re chatting with Dr Darla Munroe. Darla is director of research at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, leading efforts to support and coordinate the collective body of knowledge produced through the Institute’s work and fostering research strategies to advance its policy and educational activities. She is a geographer with research interests in economic-environmental interactions, especially forested ecosystems at the urban-rural interface globally.
Let us know what you liked at thegladpodcast@gmail.com We love hearing from you about questions or ideas for who you'd like to hear on GLaD. Thanks for listening!