The GLaD Podcast

Episode 29: The oldest profession in geography

Come for the catchy episode title, stay for the wide-reaching discussion about spatial data, visualization, and cartography. We're joined this time by Anthony Robinson, from Pennsylvania State University, for a conversation about what cartographers do, what cartography looks like in the 21st century, what makes a map, and the challenges of "personal cartography." We've even got some requisite hot takes on spatial analysis and data (...and cartography!).

Episode 28: “Opening the academic source” with Serge Rey

Today, we’re joined by a close friend of the podcast (someone some of us personally credit with changing our lives forever!), Serge Rey, to talk all things open, open source, and academia.
Serge is Professor for Geography at San Diego State University and BDFL for the PySAL project. He’s been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for closer adoption of the open source ethos in academia, so we thought who better to unpack the open conundrum.

Episode 27: Are you GLaD about GeoAI? A conversation with Krzysztof Janowicz

On this episode, we talk with Prof. Krzysztof Janowicz, Professor of Cartography and Geoinformation Science at the University of Vienna. Prof. Janowicz is an expert in GeoAI, and has been researching the field over his entire career.
Join us to learn a bit more about GeoAI—the nuts and bolts of what GeoAI is, whee it came from, and where the fast-paced field is going. Learn with us about the basics of foundation models and representation learning, and think through how GeoAI can help your research or practice. 
As always, we welcome feedback, episode suggestions, and questions from listeners at thegladpodcast@gmail.com. And, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast app—every bit helps!

Episode 26: A day in the life of… Wenfei Xu

Today we’re “repeating” special guest. We enjoyed so much talking to Wenfei Xu anbout mobile phone data in our last episode (Episode 25: What we talk about when we talk about mobile phone data), that we decided to bring her on board again. But there’s a twist: this time, we’re returning to our “A day in the life of…” series, where we explore the behind-the-scenes view of what it is like to be a GLaD researcher. 
 
Wenfei i Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. An urban planner by training, Wenfei has worked a lot with mobile phone data, but also has a super interesting story to how she arrived at that research interest. Come the fancy data, stay for engaging conversation about hopping between academia and industry, traversing disciplines, and… an Exhibitions entry in your CV.

Episode 25: What we talk about when we talk about mobile phone data

Here's an episode all about data—mobile phone data, to be exact. What are we talking about when we talk about using “mobile phone data” in our research? How are these data generated? Who produces them? What is this data good for…and maybe not so good for? How is it accessed and used? So many questions! To help provide some answers, in this episode Rachel, Levi, and Dani are joined by special guest, Wenfei Xu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara.

Episode 24: AI & GLaD in Practice: a field report

AI is now definitely changing how we live our (geography) lives. Join Rachel, Dani, and Levi for a chat about how Artificial Intelligence is emerging in our GLAD lives. How is it being used "in the wilds" of teaching, research, coding, publishing, and beyond. Should you be farming out your peer reviews to a computer? Vibe coding with your friend Claude? Setting out on AI-generated running routes? And, as always, do we really need more papers faster than ever before? We chat through this, with some advice and reflections on where AI might change our own practice and how it's certainly changing the way academia (writ large) works. 
Let us know what you think at thegladpodcast@gmail.com. Did we miss something about AI that you now can't live without? Have we missed your favorite anecdote about a deluge of digital dreck? Send us an email! 
Resources we discussed: 
Nature's recent editorial on peer review and AIhttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00894-7
Harper Reed's post on how to code well with LLMshttps://harper.blog/2025/04/17/an-llm-codegen-heros-journey/
Ethan Mollick's "reasoned optimism" about thinking with AIhttps://www.oneusefulthing.org/
Simon Willison's blog tracking the frontier of LLMs https://simonwillison.org
 
 
 

Episode 23: Navigating the Academic Job Market (Part 2)

Join us for the second part of our conversation about the academic job market! This half, we'll talk a bit about the nuts and bolts of putting together your application and the process from applying to interviewing for (and maybe even getting) the job! Caveat: we're mostly familiar with the US and UK academic job markets and we stick to what we know best in this episode!
Let us know what you think by sending us an email at thegladpodcast@gmail.com or leaving us a review on whatever podcasting app you use! it really helps us out. 
 

Episode 22: Navigating the Academic Job Market (Part 1)

Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about getting an academic job in geography or geography-adjacent fields. In this episode your friendly—and pretty experienced at applying for academic jobs—co-hosts talk through the academic job market. Where to look for jobs, timing, what to expect, and how to apply. Caveat: we're mostly familiar with the US and UK academic job markets and we stick to what we know best in this episode!

Episode 21: Time (mis)management

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!

Episode 20: Street Smart — A Conversation with Geoff Boeing

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.