The GLaD Podcast

For this episode, join Dani, Rachel, and Levi for a discussion about Academic Love Languages. Does getting public recognition make you feel warm and fuzzy? Or would you rather the freedom to curl up in a quiet office, reading and writing? We're all different, and it helps to be aware of what makes us (and others) feel valued, cared for, or supported. So, how do you show your colleagues that you value them? And, what makes you feel valued as a colleague? Join us for a spirited discussion about whether such a thing exists and let us know your academic love language by emailing us at [email protected]

Happy new year!!! We know, we know, we’ve been in 2026 for a while already (already too long?). But this is the first episode we recorded this year, the first one with Levi as a dad (yay!), and one where the “year” itself will somewhat feature. So we find it apt to start with a cheerful approach.

 

The reason behind this episode is that I’m such a sucker for “best of…” and “what’ll happen in…” compilations. Like the best sci-fi, they tell you a lot more about the present, its hopes and anxieties, than about the year they either review or speculate on. And that’s always interesting to me. So Dani spent most of December listening to “hot takes” from all sorts of podcasts… And here at GLaD HQ, we’re all made of the “hot take” stuff. So, possibly several weeks “late” (in time is overrated!), here it is: our hot takes for 2026.

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!).

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.

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 [email protected]. And, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast app—every bit helps!