iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yohan @yohan.so · 29/04/2025

If you're using nightlights you need to know about two things: 1. What 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 of economic activity it captures, and 2. 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 Here's the breakdown (in simple terms):

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Yohan @yohan.so · 28/04/2025

How far off are we from Autonomous GIS? A new paper provides the roadmap. Here's the key info you should know about:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 25/04/2025

By far, the data I'm asked most about is related to traffic and mobility. It's for good reason. This data is insanely hard to come by. So I've compiled a comprehensive list of datasets. These cover both paid and free options:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 24/04/2025

One of the best use cases for geospatial data is examining environmental factors. Here's a list of my favourite geospatial environmental datasets:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 22/04/2025

Climate datasets are the most commonly used geospatial data out there. But how accurate are they? A new study examines this (and the results are surprising):

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Yohan @yohan.so · 21/04/2025

You can get €50k (equity-free) to launch a geospatial business. I’ve done it twice. Here are the exact steps I took to obtain funding from @esa.int 's Business Incubation Centre:

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Reposted by Yohan

Dr. Romain Fernandez @romainbioimage.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Starter thread 🤖🧪 (AI for science) popularizing earth observation foundation models.

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Yohan @yohan.so · 18/04/2025

How to get a job as a data scientist at the World Bank? This is something I was asked about a lot. But my experience was (very) unorthodox. It involved burnout, CrossFit and Kyiv:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 15/04/2025

Geospatial Foundation Models are the geospatial space's answer to LLMs. But do they actually add value? Let's take a look:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 14/04/2025

To do good research, you need good tools. Here are the (free) tools I can't live without:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 11/04/2025

Granular and real-time estimates of carbon emissions are insanely tough to obtain. However, a new paper claims to have cracked it. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 10/04/2025

Bill Gates loves estimating household wealth from satellites. So he'll love this new paper, which produces time-series wealth estimates at a granular level.

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Yohan @yohan.so · 07/04/2025

Official sub-national GDP is a nightmare to find. Most countries don't even publish it. However, some geospatial datasets provide these insights for every country in the world. Here's a list of geospatial GDP datasets, I wish I knew about 5 years ago:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 04/04/2025

Official estimates of methane emissions are inaccurate. How do we know? An analysis of satellite imagery conducted by NASA and Harvard. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 03/04/2025

Some new surprising facts about nightlights have just been uncovered. These will impact how we use nightlights to measure economic growth. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 01/04/2025

Much of the world runs on informal transport networks. However, it's difficult to assess how efficient these are. A new study examines 7,000 bus routes in 36 cities across 22 countries in order to find out. The results are pretty surprising:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 31/03/2025

If you're not using AI to help with research, you're missing out. An overview of the AI tools I use in my workflow:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 25/03/2025

Geospatial data science is all about having access to good data. Here are a list of my favourite free geospatial resources:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 24/03/2025

Meta is using Facebook and mobile phone data to produce super-granular household wealth estimates. Here’s what you need to know about the Relative Wealth Index:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 21/03/2025

In 1969 a husband and wife launched a geospatial company with $1,100. Today that bootstrapped company makes annual revenue over $1.5 billion. Here’s the story of ESRI:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 20/03/2025

Internet access unlocks economic and educational opportunities. Using (free) geospatial data, we can now identify which areas lack internet access at super granular levels. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 18/03/2025

Inequality isn't just about income and wealth. It's also related to environmental factors. Here's how poorer people are more impacted by heat-related deaths:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 17/03/2025

There are many geospatial land-use maps available. However, they all tell us different things. So which one is the most accurate? Let's find out:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 14/03/2025

It's incredibly tough to come up with granular estimates of 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣-𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 CO2 emissions. However, a new approach attempts to do this in real-time using free data. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 13/03/2025

Measuring agricultural GDP at a pixel level is notoriously challenging. It requires precise information on crop type and crop yield. @esa.int has launched a (free) dataset that provides this information. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 07/03/2025

Most countries don't provide granular data on economic activity. Luckily, there are a range of geospatial datasets we can use as proxies. Here's a list of the best (free) resources for estimating sub-national economic activity:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 06/03/2025

You don't need to know programming or GIS to use geospatial data. Here are resources to get you started:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 04/03/2025

Geospatial foundation models are all the rage these days. But, are they all hype and no substance? Let's take a look:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 03/03/2025

Google is changing the weather forecasting game. Plus they've created a Python library to make their model available. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 28/02/2025

Much of the world runs on informal transport networks. However, it's difficult to assess how efficient these are. To find out, a new study examines 7,000 bus routes in 36 cities across 22 countries. The results will surprise you:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 27/02/2025

The best way to accurately predict where deforestation will occur? By identifying 'Ghost Roads'. 200 people spent 7,000 hours identifying them. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 25/02/2025

One of the biggest challenges in economic development? Assessing infrastructure quality. But did you know we can do this using satellite data? Here's how it works:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 24/02/2025

The way we use nightlights to measure economic activity is all wrong — according to a new study. This is due to a misunderstanding of 'elasticities'. Here's the breakdown (in simple terms):

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Yohan @yohan.so · 21/02/2025

The most important concept in the open-source geospatial world? Linus's Law. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 20/02/2025

The most important geospatial concept? It's not vibe coding. It's Spatial Autocorrelation. It can make the difference between spurious and accurate results. Here’s what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 18/02/2025

One of the most important models in geospatial data science? U-Nets. It's used for: • segmentation • super-resolution • diffusion models Here's the breakdown (in simple terms):

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Yohan @yohan.so · 17/02/2025

Identifying deposits of gold can be time-consuming and expensive. A new method demonstrates how we can use earth observation data to do this. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 14/02/2025

Heatwaves disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. A new study demonstrates the extent of this. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 13/02/2025

Meta is known for Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. But did you know they provide a range of free geospatial datasets for researchers? These include granular measures of household wealth, population, and network access. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 11/02/2025

Internet access unlocks economic and educational opportunities. Using (free) geospatial data, we can now identify which areas lack internet access at super granular levels. Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 06/02/2025

We can now easily access over 18,000 geospatial datasets instantly, for free. Here's everything you need to know about the Geospatial Data Catalog:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 04/02/2025

It's possible to quantify damages in conflict zones using satellite images. How? It's to do with coherence. Here's the breakdown in simple terms:

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Reposted by Yohan

Miska Knapek @miskaknapek.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Another good #climate and #geodata #mapping thread from Yohan

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Yohan @yohan.so · 03/02/2025

Inequality isn't just about income and wealth. It's also related to transport and accessibility. Here's how poorer people are more impacted by inaccessibility to public services:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 31/01/2025

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected driver of global warming in 2023. They found the answers in the clouds (pun intended). Here's the breakdown:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 28/01/2025

Did you know we can access 𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙮 geospatial climate projections up until 1 Jan 2100? It covers projections for: • temperatures • precipitation • wind Plus it's completely free. Here's what you need to know about it:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 27/01/2025

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Reposted by Yohan

Miska Knapek @miskaknapek.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Do give Yohan here a follow - he provides excellent #earrhobservation #EO #remotesensing and #geodata tips and insights. Has a rather large following in the birdsite and is finally joining us here in bluesky

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Yohan @yohan.so · 24/01/2025

Creating geospatial population estimates can be a nightmare. It's particularly tough when you don't have good-quality census data. A new method attempts to address this by estimating population from Sentinel images:

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Yohan @yohan.so · 23/01/2025

Some new surprising facts about nightlights have just been uncovered. These will impact how we use nightlights to measure economic growth. Here's the breakdown:

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