Dani Arribas-Bel

And I guess that makes my entrance into the world of blue sky thinking... Mixed views (pluralistic.net/2024/11/02/u...) but the vibes are so close to the good days of the bird that I'll give it a go. Come for the cities, computers, and data, stay for the occasional sci-fi and jazz!

New #GLaDpodcast episode just dropped: how to give (bad) talks! @rsfrankl.bsky.social, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social and I dont presume to know how to give good talks but, when it comes to bad ones, we have a stock of experience to share! www.podbean.com/ew/pb-6gdus-...

Spending today and tomorrow at #UKEO26 in Warwick. Excited to meet all the satellite nerds in the UK, at the same time, in the same building! If you’re around and would like to catch up over coffee, get in touch!

I've been out "on leave" (holiday!) while this #GLaD dropped but, in case you didn't listen to it, you absolutely should. Sarah is one of the most inspiring figures at the intersection of cities, tech and society. Come for a peak of what it means to be Sarah Williams! www.podbean.com/media/share/...

Here's my pitch for what are and why we need to pay attention to "alien" data, from the @pluslab.bsky.social fantastic launch event. If you want a written version, I put it down on words at: me.darribas.org/2026/06/10/a...

Most of the data cities need will be “alien" - so says @darribas.bsky.social, posing an unresolved problem in urban science.

📽️ 🎬 🎞️ The first videos from the +Lab launch symposium on "Unsolved problems in urban science" are now available! First, a short overview explaining why we organised the symposium and what we want it to achieve. pluslab.bristol.ac.uk/launch-sympo... ⚡Individual lightning talks to follow soon...

"Most of the data cities need will be alien." That was my pitch at the launch of the Planetary Urban Sciences Lab (+Lab) in Bristol, where we identified unsolved urban challenges. I wrote a bit more about it at: me.darribas.org/2026/06/10/a...

New #GLaDpodcast episode: #embeddings for the rest of us! Join @rsfrankl.bsky.social, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social and yours truly for a (hopefully) “lay enough” conversation about one of the most interesting ideas in geo-data that the last few years have produced. www.podbean.com/eas/pb-8ebk6...

🎧 Our new #GLaDpodcast episode—Baby Talk—is all about, yeah, babies. Plus the academic life course, careers and the messy business of advice and decisionmaking. What's not to love?! With @darribas.bsky.social @levijohnwolf.bsky.social & @pietrostefani.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/5TDJ...

Happy release day (+1) to those who celebrate! Third week in a row shipping imagery-based data products. One is a fluke, two is a pattern, three is real team effort. Imago releases CLiVE Air Temperature and Precipitation: imago.ac.uk/news/imago-r...

Talking about babies (and _everything_ around them) was trickier on tape than on paper, but I think it was worth the effort, audience be the judge!

Last week we released Google embeddings for UK's small areas. While preparing workshop materials, I ran into this nice little example of what they’re capable of. Read on to find out why Battersea Power Station is such an interesting example! me.darribas.org/2026/05/05/w...

Happy release day to those who celebrate!!! Today, you can access our derived product of Google embeddings for small areas in the UK. Embeddings are changing how we work with satellite data. We hope this product will make even easier to get started to look at places. imago.ac.uk/news/imago-r...

Happy data release day to those who celebrate!!! We’ve been working really hard (how hard can it be to count clouds? a lot, it turns out…) to bring you all your cloudy needs neatly packaged. If you play with SPF, we’d love to hear from you! imago.ac.uk/news/imago-r...

Just back from a fully packed week in the Bay Area, I jotted down a few notes to commit the highlights to memory (and battle the post-academic high blues!): me.darribas.org/2026/03/23/n...

New episode of the one and only #GLaDpodcast. For this one, @rsfrankl.bsky.social , @levijohnwolf.bsky.social and yours truly dust off our oracles to speculate what 2026 (whatever is left of it anyway) has in store for Geography, Life, Geography Life, and Data! www.podbean.com/eas/pb-8urep...

🛰️ Embeddings for the rest of us! All part of our Imago mission to make satellite imagery useful, usable, and used in social research and policy! Team Imago* are at MHCLG today to talk imagery, embeddings & why research/policy folks should care. * @darribas.bsky.social @pietrostefani.bsky.social ++

Yesterday, we (the Imago team) gave a workshop on satellite embeddings for a room with ca.50 people from the UK Government. It’s so exciting to see these ideas and technology move at the speed of light from state of the art research to Gov. Materials at: imago-sdruk.github.io/EMBED2Social...

A bit late to post about, new episode w/ @rsfrankl.bsky.social and @levijohnwolf.bsky.social of the #GLaDpodcast. If nothing else, be enticed by the title; if something else, delight in Anthony Robinson’s views on maps, AI, and microwave ovens! gladpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-29...

📍 What is the oldest profession in geography and why should you care about it in 2026? The #GLaDpodcast has answers (and 🔥 takes)! No spoilers 🤐 but @darribas.bsky.social, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social & I are joined this time by special guest @arobinson.bsky.social. open.spotify.com/episode/02JW...

Just in time before the year’s out, I managed to collate all the reads that made a mark on me this year! If there are others I should read, hit me up with recommendations. Life’s too short to fill it with mediocre reads. me.darribas.org/2025/12/29/i...

Why "Science-as-a-Service" Doesn't Work for Earth (or social!) Science me.darribas.org/2025/12/18/w...

Just in time for a cozy listen this coming break, a new #GLaDpodcast ep.! This time @rsfrankl.bsky.social @levijohnwolf.bsky.social & I welcome Serge Rey for all things open, open source, and academia! Come for the code, stay for the stories of lives changed! gladpodcast.podbean.com/e/opening-th...

🎧 new episode of the #GLaDpodcast is out! You can run but you can’t hide. @levijohnwolf.bsky.social, @darribas.bsky.social and I went to the source (Krzysztof Janowicz) to hear more about Geo + AI, AI for Geo, and my personal bugbear GeoAI. #geography #geoAI open.spotify.com/episode/7zZj...

Back from this year's Human Planet Forum, organised by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). I had to summarise the whole event in 10min., so I decided to write it up also: me.darribas.org/2025/11/24/d... The JRC team did a truly stellar job at putting the event together, thank you so much!!!

I have an entry today at the GDSL’s #30DayMapChallenge with an attempt at “Dimensions”. It’s a story of 64 dimensions, mapped in two, with a bit of an extra dimension. me.darribas.org/2025/11/06/e...

This week I gave a (5'ish min.) talk about democratising satellite embeddings in social research and policy. Here's the write up in case of interest! me.darribas.org/2025/10/24/s... #satellite #embeddings #geofoundationmodels

🎧New episode of the #GLaDpodcast 🎧 @rsfrankl.bsky.social, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social and I liked talking to @wenfeixu.bsky.social so much that we invited her back! Come for the fancy data, stay for engaging conversation™️ and… an Exhibitions entry in your CV. www.podbean.com/ew/pb-cfz7e-...

🎧New #GLaDpodcast 🎧 Everything you ever wanted to know about mobile phone data in social science and never dared to ask, all in an entertaining™️ conversation btw @levijohnwolf.bsky.social, @rsfrankl.bsky.social, yours truly and the one and only @wenfeixu.bsky.social. www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ufnqe-...

Here at your friendly "Geography, Life, and Data" podcast, we do a lot of Geography, a lot of Life, and a lot of Geography Life. This one's for the Data—mobile phone data, that is. ☎️ @darribas.bsky.social @levijohnwolf.bsky.social @wenfeixu.bsky.social #geography open.spotify.com/episode/7Hmx...

AI is now definitely changing how we live our (geography) lives! Join @rsfrankl.bsky.social, @darribas.bsky.social, and me for another episode of GLaD, where we discuss whether you should be vibe coding w/ Claude, sending ChatGPT review requests, or running on AI-made routes! shorturl.at/GLNKd

We gave in to the hype and did one #GLaDpodcast episode on how we use AI, for Geography, Life, Geography Life, and data… www.podbean.com/ew/pb-hva24-...

We are still recruiting for another PhD for the next academic year, working with IBM Research - geods.ac.uk/2025/07/02/p...

New PhD project out, a collab between IBM Research, @sdruk.bsky.social's own Geographic and Imagery Data Services to explore using vision foundation models & high resolution imagery of the Liverpool City Region. If this sounds like you (or a friend!), all info at: geods.ac.uk/2025/07/02/p...

Getting excited for ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, to happen in Vienna in just over a week! I’ll be there Sunday to Thursday, who else is coming? hit me up if you’d like to talk all things Imago or just catch up!

🎧 Part II of the #GLaDpodcast on Navigating the Academic Job Market is out! Here we go all the way from application stage to (ideally) getting the job. Grab it wherever you get your podcasts! www.podbean.com/ew/pb-j4g23-...

Ep. 2 of our "Navigating the Shoals of the Academic Job Market" is live! we dive into putting an application together, what interviews might be like, and share @rsfrankl.bsky.social , @darribas.bsky.social and I share our experiences in these rough and wild waters! open.spotify.com/episode/2PNm...

📢 Announcing the first-ever @geodatascience.bsky.social Summer School!🌍📊 Boost your skills in Data Science, Geography, ML/AI with our dream team: Elisabetta, @carmen-cabrera.bsky.social, @darribas.bsky.social, Gabriele, Mark, Zi, Olga & Ron 🗓️Apply now! Early Bird: June 30. 🔗 lnkd.in/eW976945

I wrote up the essence of my recent talks in China about why social researchers and policy makers should pay more attention to satellites. Tl;dr: it's never been a better time to use something we've never needed more. Longer form (6mins according to Firefox!): me.darribas.org/2025/05/29/t...

🎧 #GLaDpodcast listeners asked for an episode on the academic #geography job market. We're so responsive we recorded not one but TWO episodes on the topic! Join me, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social & @darribas.bsky.social as we talk academic jobs and how get one...part 1 open.spotify.com/episode/6DXZ...

I wrote up my 10min contribution to last week's OECD Working Party in Territorial Indicators on (geospatial) AI for land use: me.darribas.org/2025/04/27/g...

Headed to #GISRUK2025 (@gisruk.bsky.social). Not presenting, chairing, paneling or anything official, just taking it all in as a consumer this time. Hit me up if you want to talk Imago, satellites, cities… or just say hi! 👋

Re-upping this, still time to put in your suggestions :-)

New episode of the #GLaD podcast just dropped, Time (mis)management. Everything you always wanting to know (or not) about why we (@rsfrankl.bsky.social, @levijohnwolf.bsky.social and yours truly) are always late, and maybe that’s OK… gladpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-21...

Detroit quote darribas.micro.blog/2025/03/28/w...

After last year's success, we have opened a registration to 2025 instalment of **Spatial Data Science in Python** as a standalone course open to anyone.  It is perfect for anyone looking to dive spatial data analysis using Python, regardless of prior experience. 🔗 martinfleischmann.net/sds/micro/

I have an in-between day in New York City next week, what should I do/visit/check out? (I’ve been several times before and done all the “basics”)

Headed to Detroit for #AAG2025 Excited to spend a week with fellow Geography nerds in one of the most interesting urban stories of the XXth Century! Catch me at the sessions (image via Rachel, thanks!) we’re organising w/ @rsfrankl.bsky.social , Elizabeth Delmelle and Isabelle Nilsson. Come say hi!

More #AAG2025 session goodness! For the @geographers.bsky.social annual conference in Detroit next week, @darribas.bsky.social, Elizabeth Delmelle, Isabelle Nilsson and I have assembled four sessions chock full of the latest in spatial data, methods, and applications. Details 🔽 #geography

Come and work with us at Newcastle on the exciting Imago data service!