The MapScaping Podcast - GIS, Geospatial, Remote Sensing, earth observation and digital geography

E246 - From Data Dump to Data Product

Published: December 9, 2025

Duration: 45:39

This conversation with Jed Sundwall, Executive Director of Radiant Earth, starts with a simple but crucial distinction: the difference between data and data products. And that distinction matters more than you might think.

We dig into why so many open data portals feel like someone just threw up a bunch of files and called it a day. Sure, the data's technically "open," but is it actually useful? Jed argues we need to be way more precise with our language and intentional about what we're building.

A data product has documentation, clear licensing, consistent formatting, customer...