I've been working on dual citizenship for a while — trying to bridge geospatial data technologies and the decentralized web.
I gave a talk today at @foss4gna.bsky.social — here it is 👇
✨ Astral: A Spatial Extension for the Decentralized Web
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9CC...
As a person who resists the hubris and posturing so common in tech, I appreciated @macwright.com’s openness + honesty in this podcast.
As the solo founder of an open source geospatial project (and a Placemark user), I also found the content and insights invaluable.
🙏🙏🙏
pca.st/episode/703c...
This is where we’re at, I guess … the best minds of our generation, all the frantic madness, the resource and ingenuity, and this is the outcome.
The incentives are so strong – the pattern feels intractable. I’m reminded of Diogenes the Cynic.
My work focuses on next-gen geospatial data technologies for the open internet.
Lately I’ve been researching proof-of-location systems with collaborators at UMD.
This new post outlines our current thinking about a new framework for multifactor location verification: www.x25bd.com/posts/notes-...
- Peer-to-peer data storage systems (what I sometimes call "spatial registries") offer interesting new ways of managing geospatial data.
One very interesting use case: self-sovereign policy zone management.
Another: content-addressed climate datasets.
Lots more to say on this ...
- Verifiable geocomputation systems can similarly improve trust and reduce compliance costs.
I'm especially excited about how these two pillars can help us build systems to govern autonomous machines — including safeguarded AI.
www.lesswrong.com/posts/P8Xcbn...
twitter.com/soona/status...
You can dive into what I mean in the paper, but key highlights:
- Proof-of-location systems based on principles of self-sovereignty and verifiability can improve trust in location claims, with many knock on effects
I'll share here first — a collaborator and I have a vision paper on the decentralized geospatial web in review.
Preprint is available here:
Top line — the geospatial web works well, but there are a few places where Web3 design principles show promise to expanding what's possible.
osf.io/bg2uq_v1
I just had a thought – maybe the opposite of perfect is honesty.
I've been meaning to put pen to paper and write down what I've been learning over the past 6+ years, researching the intersection of geospatial + the decentralized web ...
This week it comes together — focused on location proofs, verifiable geocomputation and decentralized data storage. More soon.
My friend @leonebaron.bsky.social made me aware of this post from @cate.bsky.social — lots of great advice to channel.
Especially coming back to the roiling world of knowledge work in 2025 after burning out, I'm prioritizing good + durable habits.
usefulfictions.substack.com/p/how-to-be-...
"your life is always flowing outwards, through you and away from you, into the world;"
joecarlsmith.com/2020/12/06/t...
It's worth noting that Vincent Weisser is one of the OGs in DeSci (Molecule ecosystem), with a deep background in the design principles of decentralization.
x.com/vincentweisser
Did you see this article in the Economist last week?
I'm far from an expert on the pros and cons of different training designs, but at a glance decentralized (well, distributed) training offers quality improvements not in spite of, but *because of* inefficiencies.
www.economist.com/science-and-...
... audio processing and more.
www.x25bd.com/posts/retros...
In 2025 I'll be doing research + product innovation using AI and Web3 tools and patterns. More to come ...
... and next generation geospatial data infrastructure.
The last few months of 2024, I reconnected with my roots in data science — I went through an immersive program catching up on the latest developments in AI and machine learning. Vector embeddings, transformers, computer vision, MLOps ...
I've been interested in geospatial for a long time — my first brush with machine learning was in 2009, studying convolutional neural networks in a remote sensing course I took.
Since then I've worked on location-based apps, geospatial analysis pipelines, interactive map visualizations ...
But while I believe Web3 promotes and important set of design principles, I know it's not a panacea.
Before my foray into the space — and in the past year — I've spent a lot of time trying to understand, and to some extent shape, patterns of human behavior using geospatial data technologies.
I'm still working in Web3 — I lead Astral, an open source R+D studio building tools + technologies for the decentralized geospatial web.
I'll share more about what we do in due course, I'd love to get feedback and critique here.
astral.global
About a year ago I left my full time role at Toucan (lots of reasons, mostly personal — I was burnt out). 2024 involved a lot of sense-making and tending to the things that tended to get de-prioritized while I was wrapped up in the "founder" lifestyle. Lots to say here — I'm biased towards openness.
Regarding work, I spent the past 5(ish) years at the frontier, looking at how emerging tech (especially Web3) could help us respond to the climate breakdown more effectively.
I have been deeply involved with @kernel0x.bsky.social, co-founded Toucan Protocol, co-chaired a WEF working group and more.
I grew up in the US and am an American, though I've spent the past 6+ years living in the UK, and just recently took steps towards dual citizenship.
I love the community spirit I experience in the US, and the extraordinary landscapes. In the UK (esp. London), it's the cultural and historical depth.
To say a bit more, I lead with where I have spent my time because my sense of place is core to how I experience the world.
Roots are early experiences exploring mountains + lakes in America. These days, I've expanded — most of my tech work incorporates "geospatial" in one way or another.
The requisite "hello new social platform" post — for those who don't (and do!) know me:
Hi. I'm John. I grew up in Colorado + live in London. My work centers around emerging (digital) technology and how it can improve lives + well-being. I love to snowboard, sail, + (slowly) make progress on piano.
It's as good a time as any to start speaking ...