Steven Manson
smmanson.bsky.social
Steven Manson
@smmanson.bsky.social

Geographer of human environmental systems and data.

Environmental science 40%
Economics 12%
Does your US State have a higher or lower Human Development Index than Germany? Source: buff.ly/NU3L634

So much work in AI and data science seems deliberately forgetful. There are certainly new methods but so much goes back decades in geog, stats, econ, and other fields. It was a lot of fun exploring this in "Data Science and Human-Environment Systems" www.cambridge.org/core/books/d...
Data Science and Human-Environment Systems
Cambridge Core - Environmental Science - Data Science and Human-Environment Systems
www.cambridge.org
For prospective Masters students interested in cities and computing, mapping and visualisation, digital connectivity and data analysis, here’s your chance to learn more about our stellar programmes at UCL CASA in London

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

One way sighted people can determine what to put in alt text: Imagine you sent the post or article to a friend, and the image didn't load. What would someone need to know to get the equivalent experience and context? This will help you identify the important details.
🌍✨
Our next seminar is with @grantdmckenzie.bsky.social

"Place, Privacy and Mobility: Navigating the intersection of location science and human dynamics"

Date: 4th November 2025 @ 2pm UK time (online only).

Register here: tinyurl.com/3bzv63rj
✨🌍

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

My blog, Twin City Sidewalks, turned twenty years old today. Wow. That's a long time! tcsidewalks.blogspot.com/2025/10/20th...
20th Anniversary of This Blog
Believe it or not... I started this blog 20 years ago today . It's still the best career move I've made, as writing publicly about cities an...
tcsidewalks.blogspot.com

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

“The pilot will explore how AI can enhance teaching, research and university operations, while also gathering feedback to guide the responsible and effective use of AI across campus.”
William & Mary launches ChatGPT Edu pilot
By integrating artificial intelligence tools, the university is positioning itself at the forefront of higher education innovation.
news.wm.edu
Here is NIA.

NIA made on 51% as many new R01 awards in FY25 compared with FY24.

7/n

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Strategic underfunding is par for the course in Georgia and across the south. Offer benefits so we say we do, but make it extraordinarily difficult to actually receive them. In this case, we are spending more federal money on red tape than health care.
www.propublica.org/article/geor...
Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Program Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs as on Health Care, GAO Says
Republican lawmakers cite Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage as a national model for federal Medicaid work requirements that are set to take effect in 2027. A new report shows the program has spent at lea...
www.propublica.org
🎧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-...
Episode 25: What we talk about when we talk about mobile phone data
Here's an episode all about data—mobile phone data, to be exact. What are we talking about when we talk about using “mobile phone data” in our research? How are these data generated? Who produces them...
www.podbean.com

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The Grand Rounds trails are one of the best parts of the Minneapolis parks system. There is also room for significant improvement, and that’ll cost real money and political energy. So you gotta start somewhere. I would nominate the Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek (Lynnhurst to Portland) as priority
Look at how much space we set aside for drivers (parkway on the left).

Many of the bike/ped paths we used today were SO crowded with people running/walking and riding bikes.

It’s time to rethink how we use our parkways. We did it in 2020. We can & should do it again!
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...
Episode 25: What we talk about when we talk about mobile phone data
open.spotify.com
Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work
the entire media ecosystem is just not built or ready for events like this and far right billionaires like larry ellison buying news orgs will only make this worse
Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users.

ALL ROAD USERS.

And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all.

For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them.

Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org
Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA
Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.
usa.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Our awesome EdTech team at TRU has produced a really good guide for instructors on GenAI in university education:

"This guide provides practical strategies and best practices for integrating or avoiding generative artificial intelligence tools in your teaching practice."

aieducation.trubox.ca
Gen AI in Education
aieducation.trubox.ca

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Fantastic keynote session from Dr Michelle LaRue, University of Canterbury discussing #remotesensing imagery for monitoring the Antarctic emperor #penguin population.

#giscience2025

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

The study is the first to look at the health hazards arising from pollution generated across all stages of the oil and gas lifecycle, from exploration and extraction; storage and transmission; oil refining and gas processing, to end-use activities, including storage, transportation and consumption.
Air Pollution From Oil and Gas Kills 91,000 Yearly in US: Study
Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities experience the worst burden from air pollution from oil and gas in the US.
earth.org

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

And one more: www.cosit2026.uk
The 17th Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026)
www.cosit2026.uk

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Read the whole thread, looks like a fully AI generated paper. @nadiah.bsky.social perhaps you should report this to the journal or to retractionwatch.com ?
Check out the graphical abstract for a paper recently published in Ecological Modelling.

I have papers published in Ecological Modelling. Never again, I guess.
The Spatial Data Science Symposium #SDSS2025 is back. Check out the Call for Sessions and Call for Papers: sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
Spatial Data Science Symposium 2025
December 4-5 | Distributed & Online. The symposium aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss experiences, insights, methodologies, and applications, taking spatial...
sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Y'all, my seminar for first year students is on this list. 🧇🗺️
🚨 We’ve just updated @carbonbrief.org's factcheck of Trump’s ‘critical’ climate report. 🚨

Huge thanks to all the dozens of climate scientists who have helped us pull together this rebuttal — including the authors of our brand new additions.

interactive.carbonbrief.org/doe-factchec...
Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims
interactive.carbonbrief.org
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.

On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.

This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.

Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Ya girl got a ribbon on her first crop art entry 😭😭😭😭

@rsfrankl.bsky.social, @darribas.bsky.social‬, and @levijohnwolf.bsky.social always do such a lovely job with the #GLaDpodcast. They bring smarts, warmth, and humor to interesting topics. Bonus tip, if you are on the job market, check out episodes 23 and 22!

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Join us tomorrow (8/15) at 12pm EDT for the last webinar in CURA's summer webinar series on Public Data for the Public Good. We'll hear from Joy Bonaguro who will share the many lessons she as learned as the Chief Data Officer for California and a civic tech consultant
cura.osu.edu/events/lesso...
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
AI & GLaD in Practice: a field report
The GLaD Podcast · Episode
shorturl.at

Jerry added great material throughout the book, joining work from other contributing authors. Shout out to Dudley Bonsal, @alyolli.bsky.social‬, Eric DeLuca, Rachael Huerta Carpenter, Jennifer Immich, Melinda Kernik, Steven Manson, Laura Matson, Sara Holiday Nelson, and Julie Santella.
Happy to share the release of the 2nd edition of Mapping, Society, and Technology. Props to @smmanson.bsky.social for wranging multiple of us to update it. It's a free text suitable for many introductory GIS courses, hosted at UMN Libraries. open.lib.umn.edu/mapping/ #gischat
Mapping, Society, and Technology – Simple Book Publishing
Exploring relationships among maps, society, and technology
open.lib.umn.edu
The newest executive order makes major changes to federal grantmaking, including additional review by presidential appointees and prioritizing applications with lower indirect cost rates. To the extent that federal funding remains, this is a big deal.

Reposted by Steven M. Manson

Happy to share the release of the 2nd edition of Mapping, Society, and Technology. Props to @smmanson.bsky.social for wranging multiple of us to update it. It's a free text suitable for many introductory GIS courses, hosted at UMN Libraries. open.lib.umn.edu/mapping/ #gischat
Mapping, Society, and Technology – Simple Book Publishing
Exploring relationships among maps, society, and technology
open.lib.umn.edu