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

Felt - Upload Anything

·40 min·3 clips

Felt's 'upload anything' button lets you upload any file without deciding what it is—how does that work?

This episode of the MapScaping Podcast explores the browser-based mapping tool Felt and its philosophy of simplifying geospatial work. Host Daniel interviews Sam Hashimi, the CEO and co-founder of Felt, who brings a product design background from government work. The conversation centers on Felt's unique approach to lowering barriers in digital geography. A core feature discussed is Felt's "upload anything" button, which allows users to add data without pre-defining its format for the system to interpret. Sam Hashimi explains that Felt aims to "grow the geospatial pie" by making mapping tools more accessible to non-experts. The company is a flagship sustaining member of the open-source QGIS project. Felt contributes to several open-source technologies, including building the Tippy Canoe tiling engine and supporting Protomaps and PMTiles development. They also contribute code to MapLibre and the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). Sam argues that traditional GIS software often creates friction by requiring users to understand complex data types and formats before starting. The "upload anything" philosophy is presented as a radical shift towards user-centric design that prioritizes immediate productivity. He shares that his experience in government revealed how cumbersome data procurement and preparation can hinder actual analysis. Felt's approach is to handle technical data processing automatically in the background after upload. This design choice is intended to let users focus on their mapping objectives rather than data engineering. The discussion suggests that simplifying these initial steps could significantly broaden who can participate in geospatial analysis. Sam posits that reducing technical friction is key to expanding the field's overall impact and user base. The episode maintains an enthusiastic and conversational tone, blending technical details with broader industry commentary. It is styled as an educational interview aimed at inspiring listeners about product design philosophy. Geospatial professionals interested in UX design, open-source sustainability, and the democratization of mapping tools would find this episode compelling. Listeners seeking highly technical, code-deep tutorials or critiques of specific software capabilities might find the discussion too high-level.

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