Everything is Somewhere Podcast

Hosted by The American Surveyor

Technology Society CultureInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

From the rope stretchers of ancient Egypt to ubiquitous satellite precision, geospatial technology has ever been the bedrock of the constructed world and of civilization itself. Your host, land surveyor and infrastructure writer Angus Stocking, engages in regular conversation with today's location experts to determine exactly where, in space and time, we find ourselves today. Location, location, location; it's not just real estate, it's everything and, Everything is Somewhere.

Listen to episodes

45 recent

October 12, 2026Episode 3650 min

#36 - Boyce Upholt

White South Africans are quietly reshaping labor in the Mississippi Delta, and the story is far more complicated than the headlines suggest. In this episode, Boyce Upholt returns to untangle the history, economics, and racial fault lines behind his New Yorker reporting, revealing why these workers are arriving, why Mississippi farms are hiring them, and what it all says about power, immigration, and the modern South. Boyce brings deep research and a place-based perspective to this conversation, connecting his acclaimed book Great River to his new print magazine Southlands and his ongoing work on the Mississippi Delta. Angus pushes the discussion into the uncomfortable but necessary questions at the center of the story: apartheid's legacy, the movement of white labor across borders, and the uneasy overlap between infrastructure, race, and who gets access to opportunity.

October 7, 20263 min

EiS Short: Borders

On occasion I travel outside the country of my birth, and the prospect always fills me with dread. I am a timorous, paranoid traveler and border crossings especially make me faint with anxiety. I understand that my fears are imaginary, but then, so are borders—after all, a border is just an invisible line defined by fearful men. Borders are intangible constructs of civilization; they don't exist but they can be located… and thus, they are real and the consequences for crossing them are certainly real—men are routinely killed when caught on the wrong side of a border. Borders are settled arguments; a border is the line drawn between schools of thought. To cross a border is to become a different person; for humans too are constructs of civilization. On one side of a border I may be law abiding, on the other, a criminal. By one country's standards I may be moral, while next door I am a disgusting pervert. In pre-Civil War America, a man who crossed the Mason-Dixon line might be transformed from slave to freeman or vice-versa.

September 28, 2026Episode 3541 min

#35 - Dustin Gardner

In this episode, Dustin Gardner, land surveyor and folklorist, returns with the latest on his Creatures of the Compass game and Victorian-era book trilogy, offering deep insights into the folk magic and belief systems behind it all. If you love folklore, hidden histories, and speculative worlds, this episode is for you. During the conversation, Dustin explains how surveyors can become mediators "between worlds," why boundary stones matter, and how folklore, numerology, and folk magic shape his universe. Along the way, Dustin shares what recently changed in his day job, why he stepped away from the paperwork burden of running Caritas—a nonprofit benefiting children in foster care—and how he hopes to channel that energy into helping at-risk youth train for careers in surveying.

September 21, 20264 min

EiS Short: Bees—Smart Like Us?

The honeybee hive mind is one of the most sophisticated thinking machines on the planet, and even compares favorably with the thinking machine between our ears. Hives store 50 pounds of honey in a season. To do this, hive workers complete about 4 million foraging trips, flying a total of 12 million miles. They systematically find dozens or hundreds of food patches, exploit them, and move on. This is sophisticated stuff, requiring coordination at a level of complexity approaching that of a human corporation. In fact, bee intelligence is even capable of solving a mathematical series; in one experiment, entomologists placed a bowl of sugar water outside a hive. Bees quickly found it. The next day, the bowl was moved twice as far away. Again, the bowl was found. This went on for several days, with the bowl being moved away from the hive in a geometric , not arithmetic progression. The experiment was supposed to study search efficiency, but after several days something unexpected occurred; when the experimenters went to place the bowl, the bees had anticipated them and were already on the spot! This is astonishing. There are, frankly, plenty of humans who have trouble with geometric progressions. How is it even possible for a hive to make this sort of calculation?

September 14, 2026Episode 3418 min

#34 - Ben Ernst and Kenyon Mossberg

A 911 call now triggers a drone launch in under 90 seconds—and across Southern California, that speed is transforming emergency response in real time. In this episode, Ben Ernst of Octave and Kenyon Mossberg of the Ontario Police Department reveal how intelligent software, CAD data, and a direct API to SkyDio are giving dispatchers a faster, more reliable way to get eyes on scene before ground units arrive. If you care about public safety, smart-city operations, or the future of drone deployment, this conversation shows what happens when location becomes the common language for emergency response.

August 17, 2026Episode 3331 min

#33 - Amanda Manos

Amanda Manos, a pioneering surveyor and CEO of Darling Geomatics, shares her insights on technological advancements, industry challenges, and the future of land surveying. This episode explores how innovation and mentorship are shaping the profession. In a world where technology is rapidly evolving, Amanda Manos, CEO of Darling Geomatics, is pioneering a new era in land surveying. As a progressive firm based in the University of Arizona Tech Park, Darling Geomatics is not only embracing the latest technologies but is also reshaping what it means to be a surveyor.

July 20, 20265 min

EiS Short: Endless Cornfield

I accepted my writer friend Craig Child's unusual invitation to spend a few days in a cornfield—in the middle of Iowa, in the middle of July, in the midst of what turned out to be an historic climax of heat and humidity called a 'heat dome'—not because I was in sympathy with his evident masochism, nor merely because I knew that he needed somebody to provide comic relief. In fact, I had reasons of my own going back to childhood trips with my parents, driving across America's corn belt in the heat of summer thru hundreds of miles of vast green fields, drowsy and bored, hallucinating really, wondering what it be like to wander off into those Midwest jungles, just walk in a dozen feet into corn taller than me and get turned around and disoriented and… be lost forever, I assumed, striking off into a heart of darkness and joining the Children of the Corn in their evil worship of He Who Walks in the Corn and dying there, my bones only found much later when they were ground up by the Reaper of All only to find their way in to a box of corn flakes… Well; I was a strange kid. Still, the fields of corn were scary to me and I stayed out them with superstitious caution. Foolish of me, perhaps—but I lived .

June 29, 2026Episode 3229 min

#32 - Tony Bauer and Ofri Lehmann

In this episode, Angus sits down with Tony Bauer and Ofri Lehmann of Exodigo to reveal how cutting-edge AI and geophysical sensors are transforming subsurface utility location. Instead of traditional, manual detection, Exodigo utilizes systemized data collection and advanced algorithms to map underground utilities with inches of precision, dramatically reducing accidents, delays, and costs. Ultimately, the company aims to allows engineers and contractors to safely "see" underground utilities and soil conditions without having to dig or drill.

June 24, 20263 min

EiS Short: The Game & the Game

In the century past, I was a committed and even a fanatical player of Dungeons and Dragons, and spent much of my time, especially classroom time, drawing dungeon level maps on graph paper, creating characters, I favored paladins, and memorizing arcane rule books, all so that I and friends could gather together around a table in some basement and roll dice together for a few hours. And why did I devote so much time to this classically geeky hobby? Because in many games, there would be a few magic moments when I would forget that it was a game and get so caught up in the play that my heart would pound as I contemplated the fate of some fictional character that I had created and nursed through several games. And those precious seconds not only made the hours of preparation worthwhile, it enlivened them. And frankly, I sometimes wish there was something in my life today that excited the same feverish passion.

June 15, 2026Episode 3132 min

#31 - Pete Kelsey

Uncover the astonishing story of the last missing female pilot of World War II, Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins, and how cutting-edge underwater technology might finally bring her home. In this episode, Angus and returning guest Pete Kelsey discuss how modern multi-beam sonar and autonomous underwater vehicles are transforming underwater archaeology and search-and-rescue efforts. They also address the fascinating engineering of UUVs (unmanned underwater vehicles): their capabilities, limitations, and the quest to identify aircraft wreckage in over 250 feet of water. Furthermore, the significance of artifacts like WWII oxygen tanks and how they lead to potential crash site discoveries—bringing both closure and celebration of the brave pilots who served. Perfect for history buffs, tech enthusiasts, and explorers at heart—this episode reveals how the convergence of science, storytelling, and relentless curiosity keeps history alive beneath the waves. Plus, Pete shares insights on future projects that leverage these innovations for preservation and discovery.