15 Minute Maps
This podcast is dedicated to those people making positive change in the world using GIS, mapping and cartography. Each guest is given 15 minutes to describe their dream map, and how it could impact the work they do.
Hello and welcome to 15 Minute maps, where I ask my guests to let their minds roam free and come up with a new idea for their dream map. The first known map of the world was created three thousand years ago, (of a flat disc-like world surrounded by water,) and today we are making maps of the furthest reaches of the known universe. In between lie a myriad of mapping possibilities. What if we could do away with resource limitations… think beyond the conventions of time, space and political boundaries? What new kinds of map could we dream up?
15 Minute Maps
Episode 18: Cornelia Scholz - The Dragon's Map
What if our most trusted maps are quietly lying to us?
This week on 15 Minute Maps, GIS technical advisor Cornelia Schultz (Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre) joins Hugo to reveal a hidden truth about the world’s most vulnerable places: the places we think are empty may simply be unmapped.
Working at the intersection of climate change, conflict, and humanitarian response, Cornelia explains why entire communities — especially remote, nomadic, or conflict-affected populations — are missing from global mapping platforms. And when disaster hits, that invisibility can mean the difference between receiving aid and being overlooked entirely.
In this episode, Cornelia unveils her “Dragon’s Map,” inspired by the ancient cartographer’s warning Hic sunt dracones (“Here be dragons”). The idea: a map that finally shows us where the blind spots are — not where nothing exists, but where our data ends.
We discuss:
– Why many regions show up as “blank” not because they’re empty, but because no one mapped them.
– How climate disasters reveal entire communities that digital maps fail to show.
– The risks of humanitarian planning in a world where only data-rich places get attention.
– How the digital divide — and the economics of mapping — leave the world’s most vulnerable people invisible.
– Why highlighting what we don’t know can transform emergency response.
A must-listen for anyone working in GIS, climate, humanitarian response, or global development — and for anyone who’s ever assumed that “no data” means “no people.”
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