Journal

AI Analysis & Location Intelligence Blog

Deep dives into AI analysis, platform updates, and location-intelligence insights from the NIKA team.

July 18, 2026

How a Geospatial ML Scientist Saved Months with a Parallel ML Framework

After trying Modal, Dask, and Tuner and still feeling something was missing, an ML scientist racing a one-month deadline found the parallel geospatial workbench that finally fit the job.

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July 17, 2026

The Era of FME Conversion Is Coming to an End — Now AI Takes Over with Cheaper, Simpler Alternatives

FME is a remarkable tool. But for getting one format into another, here is what its own users say it costs, where the usual workarounds stall, and a lighter way to do the job.

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July 16, 2026

Which Site-Selection Tool Is Best for U.S. Franchise Owners in the Age of AI?

LoopNet, Crexi, CoStar, CBRE, Placer, the Census and more — what each is good for, where each falls short, and which ones a machine can actually automate.

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July 15, 2026

We Have Never Seen True dMRV — And Nature's Protectors Needed It Yesterday

On the broken tools we use to measure the living world, and the shape of the system that should replace them.

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July 14, 2026

The Map Is Getting Smarter: Choosing an AI Copilot for Real-World Location Work

Why map AI is arriving now, why it is hard to build responsibly, and how to choose between Esri, CARTO, Google Maps AI, Mapbox MapGPT, and NIKA Analyst.

Lawrence XiaoRead more

April 12, 2026

What Happens to 20 Years of Field Knowledge When Your Senior Ecologist Moves On?

Every specialist industry faces the same challenge — but in ecology surveying, the knowledge is spatial, seasonal, and almost impossible to write down - Lawrence Xiao

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March 27, 2026

7 Issues in Ecological Surveying and How GIS + LLM Can Solve Them

Real stories from the field. Every challenge below came from conversations with ecology teams doing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) work across the UK — and each one has a practical fix.

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October 27, 2025

FlatGeobuf: The Underused Geospatial Format Powering Faster, Smarter Maps

As GIS datasets grow and cloud-native workflows evolve, delivering spatial data efficiently is becoming a critical challenge. Everyone talks about GeoParquet as the “modern” format for analytics—but when it comes to interactive maps, feature-heavy apps, and edge deployments, there’s a quieter contender that deserves attention: FlatGeobuf.

Shavini WeliwitaRead more

July 11, 2025

Bridging the Valley of Death for Geospatial Models

The valley of death (VoD) phenomenon is well known in all industries, where promising research only stays promising in the labs and falls apart for commercial purposes. In geospatial AI, this gap is particularly pronounced, leaving billions of dollars in potential value unrealized and critical global challenges unaddressed

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June 3, 2025

How to Automate Control Plot Generation at Scale (Reshaping VM47 Carbon Modeling: Part 1)

Watch the video version (with further explanation + narration) of this topic.

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May 26, 2025

Spatial Batching: Boost Your Satellite Imagery Detection from 80% to 95% (+ with Python Code)

After months of experimenting with high-resolution satellite imagery analysis, I'm thrilled to share the technique that's revolutionizing our object detection accuracy. If you've been struggling with model performance across diverse geographic regions, this post is for you.

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May 20, 2025

Improving Object Detection Model Performance Using Strategic Data Augmentation

In the world of computer vision, object detection models have revolutionized how we extract insights from imagery. However, when working with specialized data like high-resolution satellite imagery, these models often face unique challenges that standard training approaches struggle to overcome.

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May 8, 2025

Why Your Organization Needs a Spatial Data Strategy in 2025

A spatial data strategy is a comprehensive organizational approach to managing, analyzing, and leveraging location-based information across all business operations. It's about treating location information as a core strategic asset that informs decision-making at every level.

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April 17, 2025

Shell, Starbucks, Maersk: What do these companies have in common?

Shell, Starbucks, Maersk: What do they have in common?

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March 26, 2025

NIKA Signs Memorandum of Understanding with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)

COO Diana Ong representing NIKA in MoU signing, second from the left. Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)

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March 25, 2025

The ACOLITE Advantage: Improving Atmospheric Correction for Complex Coastal Waters

Remote sensing has transformed our ability to monitor Earth's oceans at scale, but the path from raw satellite data to actionable water quality metrics remains complex. At the core of this challenge lies atmospheric correction: the process of eliminating atmospheric interference that distorts spectral measurements of water bodies.

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March 14, 2025

The Future: Democratizing Climate Tech

This article is the final part of a four-part series titled, “The Role of Generative AI in Climate Tech.” Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 here. This last installment focuses on the transformative potential of generative AI (GenAI) in democratizing access to climate technology.

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February 12, 2025

ABACUS vs. VM0047 Carbon Project Standards Comparison

The ABACUS (Advanced Baseline And Credit Under Scrutiny) label emerged as a response to growing demands for more rigorous and transparent carbon credit verification.

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January 31, 2025

How to Remove Clouds in Satellite Photos

Those who work in GIS knows: Clouds are a real pain to deal with. Imagine trying to analyze satellite imagery only to find that clouds obscure nearly a third of your view. This is a common challenge in remote sensing, but one that modern technology is increasingly equipped to handle.

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January 24, 2025

GenAI’s Real-World Impact: Predicting Taiwan’s Typhoons

This article is the third part in a four-part series titled, “The Role of Generative AI in Climate Tech”. Read the first and second part. The final part is coming soon! Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when it comes out!

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January 17, 2025

8x your GIS data processing speed with Parallel Processing

Let's face it - most spatial data processing in conventional GIS software is painfully slow. Here's how parallel processing is changing the game

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January 8, 2025

Point Prompts to improve SAMs (With table of comparison + examples)

In the past 6 months, the research team at Nika worked tirelessly to compare and test different Segment Anything Model (SAM) versions over spatial satellite images (widely known as GeoSAM). Dr Qiusheng Wu, a distinguished academic in GIS has done amazing work in creating this open sourced Segment-Geospatial library, accessible at https://samgeo.gishub.org/.

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January 6, 2025

Explainer: How GenAI in Climate predictions work

This article is the second part in a four-part series titled, “The Role of Generative AI in Climate Tech”. Read Part 1 and Part 3 here.

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December 17, 2024

Spatial Data Processing I: The Basics & Mosaic Processing

Spatial data processing is one of the most critical steps in geospatial work. But what does it actually mean? Simply put, it’s the process of preparing spatial data so it can be analyzed or visualized effectively. Depending on the goal, spatial data processing can take many forms, each serving a unique purpose.

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December 11, 2024

The Role of Generative AI in Climate Tech

This article is the first part in a three-part series titled, “The Role of Generative AI in Climate Tech”. Stay tuned as we uncover how generative AI could be one of our most powerful tools in combating climate change.

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October 28, 2024

The Ripple Effect: How Climate Shapes Disease Landscapes

As we reflect on Earth Science Week 2024, our planet tells a compelling story that connects every living being. This week serves as a reminder that Earth science extends beyond rocks and minerals; it encompasses the intricate systems that shape our world and our health. A particularly concerning chapter in this narrative is the impact of our changing climate on the landscape of infectious diseases.

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October 15, 2024

Geospatial AI and Earth Observation Data for Faster Climate Insights

Milestone climate agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and The Paris Agreement rely heavily on data from Earth observation (EO) technologies to monitor and track progress toward their ambitious goals.

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October 15, 2024

Why Carbon Sequestration Alone Doesn’t Equal Carbon Credits

The carbon sequestration rate and storage of an area only tell part of the story. The real question is: How much of that sequestration rate and storage can be attributed to the project's efforts?

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October 7, 2024

What do VM0047 Control Plots Look Like?

In our previous article, we talked about control plots being the more robust way of estimating baselines in ARR projects. So, VM0047 control plots are critical, but how is it selected and what do some of those numbers look like?

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September 26, 2024

VM0047 Control Plots: The Future of Carbon Baselines

VM0047 control plots are the new way forward to help determine what 'business as usual' baselines are. So, what does that look like in practice?

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September 12, 2024

Mangrove VM33, VM7 Explainer: How do you detect mangrove extent using machine learning techniques?

Within mangrove projects (and any project), it goes without saying that accurate baselining is absolutely key. In other words for conservation projects, how many mangroves have we actually lost over the last 10 years? Or, how have mangroves in the area been naturally restored for reforestation projects?

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August 7, 2024

The Role of Geospatial Programming in Carbon

In this article, we discuss the growing complexity and importance of geospatial programming and machine learning in the carbon market. As scrutiny over carbon credits increases, particularly in terms of land tenure and carbon issuance methodologies, there is a growing need for more rigorous mapping and carbon calculation methods.

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July 10, 2024

NIKA Secures Seed Funding and Expands Board for Future Growth

NIKA (previously named Nika.eco) is an AI-powered climate tech company that has developed predictive geospatial models for the carbon market, successfully closed an oversubscribed seed funding round today. The round was led by Silverstrand Capital, with additional support from Timbul Ventures, DMV Investments, Orvel Ventures, and Ascend Network. The new funding will be utilised to launch their geospatial infrastructure SaaS offering beyond carbon markets, into other sectors where climate modelling is also pertinent.

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July 1, 2024

Verra's New VM0048 Methodology — Explainer Part II

This article aims to explain in simple terms how Verra’s updated methodology for REDD+ projects might impact your potential to receive carbon credits. The simplified diagrams are created to illustrate the basic concepts of the methodology, though they may differ from specific technical details.

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June 12, 2024

New dynamic baseline for ARR projects - Explainer

The purpose of this blog article is to explain in layman's terms how the updated Verra methodology for Afforestation and Reforestation (ARR) projects may impact your credit issuance potential.

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January 9, 2024

Verra's New VM0048 Methodology - Explainer

If you've attempted to read and decipher the new VM0048 methodology by Verra, and left the document more perplexed than when you started... you're in the right place.

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November 23, 2023

NIKA at COP28, Singapore Pavilion

#COP28 #naturebasedsolutions #AI #biodiversity #climate #compliance

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