Speaking at Something Tech 2025 - AI with a Map and a Clock

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David Herse | January 20, 2025

Speaking at Something Tech 2025

I’m excited to be speaking at Something Tech 2025 in Brisbane on January 22nd at 10:25am at the Riverstage. If you’re attending, I’d love to connect and discuss how spatial intelligence is reshaping what’s possible with AI.

The Missing Dimension in AI

We’ve taught machines to see, hear, and speak. We’ve given them the ability to reason, generate, and predict. But we’ve forgotten something fundamental: where and when things happen.

Most AI systems today are brilliant but blind to context. They can tell you what’s happening, but not where it matters or when it counts.

Why Location Context Changes Everything

At Mapulus, we’re not just adding maps to AI. We’re fundamentally rethinking how artificial intelligence understands place. When you add spatial and temporal dimensions to AI, patterns emerge that were previously invisible:

  • A storm isn’t just weather data — it’s a surge predictor for emergency services, a demand spike for hardware stores, and a scheduling nightmare for home care providers
  • A cruise ship docking isn’t just tourism — it’s 3,000 people suddenly appearing in a concentrated area, creating ripple effects through retail, hospitality, and transport
  • A festival starting isn’t just an event — it’s a complete transformation of local dynamics, from foot traffic to parking to emergency response needs

The Messy Reality of Where Things Happen

My work explores the chaotic, beautiful complexity of hyperlocal factors. These aren’t edge cases — they’re the reality of how the world actually operates. Every business, every service, every decision happens somewhere specific, at a specific time, under specific conditions.

By combining weather patterns, movement data, event schedules, and demographics into spatial intelligence platforms, we’re helping organizations make decisions grounded in reality, not abstractions.

From Pizza Orders to Predictive Power

In my talk, I’ll share fascinating examples of how location context reveals hidden patterns:

  • How pizza delivery orders near the Pentagon consistently predict military operations (the Pentagon Pizza Index)
  • Why fitness tracker data accidentally exposed classified military installations worldwide
  • How John Snow’s cholera map in 1854 London pioneered the entire field of epidemiology — simply by adding “where” to the data

These aren’t just curious anecdotes. They demonstrate a fundamental truth: intelligence without context isn’t intelligence at all.

Making Predictions as Simple as Checking the Weather

My mission is straightforward but ambitious: make hyperlocal predictions as intuitive as checking the weather forecast. Imagine if every business could:

  • See demand spikes coming days in advance
  • Position resources exactly where they’ll be needed
  • Identify opportunities in the gaps competitors miss
  • React to changes before they become crises

It’s what happens when you give AI a sense of place and time.

Join Me at Something Tech

If you’re at Something Tech 2025, come find me after the talk. I’ll be around all day and would love to discuss:

  • How your organization could use spatial intelligence
  • The technical challenges of building location-aware AI
  • Real-world applications across industries
  • The future of contextual geospatial intelligence (CGI)

Session Details:

  • Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025
  • Time: 10:25am
  • Venue: Riverstage, Brisbane

Can’t make it to the conference? Feel free to reach out for a chat about bringing these insights to your team or event.

About Something Tech

Something Tech brings together Queensland’s technology community for a day of insights, connections, and forward-thinking discussions. It’s where ideas meet implementation, and where the future of technology takes shape through real conversations with real practitioners.

See you in Brisbane!


David Herse is the CEO and Founder of Mapulus, a spatial intelligence platform that helps organizations make better decisions based on where and when things happen. He’s available for speaking engagements on location intelligence, product strategy, and the intersection of AI and geography.