Mohamad Yassin
2005–2011
B.A., Business Administration
University of Jordan — the business foundation everything else was built on.
Geospatial • Data Science • Open Source •
I build cloud-native geospatial systems and decision tools — open data infrastructure, operational analytics, and research-driven prototypes for the public good.
PythonPostGISDuckDB
GeoParquetSTACMapLibreQGIS
Portfolio
Apps, packages, dashboards, open-source.
Articles
Stories, methods, research, opinions.
Videos
Talks, demos, tutorials, interviews.
Repos
Curated code + datasets.
Career Timeline
The story so far.
Origins2005–2015▾
2012–2015
Amman, Jordan
Consulting & research
Management consulting — feasibility studies and ISO 9000 quality-management reviews — then Technology, Media and Telecoms market research across MENA, publishing 2 custom reports and hundreds of syndicated research notes. I learned how big institutions really work.
The Reinvention2018–2020▾
2018–2019
Washington, DC
Teaching myself to code
A laptop, the R language, and a corner table at Compass Coffee in Georgetown. No bootcamp, no CS degree — just conviction that the future belonged to the data-fluent.
2019–2020
Business Intelligence @ UC San Diego
Databases, statistics, decisions from data — meant as a bridge into IT service management.
2020
ServiceNow CSA + CIS-ITSM
Certified and ready to step into enterprise IT.
The Trial2020–2021▾
2020
Lockdown
Then the world closed
Days after certifying, COVID-19 erased the plan — and the job market with it. Lockdown became a productive stretch.
2020
Building a chatbot
An end-to-end chatbot build, written up as a 26-page technical report (September 2020). Proof I could do this.
2020–2021
A mentor + a thousand hours
Hundreds of course hours later, I shipped a production NLP pipeline in my first AI role.
The Deep Dive2021▾
2021
Writing a book on AI
In Eric Koester’s book-writing program I wrote a book on AI — 40+ interviews with pioneers, past the halfway mark to publication. I put the manuscript on pause to go deep on the technical side — fully intending to return to it.
The Mission2021▾
2021
501(c)(3)
Founding AI Research Corps
2017: AlphaGo falls and China declares a national AI strategy; the U.S. answers in 2018. Civilizational stakes — and public institutions falling behind. I founded AIRC to close that gap with AI, open data, and modern geospatial tools.
2021–Present
Mentoring the next generation
Through AIRC I mentor researchers and teach hands-on GIS — from QGIS trainings for high-school apprentices to fieldwork with research students.
The Field2022–2026▾
2022–2023
UC San Diego
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
After BI, ITSM, ML, NLP, and writing — GIS tied it all together. A year and a half of exciting learning. Spatial became the lens.
2023–2026
City of San Diego
GIS & data lead
Spatial lead for one of the West Coast’s largest municipal operations — 225K+ properties, 1M+ assets, 700+ routes. Built RouteView, automated routing, integrated enterprise systems, led citywide technical efforts.
2024
GIS Day 2024
How geospatial transforms government operations.
2025
Solid-Waste GIS
Spatial data + operational intelligence in a 700-route municipal operation.
2025
GIS Day 2025 — AIRC × Ecologik
Organized a GIS Day event featuring a GeoAI professor — bringing the geospatial community together through AIRC × Ecologik.
2026
Geospatial Data Science on a Budget — ASPRS @ SDSU
Cloud-native geospatial without the enterprise price tag.
2026
Geospatial data science, in the open
A story map I first published in 2022, rebuilt with open-source tools — MapLibre, fully serverless, on this site.
The Open Road2026–▾
2026
Open source
opentrash
An open-source, cloud-native Python package for waste-collection analytics — published in the open.
Now
What’s next
Cloud-native open geospatial data
Building an open registry indexing 26,000+ datasets on STAC, GeoParquet, and DuckDB Spatial — and implementing OGC and cloud-native geospatial standards. The mission that started in a coffee shop continues...
Volunteering & Community
The other half of the story — mountains, deserts, tidepools, and radios.
🔥
2017Disaster Response — 211 San Diego
Part of a 400-volunteer Lilac Fire response — 1,900+ collective hours at the 2-1-1 call center supporting fire victims and firefighters.
🏛️
2019 · 2021–PresentNational Park Service — National Mall → Cabrillo National Monument
Started in Washington, DC, interpreting the FDR and Jefferson memorials — continued in San Diego at Cabrillo: habitat restoration (Weed Warrior), greenhouse work, TPERP tidepool protection, and terrestrial bird surveys.
🎙️
2019–2022IFC Toastmasters — VP Public Relations, Treasurer
Leadership team for one of Area 24’s largest clubs — built the PR campaign and ran club finances.
🏺
2021–PresentVolunteer Archaeology Technician — California State Parks
Winters in the Colorado Desert with the State Parks archaeologist — surveying and protecting cultural resources thousands of years old.
🗼
2022–PresentVolunteer Fire Lookout — Forest Fire Lookout Association
Summers staffing a historic lookout tower on Palomar Mountain — scanning the backcountry for smoke.
🏅
2024–PresentCartography Judge — ICA-IMIA Excellence Awards
Judging the international Recognition of Excellence in Cartography at the Esri User Conference on behalf of CaGIS, the U.S. representative to the International Cartographic Association.
🌐
OngoingProfessional communities
OGC (Developer) · Cloud-Native Geospatial Forum · CaGIS · ASPRS · NACIS · USGIF · Optimist International · San Diego amateur radio emergency service.
Certifications & Training
The paper trail of a self-taught path.
2019
HarvardX — Data Science
R Basics and Data Visualization — where the self-teaching got serious.
2020
The Lockdown Sprint — 30+ courses
DataCamp tracks across Python, statistics, machine learning, deep learning (TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch), and NLP — completed during COVID lockdown.
View all 32 credentials →2020
ServiceNow — CSA + CIS-ITSM
Certified System Administrator and Implementation Specialist (ITSM), plus four micro-certifications.
2020
UC San Diego — Business Intelligence
Professional certificate: databases, statistics, and analytics foundations.
2021
UT Austin — Linear Algebra
Foundations to Frontiers — the math under the machine learning.
2022
FCC + Red Cross
Amateur Radio Technician license; Emergency Medical Responder, BLS, and lifeguarding.
2023
UC San Diego — GIS
Professional certificate — 1.5 years of formal geospatial science.
2023
FAA — Part 107 Remote Pilot
Licensed small unmanned aircraft (drone) pilot.
View photo →2024–2025
City of San Diego academies
Public Service Management Certificate, Procurement Academy, and Employee Mentoring Academy.
Contact
Best way: GitHub + LinkedIn.