Hi everyone — I’m John.
I’m a researcher, design engineer, and entrepreneur. My background is in geospatial data science and open-source software development. My work is focused on making location a first-class, verifiable primitive in decentralized systems — building protocols that connect real-world geography to Ethereum.
I’m the founder of Astral (astral.global), where we’re building location-based services for the decentralized web, and Sophia Systems, a small research and product studio. I’m also a Research Affiliate at the University of Maryland and a member of the OGC Blockchain & DLT Working Group.
Previously, I co-founded Toucan (toucan.earth), worked on ecosystem and innovation at Ordnance Survey, and am a member of the Kernel community. In past lives I’ve been a cycling tour guide, ski patroller, and a cliff diver at Casa Bonita.
Lately I’ve been advancing open protocols for the decentralized geospatial web and developing a framework for verifiable location proofs.
I’m based in London. Feel free to say hi! Links are on my website, x25bd.com.