Brian McClendon: The Story Of Google Maps, Pokemon Go & Keyhole

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38:16

Many of us are entering the new year with a similar goal — to build community and connect more with others. To kick off season five, Priya Parker shares ideas on how to be the host with the most. An expert on building connection, Priya is the author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters.” Whether it's a book club, wedding, birthday or niche-and-obscurely themed party, Priya and Chris talk about how to create meaningful and fun experiences for all of your guests — including yourself. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts . For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey here ! Learn more about TED Next at ted.com/futureyou Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Minds Behind Maps « »
Brian McClendon: The Story of Google Maps, Pokemon Go & Keyhole - MBM#59

about a year ago 1:40:33

MP3•Episode home

Brian McClendon was one of the earliest investors & later VP of Engineering at Keyhole, which got acquired by Google in 2004. Brian become VP of Engineering and led Google Geo, overlooking the development of Google Earth & Google Maps. He also worked at Uber & is now at Niantic, which you might know for thri most popular app: Pokemon Go

Sponsor: OpenCage

About Brian

Shownotes

Never Lost Again by Bill Kilday (Affiliate Link)
Brian’s University of Kansas course: “Startups Rasing Money”
@Home Network (Wikipedia Page)
Keyhole Inc (History of Google Earth Wikipedia)
Google Earth
I think you can find a link to Google Maps on your own :)
Nicaragua border story
Books & Podcast
- 3 Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Affiliate Link)
- Marketplace podcast

Timestamps
(00:00) - Introduction

(01:16) - Sponsor: OpenCage

(02:42) - Brian describes himself

(03:33) - Getting into computer graphics

(05:15) - From engineer to building companies

(08:06) - The Beginnings of Keyhole

(12:42) - EarthViewer demo

(14:33) - Going through rough times

(21:00) - What made Keyhole so unique

(25:56) - How much of Keyhole's work is still in Google Earth?

(32:08) - Borders are hard

(37:20) - Changing borders

(43:15) - Google's rationale for spending so much on mapping

(45:37) - Use for Google Maps vs Earth

(47:22) - Google Earth Engine

(51:16) - Earliest Google Earth Image

(52:20) - Working at Uber

(57:03) - Self-driving

(58:30) - Project Ground Truth

(01:04:01) - Where is self-driving today?

(01:10:29) - Trains vs Cars

(01:14:15) - Niantic

(01:17:07) - Future predictions

(01:19:28) - Glasses over phones

(01:21:05) - The next iPhone moment

(01:23:33) - Using Tech to get people outside

(01:25:57) - Teaching

(01:28:11) - The need for tech companies outside the Bay Area

(01:30:21) - Remote work

(01:34:59) - Recommendations to students

(01:36:10) - Book/Podcast Recommendations

82 episodes

#Science #Math #Geology #Entrepreneur #Business #Maxime Lenormand #Conversations #Data #Data Science #Earth Observation #Entrepreneurship #GIS #Impact #Long Form #Open Source #Programming #Remote Sensing

Brian McClendon: The Story of Google Maps, Pokemon Go & Keyhole - MBM#59

Minds Behind Maps

21 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

Sponsor: OpenCage

Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API
Geomob

About Brian

Shownotes

Never Lost Again by Bill Kilday (Affiliate Link)
Brian’s University of Kansas course: “Startups Rasing Money”
@Home Network (Wikipedia Page)
Keyhole Inc (History of Google Earth Wikipedia)
Google Earth
I think you can find a link to Google Maps on your own :)
Nicaragua border story
Books & Podcast
- 3 Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Affiliate Link)
- Marketplace podcast

Timestamps
(00:00) - Introduction

(01:16) - Sponsor: OpenCage

(02:42) - Brian describes himself

(03:33) - Getting into computer graphics

(05:15) - From engineer to building companies

(08:06) - The Beginnings of Keyhole

(12:42) - EarthViewer demo

(14:33) - Going through rough times

(21:00) - What made Keyhole so unique

(25:56) - How much of Keyhole's work is still in Google Earth?

(32:08) - Borders are hard

(37:20) - Changing borders

(43:15) - Google's rationale for spending so much on mapping

(45:37) - Use for Google Maps vs Earth

(47:22) - Google Earth Engine

(51:16) - Earliest Google Earth Image

(52:20) - Working at Uber

(57:03) - Self-driving

(58:30) - Project Ground Truth

(01:04:01) - Where is self-driving today?

(01:10:29) - Trains vs Cars

(01:14:15) - Niantic

(01:17:07) - Future predictions

(01:19:28) - Glasses over phones

(01:21:05) - The next iPhone moment

(01:23:33) - Using Tech to get people outside

(01:25:57) - Teaching

(01:28:11) - The need for tech companies outside the Bay Area

(01:30:21) - Remote work

(01:34:59) - Recommendations to students

(01:36:10) - Book/Podcast Recommendations

82 episodes

All episodes

Minds Behind Maps

1
My Favourite Books of 2024 - MBM79 40:17

23 weeks ago40:17

40:17

On every Minds Behind Maps episode I ask guests for books they've read they think are worth sharing. This time I'm sharing with you the books I read & recommend from my 2024 reading. Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Utopia For Realists ( Amazon Affiliate ) The Capitalist Manifesto ( Amazon Affiliate ) The New Breadline ( Amazon Affiliate ) Jean Martin Bauer on MBM Three Body Problem Trilogy ( Amazon Affiliate ) When the Heavens Went on Sale ( Amazon Affiliate ) Ashlee Vance on MBM Into the Wild ( Amazon Affiliate ) The Little Prince ( Amazon Affiliate ) Night Flight ( Amazon Affiliate ) My conversation with Jed Sundwall on Techs on Texts Timestamps (00:00) - Trying something new today (00:37) - Utopia For Realists (02:23) - The Capitalist Manifesto (11:44) - The New Breadline (15:59) - Three Body Problem Trilogy (21:42) - When the Heavens Went on Sale (25:36) - Into the Wild (32:16) - The Little Prince & Night Flight (37:46) - Conclusion Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter…

Minds Behind Maps

1
How Bloomberg's Data Scientists use Satellite Images for Reporting: Krishna Karra - MBM78 57:03

26 weeks ago57:03

57:03

Krishna Karra is a data scientist & report for Bloomberg, having used machine learning & satellite images for reporting. Recent stories from him & his team include mapping refugee camps in Rafah & exposing illegal ship oil transfers in the middle of the Ocean. Sponsor: Beemaps by Hivemapper Get access to high quality, fresh map data at https://beemaps.com/minds Use promo code MINDS to get 50% off your API credits through Dec. 31 2024 About Krishna Twitter LinkedIn Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Bloomberg: The Clandestine Oil Shipping Hub Funneling Iranian Crude to China Bloomberg: A Detailed Map Shows How Airstrikes and Refugees Reshaped Rafah How Radar Satellites See through Clouds (Synthetic Aperture Radar Explained) National Land Cover Database (NLCD) What Ukraine Has Lost Graves in Suda by Joe Morrison Jean Martin Bauer on Minds Behind Maps Books & Podcast: Overstory by Richard Powers ( Affiliate Link ) Ezra Klein Show Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (00:34) - Sponsor: Beemaps (01:51) - Krishna describes himself (03:27) - Example stories: Illegal Oil transfers (05:29) - Stories are the goal (07:07) - Why publish the data set? (12:24) - How Journalism has and hasn't changed (14:04) - How data changes a story (18:23) - Putting the datasets together (20:37) - Conveying trust (24:07) - Showing the limitations of the data (26:11) - Why is journalism important for satellite data? (30:14) - News room process (32:57) - Building custom tools (38:19) - Timeline of a news story (39:47) - What Krishna has learned as a data scientist in a news room (40:49) - Stories that have stuck out (42:57) - Different ways of showing the data (44:19) - Krishna's wishlist (51:12) - Book & podcast recommendation (53:16) - Paid podcasts & media (55:19) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
How Ex-Vox Video Producer Phil Edwards thinks about Maps to tell stories - MBM77 1:36:23

29 weeks ago1:36:23

1:36:23

Phil Edwards is a video producer who worked at Vox for nearly 10 years, and now runs his own Youtube channel exploring the history of businesses, and lately has been using more and more maps. We go over one of his latest videos, “The Secret Economics of Google Street View” as a case study of how Phil thinks about maps to tell stories. We also talk about journalism on Youtube, and the business behind running a Youtube channel today. Sponsor: Beemaps by Hivemapper Get access to high quality, fresh map data at https://beemaps.com/minds Use promo code MINDS to get 50% off your API credits through Dec. 31 2024 About Phil Twitter Phil's Bluesky Phil’s Youtube Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Phil’s trivia site GeoGuessr Phil’s video about Google Street View Book & Podcast recommendations: 3 Scientists & Their Gods by Robert Wright ( Affiliate Link ) The Evolution of God by Robert Wright ( Affiliate Link ) On the Edge by Nate Silver ( Affiliate Link ) Freakonomics podcast Acquired Podcast My conversation with Ashlee Vance Wild Wild Space documentary Neo Hoog Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (00:52) - Sponsor: Beemaps (02:08) - Who is Phil Edwards? (03:13) - What does a Video Producer do? (04:29) - Chosing topics & stories (06:38) - Maps in video production (10:14) - Bringing a different element to maps stories (12:15) - Explaining Complicated Things (15:49) - Case Study: Google Street View Video (20:07) - Geoguessr (23:03) - Story & Journalism on Youtube (27:25) - Stories that Phil wants to work on (30:54) - Importance of visuals (34:58) - Learning Curve in Mapping & Animation (40:26) - Balancing Scientific Rigour and Story (49:53) - The Business of Youtube (54:09) - Choosing to scale or not (59:14) - Creating "content" (01:01:56) - Authenticity (01:05:00) - Valuing High Quality Journalism (01:10:18) - Succeeding on Patreon (01:13:46) - Creators that Phil admires (01:16:56) - Books & podcasts Recommendations (01:28:54) - Reporting On Vs Working In a field (01:31:40) - Where Phil finds inspiration (01:35:14) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter My Bluesky Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
What Hyperspectral constellations have to offer: Pixxel’s example - Awais Ahmed #MBM76 1:20:55

32 weeks ago1:20:55

1:20:55

Awais Ahmed is the co-founder & CEO of Pixxel, a company building a constellation of hyperspectral imaging satellites. Unlike “traditional” cameras, these satellites can see across hundreds of bands, opening up a lot more applications. We talk about the engineering -and funding- required to pull this off and how Awais manages a company between India (where Awais is from) and the US. But that’s just the 1st part of the interview. Then we talk about his vision for the company, which goes way, way beyond sending imaging satellites. Sponsor: OpenCage Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API Geomob About Awais Twitter LinkedIn Shownotes Awais’s personnal website Pixxel’s 3 phase vision Maxar HD machine learning upscaling Book & Podcast Recommendation The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch ( Affiliate Link ) Profiles of the Future by Arthur C. Clarke (only found it in ebook here, Affiliate Link ) Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ( Affiliate Link ) Timestamps (00:00) - Introduction (01:09) - Sponsor: OpenCage (02:34) - Awais describes himself (03:46) - Pixxel (05:07) - What is hyperspectral? (10:36) - Spacial, Temporal & Spectral Resolution tradeoffs (18:01) - Hardest part of building satellites (22:58) - The resolution spotlight (28:38) - Image Quality Rabbit Hole (30:42) - The tricky part of raising money (38:52) - Awais has a big, big vision (50:42) - Likeliness of Awais's vision within 10 years (54:14) - Working between India & USA (59:04) - Personnal investing (01:01:20) - Importance of Reading (01:05:36) - Sci-Fi & History (01:08:33) - Book recommendation (01:10:43) - Awais in space? (01:11:54) - Pushing the boundaries of humanity (01:13:14) - Optimism in a cynical world (01:19:11) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
The Ex-Uber Data Scientist Who wants to simplify Data Science with Serverless Computing: Sina Kashuk 1:08:43

35 weeks ago1:08:43

1:08:43

Sina Kashuk is the co-founder & CEO of Fused, who wants to make iterating & deploying in Python faster with serverless computing. We break down what that actually means, why it matters and what data science workflows could look like over the next few years. This also isn’t Sina’s first company, a few years ago he started Unfolded.ai , focused on making visualisations for data scientists faster. The company was acquired by Foursquare in 2021. Sponsor: Beemaps by Hivemapper Get access to high quality, fresh map data at https://beemaps.com/minds Use promo code MINDS to get 50% off your API credits through Dec. 31 2024 About Sina Twitter LinkedIn Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. My blogpost joining the team Uber’s H3 tiling grid Foursquare acquires Unfolded AWS Lambda My conversation with Ib Green Fused.io Book & Podcast recommendation Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins Affiliate Link I’m pretty sure you can find Minds Behind Maps by yourself if you’re here Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (02:38) - Sponsor: Beemaps (03:55) - Hacking (06:07) - Fused.io (07:23) - Why run your algorithm in the cloud? (10:06) - Serverless computing (12:40) - Optimizing for iteration speed (18:52) - Breaking Fused into smaller parts (23:27) - "User Defined Functions: UDF" (31:08) - How do you make money? (31:56) - Why start companies? (42:41) - Convincing people to use your tools (49:44) - Speed isn't all: Train / Plane analogy (54:36) - Going beyond geospatial (57:33) - Building a team (59:54) - Podcast/book recommendation (01:01:11) - Building a Long Term Vision (01:06:59) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Meet the man trying to build a 20cm 3D map of the world: Andrew Peterson - #MBM74 1:55:29

39 weeks ago1:55:29

1:55:29

Andrew Peterson is the Co-Founder & CEO of Array Labs, with a simple mission: Mapping the whole world in 3D, at 20cm in near real time. We peel the layers as to what it takes to get there: the engineering that’s required, how to build a constellation to do that, how you fund such a project. Sponsor: OpenCage Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API Geomob About Andrew LinkedIn Array Labs Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. My 20min video explaining radar satellite images Find USGS 1m LiDAR data across the US Y Combinator My episode with Ashlee Vance My episode with Brian McClendon Albedo Book & Podcast recommendation Spin Selling by Neil Rackham ( Affiliate Link ) Acquired Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (01:08) - Sponsor: OpenCage (02:34) - "Being a Recovering Engineer" (03:15) - Mapping the world in 3D (09:59) - "Near Real Time" (15:46) - Applications will only use what's available, by definition (18:15) - Why use radar for 3D images? (22:23) - The coolest Space Shuttle mission, period (27:19) - Tradeoff between resolution & coverage (36:26) - Building cheap radar satellites (39:46) - Array Labs's image resolution (45:10) - A GPU Analogy (50:34) - A story of image processing & computers (56:07) - Array Labs today (57:57) - Let's talk $$$ (01:06:38) - Low barrier to entry: Comparing XRay & MRI (01:12:09) - Why stop at 10 satellites? (01:15:50) - Focus (01:19:53) - Max & Andrew's 1st chat during covid (01:23:22) - Subscription model for satellite images? (01:32:50) - Convincing the rest of the world your idea is worth something (01:43:58) - Engineer to Founder (01:47:30) - Book & Podcast recommendation (01:51:06) - Array Labs's next 4 years? (01:53:45) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Jamie McMichael-Phillips: How We're Planning to Map All our Oceans by 2030 - #MBM73 56:49

41 weeks ago56:49

56:49

Jamie McMichael-Phillips is the Director of the Seabed 2030 Project, which aims to map all of the world's oceans, by 2030. For context, in 2024, we’re at 26.1%. This is conversation is about why, how we get to 100% and why it’s important in the first place. Sponsor: SatCamp SatCamp is a different kind of conference, from October 1st to October 3rd 2024, in Boulder Colorado About Bio on Seabed 2030 website LinkedIn Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Seabed 2030 Project (You can check out their interactive map here) GEBCO Grid 2024 Seabed 2030 Progress Point Nemo Book & Podcast Recommendations: The Deepest Map by Laura Trethewey ( Amazon Affiliate ) Seabed 2030 Podcast Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (01:04) - Sponsor: SatCamp (02:55) - Jamie Describes Himself (03:53) - State of Ocean mapping in 2024 (06:19) - Difficulties with mapping the ocean (08:22) - Why map the seabed? (10:24) - What does mapping the seabed actually mean? (15:01) - Comparing Land & Sea mapping (18:55) - Seabed 2030 is a policy project (20:42) - Incentives to map the oceans (24:05) - If we've only mapped ~25%, what does the 75% other look like? (27:49) - What are the coarse measurements for the ocean right now? (29:31) - How we actually map the seabed (33:14) - Patches of unmapped areas of the ocean (35:38) - Getting there by 2030 (38:21) - How much has already been mapped? (43:00) - Maps as Human Knowledge (45:27) - Jamie's most anticipated, yet unmapped, area (48:03) - Public Engagement (53:01) - Book/podcast Recommendations (55:04) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
[Bonus] Books, Tech & Life: A Long conversation with Jed Sundwall 2:04:01

41 weeks ago2:04:01

2:04:01

Check out Jed’s Techs on Text podcast Jed has also been on Minds Behind Maps before . We talked open data, AI, and the role of books for people building things

Minds Behind Maps

1
Jean-Martin Bauer: How the World Food Program tackles Hunger - #MBM72 1:32:51

43 weeks ago1:32:51

1:32:51

Jean-Martin Bauer has been working at the World Food Program for over 20years, and the author of the “The New Breadline”. Most recently he was the Country Director for Haiti, in charge of helping make sure the country doesn’t run out of food. Sponsor: SatCamp SatCamp is a different kind of conference, from October 1st to October 3rd 2024, in Boulder Colorado About Jean-Martin LinkedIn Jean-Martin’s book: The New Breadline ( Affiliate Link ) Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. WFP working with Mbala Pinda producers Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain ( Affiliate Link ) Jordan Habinger episode about Haiti’s ongoing situation Book & Podcast recommendation The one-straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka ( Affiliate Link ) Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates ( Affiliate Link ) FiveThirtyEight podcasts Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (01:15) - Sponsor: SatCamp (03:42) - Haiti's past 2 years (05:57) - Day to day in a humanitarian crisis (08:17) - Jean-Martin's ties to Haiti (18:27) - Stats versus Stories: The picture of a starving girl sparking uprise (21:30) - The Origins of Hunger (27:31) - Impact of Covid on Food Security in the US (35:05) - Europe's current food supplies after WWII (40:11) - Why write a book? (42:56) - Who is your book for? (45:22) - Finding local Solutions (53:39) - Creating a resilient food supply (55:33) - Technology is not the silver bullet (01:01:23) - Advice for Young Engineers & Data Scientists (01:05:28) - What's next for Jean-Martin (01:12:04) - Social Media Outreach (01:19:08) - Optimism (01:23:49) - Defining Acute Hunger (01:25:37) - Book & podcast Recommendation (01:31:07) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Ashlee Vance: The Man telling us the Stories of the New Space Industry - #MBM71 1:21:22

45 weeks ago1:21:22

1:21:22

Ashlee Vance is a Tech Journalist, the author of Elon Musk's 1st biography in 2015, the host of "Hello World" on Youtube and the author of "When the Heavens Went on Sale" as well as the accompanying documentary "Wild Wild Space" following 4 New Space companies. We nerd out on rocket companies, 1 rogue NASA administrator, and the time I got to meet Vladimir Putin years ago. Sponsor: OpenCage Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API Geomob About Ashlee: Twitter Bloomberg Profile Shownotes (Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.) Ashlee's books: When the Heavens Went on Sale ( Affiliate Link ) Elon Musk biography ( Affiliate Link ) Wild Wild Space documentary Hello World with Ashlee Vance on Youtube NPIC book by Jack O'Conor Book & Podcast Recommendation: Sonic Wind ( Affiliate Link ) Cocaine & Rhinestones Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (01:33) - Sponsor: OpenCage (02:59) - Ashlee Describes Himself (06:12) - Chasing weirdos around the world for a living (11:22) - The man shaking NASA in the 90s (16:18) - Following Chris Kemp & the beginnings of Astra (24:30) - Planet co-founders: Will & Robbie (28:58) - Needing to convince investors (31:34) - Will satellite imagery ever get mainstream? (34:50) - A tangent on the US Spy satellite program (36:47) - Starlink (38:28) - Privatization (48:43) - Space Industry outside of the US (55:23) - Russia's aerospace pride: The time I met Putin (59:18) - What's on Ashlee's radar (01:01:42) - People or Companies? (01:04:01) - Documentary Reception (01:05:08) - The business of documentaries (01:08:27) - YouTube (01:12:45) - Book/podcast recommendation (01:16:08) - No iPhone? (01:19:38) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Luke Fischer: Who would want to start a Satellite Image Marketplace? SkyFi - #MBM70 1:34:53

47 weeks ago1:34:53

1:34:53

Luke Fischer is the Co-Founder & CEO of SkyFi, a company that we'll describe in a few ways in this episode, but boils down to an Earth Observation marketplace. We talk about Luke's 20 year time in the military before getting into startups, why Luke is bullish on their approach and many more Sponsor: SatCamp SatCamp is a different kind of conference, from October 1st to October 3rd 2024, in Boulder Colorado About Twitter LinkedIn SkyFi Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy Gabe -unit economics- Dominocielo Bill Perkins Die with Zero Silicon Valley No Revenue Book & Podcast recommendations Freedom’s Forge ( Affiliate Link ) BigDeal by Codie Sanchez Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (00:50) - Sponsor: SatCamp (02:41) - Luke describes himself (04:21) - Getting into the satellite image industry (07:13) - Risks starting a company (10:16) - Don't start a marketplace (18:22) - Racing to get customers (23:08) - What is the Product in all of this? (25:00) - What is the product that SkyFi needs to build today? (28:17) - Who is this for? (33:08) - Biggest pain points (37:44) - The market's view of Earth Observation businesses (45:00) - Pivoting from the military (51:28) - Hiring (59:12) - Raising big, early (01:02:08) - Predicting the industry in 2.5 years (01:09:05) - Consumer market? (01:14:24) - Health & family (01:26:05) - Community while all Remote (01:30:25) - Book & Podcast Recommendation (01:33:09) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Ben Strong: We have Foundation Models of Earth, now What? Earth Index - MBM#69 1:05:35

49 weeks ago1:05:35

1:05:35

Ben Strong is the Science & Machine Learning Lead at Earth Genome, an NGO working on the intersection of data, science & digital design. Most recently they've been working on Earth Index, an application built on top of Earth embeddings from foundation models. This conversation is the "so what" of Earth foundational model Sponsor: OpenCage Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API Geomob About LinkedIn Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Ben’s blogpost on NDA sequencing for the Earth Earth Genome Earth Index Book & Podcast recommendation Demo Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver ( Affiliate Link ) Risky Business Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (00:46) - Sponsor: OpenCage (02:12) - Ben introduces himself (03:28) - "DNA sequencing" for Earth (13:37) - Not building another Foundation Model (18:06) - Earth embeddings: So what? (21:49) - What does locally finetuned mean? (25:48) - Invite only for now: Why? (29:31) - Journalistic applications (31:59) - Yet another tool for finding images? (35:09) - Deciding what to work on (38:35) - Designing for simplicity (44:14) - So, why hasn't Google made this? (51:18) - Funding (59:54) - Book & podcast Recommendations Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
Ib Green: Browser based visualisation rendering - MBM#68 52:08

1 year ago52:08

52:08

Ib Green led the development of 3D visualisation tools like for example Uber’s deck.gl and is now working at Foursquare, after having started Unfolded, which Foursquare acquired. During this conversation we touch on how browser based visualisations are changing This episode is supported by all the people on Patreon Access Behind the Scenes and support the podcast by joining too! About LinkedIn Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Kepler.gl Deck.gl Foursquare Kyle Barron Peak Math Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (00:41) - Support the podcast on Patreon (01:43) - Ib describes himself (02:33) - How lb got to where he is today (07:47) - Uber's need for visualization tools (15:11) - Why do companies build open source tools? (17:46) - Open source to open governance (23:41) - Starting a company (26:31) - How Unfolded generates revenue (28:28) - Nerding out on browser based visualization tech (35:11) - Client side rendering challenges (39:27) - Competing against the smartphone (41:38) - Looking ahead (47:43) - Book & Podcast recommendations (50:24) - Support the podcast on Patreon Support the podcast on Patreon My video on an introduction to satellite images Website My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
What does a Foundational Model of Earth look like? Clay Foundation: Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuño - MBM#67 1:25:45

1 year ago1:25:45

1:25:45

Bruno Sanchez is the Executive Director of the Clay Foundation, which just released their v1 of a “Foundational Model of Earth”. We talk about what that means, building open source & non profits and can’t help but draw parallels to the not-so-open anymore OpenAI. Previously Bruno was the Program Director of the Microsoft Planetary Computer Sponsor: OpenCage Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API Geomob Shownotes Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books. Clay Github repo Website My previous interview with Bruno Book & Podcast recommendation A Thousand Brains by Jeff Hawkins ( Affiliate Link ) Bad Therapy by Abigael Shrier ( Affiliate Link ) Timestamps (00:00) - Intro (01:59) - Sponsor: OpenCage (03:39) - What is a Foundational Model? (08:45) - Foundational Task (11:00) - Embeddings, and why they matter (13:49) - Comparing to compression algorithms (16:57) - What do embeddings enable? (19:50) - Finding the Relationship between data (24:16) - Implementation of monitoring all the data - I believe this is where you're going with the question (25:44) - Implementation details (27:52) - Validating a foundational model (33:49) - Earth is a "limited problem" (42:47) - Funding as a non-profit (47:53) - Raising enough philanthropic funding (53:02) - A Litmus test for open projects (56:26) - Future predictions (58:01) - Transparency/privacy (01:00:53) - Commercial data (01:03:36) - Openstreetmap (01:05:49) - Updating foundational models (01:12:17) - Clay model v2? (01:13:43) - Dataset to embedding size comparison (01:14:41) - Model v2 - continued (01:16:45) - Difference working at a non-profit vs a corp (01:20:27) - Book & Podcast recommendation (01:24:01) - Support the podcast on Patreon! Support the podcast on Patreon My Twitter Podcast Twitter Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter Edited by Peter Xiong Find more of his work…

Minds Behind Maps

1
How to Map Mars (to Land Rovers) - Fred Calef III - MBM#66 1:15:02

1 year ago1:15:02