Kuo-Yu 'Slayer' Chuang: Leveraging Taiwan's Unique Infrastructure to Support Disaster Response - MBM#39
03/15/23 • 116 min
Kuo-Yu 'Slayer' Chuang is the co-founder of GeoThings, a Taiwanese company leveraging SMS to share GPS location, images & any useful information for disaster response. He was also on the board of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team; and has focused on applying mapping to supporting humanitarian endeavours mostly in Asia.
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Episode Sponsor: GeoAwesomeness & UP42 EO Hub
Geoawesomeness
UP42
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Support the podcast on Patreon
About Slayer:
Shownotes:
- Cell Tower data source (used in the intro animation): OpenCellid
- GeoThings
- CrisisMappers
- Asian Development Bank
- Open GeoSMS Standard
- HOT: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
- ITRI: Industrial Technology Research Institute
- Line
- Book Podcast (and games) recommendations:
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:20) Conversation starts: Slayer describes himself
(07:47) Tech, Preparation & Emergency Situations
(12:18) Deciding what to work on
(16:56) From Idea to Application
(22:03) Focusing on Humanitarian Applications
(26:17) Apps are only useful if people have phones
(31:42) Mobile App or SMS?
(33:30) Aggregating data (Command center)
(36:25) Dealing with Sensitive Data
(40:25) Emergency phone notifications
(42:27) Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
(48:54) State of OpenStreetMap (& open source) in Taiwan
(53:44) Language barrier in Open Source & Programming
(58:26) Line, the most popular app in Taiwan
(01:05:55) Tech literacy
(01:11:06) Taiwan's jump directly to mobile
(01:16:22) Social Enterprise Company
(01:19:40) The Incentives of a Social Entreprise
(01:24:19) GeoThing's Business Model
(01:27:46) Long term support
(01:36:42) Geopolitics of working in Taiwan
(01:47:57) Book/podcast (& games) recommendations
(01:52:04) Sidetrack conversation on Xbox's business model
(01:54:49) Launching a Patreon
Support on Patreon
- Website
- My Twitter
- Podcast Twitter
- Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter
- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work
Kuo-Yu 'Slayer' Chuang is the co-founder of GeoThings, a Taiwanese company leveraging SMS to share GPS location, images & any useful information for disaster response. He was also on the board of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team; and has focused on applying mapping to supporting humanitarian endeavours mostly in Asia.
---
Episode Sponsor: GeoAwesomeness & UP42 EO Hub
Geoawesomeness
UP42
---
Support the podcast on Patreon
About Slayer:
Shownotes:
- Cell Tower data source (used in the intro animation): OpenCellid
- GeoThings
- CrisisMappers
- Asian Development Bank
- Open GeoSMS Standard
- HOT: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
- ITRI: Industrial Technology Research Institute
- Line
- Book Podcast (and games) recommendations:
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:20) Conversation starts: Slayer describes himself
(07:47) Tech, Preparation & Emergency Situations
(12:18) Deciding what to work on
(16:56) From Idea to Application
(22:03) Focusing on Humanitarian Applications
(26:17) Apps are only useful if people have phones
(31:42) Mobile App or SMS?
(33:30) Aggregating data (Command center)
(36:25) Dealing with Sensitive Data
(40:25) Emergency phone notifications
(42:27) Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
(48:54) State of OpenStreetMap (& open source) in Taiwan
(53:44) Language barrier in Open Source & Programming
(58:26) Line, the most popular app in Taiwan
(01:05:55) Tech literacy
(01:11:06) Taiwan's jump directly to mobile
(01:16:22) Social Enterprise Company
(01:19:40) The Incentives of a Social Entreprise
(01:24:19) GeoThing's Business Model
(01:27:46) Long term support
(01:36:42) Geopolitics of working in Taiwan
(01:47:57) Book/podcast (& games) recommendations
(01:52:04) Sidetrack conversation on Xbox's business model
(01:54:49) Launching a Patreon
Support on Patreon
- Website
- My Twitter
- Podcast Twitter
- Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter
- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work
Previous Episode
Benjamin Grant: Generating Awe and Using Satellite Images to Inspire Millions - MBM#38
Benjamin Grant is the founder of Overview, which started as a project of sharing 1 satellite image per day on Instagram, now to an audience of nearly 1.5 million. It has since turned into books, exhibitions and collaboration with huge brands like Louis Vuitton; all in an effort to showcase Earth using satellite images.
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Episode Sponsor: OpenCage
Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API.
They have a generous Free trial you can sign up to!
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About Benjamin:
Shownotes
Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.
- Overview by Planetary Collective
- Planetary Collective's Twitter
- Benjamin's Books on Amazon (Affiliate Links)
- Timelapse (2020)
- Overview: A New Perspective on Earth (2016)
- Books & Podcast recommendations:
- Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman (Affiliate Link)
- Lex Fridman's podcast
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
03:01 Conversation begins: Benjamin describes himself
04:42 What is Overview?
06:50 The Origin Story of Overview
21:43 The serendipitous value of unexpected software use
25:20 Is it Photography or Curation?
32:23 Talking about Climate, without being Doom and Gloom all the time
36:24 Overview's Access to Images; Partnerships & Collaboration with image providers
50:01 Thinking of satellite images like a photographer
54:10 The Louis Vuitton collaboration
01:00:53 Financials: How does a business like Overview run?
01:04:47 Using anything else than optical?
01:09:50 Having a specific audience in mind when sharing something
01:14:17 Changing formats in social media
01:18:28 Feedback from people following Daily Overview
01:21:57 Books and podcast recommendation
01:25:15 Benjamin's collaboration offer to the industry
Feel free to reach out!
- Website
- My Twitter
- Podcast Twitter
- Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter
- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work
Next Episode
Renny Babiarz: Exposing China's Nuclear Testing - MBM#40
Renny Babiarz is a former Analyst at the NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) and the VP of Analysis & Operations at AllSource Analysis, a company focused on providing geospatial Intelligence investigations. One of the angles of Renny's work is better understanding China's Nuclear testing using satellite imagery, Open Source Intelligence methods & location data.
---
Episode Sponsor: OpenCage
Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API.
They have a generous Free trial you can sign up to!
---
Support the podcast on Patreon
About Renny:
Shownotes
- AllSource
- 2021 NPR Report “A New Tunnel is Spotted At a Chinese Nuclear Test Site”
- Jeffrey Lewis Interview
- Washington Post Chine Nuclear Missile Silo Article
- Renny's book
- Books & Podcast recommendations:
- The Realignment
- Making Sense by Sam Harris
- Industry (could not find it!)
- China Built the Bomb by John W Lewis & Litai Xue (Affiliate Link)
- Flipping the tables, Max's book & podcasts:
- Lex Fridman
- Joe Rogan
- Kanye West on Lex Fridman
- “La Horde du Contrevent” by Alain Damasio (Affiliate Link)
Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
02:51) Conversation starts: Renny's Journey with the NGA
(12:45) AllSource's work
(15:55) Defining Open & Proprietary
(18:42) Deciding which Analysis to publish
(23:12) Researching China's Nuclear Program
(29:43) How Projects Get Started
(34:39) Starting from Known Areas of Interest
(37:50) Automating Change Detection
(42:20) The Importance of Communicating Nuance
(48:13) Misinformation vs Disinformation
(51:21) The Hard Execrcise of Social Media Communication
(55:21) Twitter
(57:08) Sources & 'Peer Review'
(01:03:19) Working with Outside Analysts
(01:10:03) Teaching Geospatial Intelligence
(01:13:09) Teaching Soft Skills & Communications
(01:18:33) Renny's book
(01:23:52) Importance of staying hands on
(01:27:59) Micromanaging
(01:30:23) Book and podcast recommendation
(01:35:32) Flipping the tables: Max's Book & Podcast recommendation
Support the podcast on Patreon
- Website
- My Twitter
- Podcast Twitter
- Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter
- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work
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