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

09/15/24 • 115 min

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

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

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

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

Previous Episode

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

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

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

Next Episode

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

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

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