Capturing Data on the World

We're all familiar with satellite imagery, but what we might now know is that much of it is out of date. That's because satellites are big and expensive, so there aren't that many of them up in space. As he explains in this fascinating talk, Dan Berkenstock and his team came up with a different solution, designing a cheap, lightweight satellite with a radically new approach to photographing what's going on on Earth.

In 10 minutes, we get an informative walk-through of a very innovative process. But I wonder...

Dan Berkenstock

I wonder why we even have to put anything in outer space to capture data on the world... 

What if we found a better compromise solution, say, something between (a) the clunky, laborious imaging technology of Google Street View and (b) the lightweight satellites, devised by Berkenstock and his team? 

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... using drones, with the best-resolution cameras?

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To me, the issue is less the hardware, and more the systems and algorithms to cobble all the imaging data we collect on the world.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD