[Inconel]

What kind of things are hedge funds using satellite imaging for that they would amount to being a big customer? I'm assuming maybe oil tanker/bulk carrier movements for the commodities market? Or maybe something in the agriculture markets?

[notahacker]

With a bit of creativity it's surprising what can be gleaned from satellite imagery; Orbital Insight produced a report estimating tha China was developing strategic reserves of oil by measuring shadows of oil tanks which rise and fall with volume of oil stored

Agriculture, forestry, construction and mining sectors are particularly amenable to satellite analysis, provided you know where the assets to be monitored are.

[michaelbuckbee]

I've always heard that they're tracking parking lots at retail (Walmart) to predict revenue.

[darkwyng]

But isn't that ALWAYS the example used for how near real-time satellite imagery could be used? As the world urbanizes, this will be less useful. If uber destroys car ownership, this won't be as useful. What are the other markets and use for even more frequent and rapid earth observation? Not sure anyone will pay for it?

[Naritai]

There are other things that are just as / more useful. Ship and container activity at a given port, for example. Number of trucks entering / exiting said port. These can be very useful in the right hands, and are much less likely to be disrupted by Uber anytime soon.

[dotancohen]

Ocean imagery typically isn't downloaded, or if it is then at strikingly low resolution. This provides three times the bandwidth for land-based imagery, as the earth is covered by about 70% water.

[Inconel]

I was thinking that they could be tracking ships going in and out of ports, not necessarily while out to sea.