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by csteubs 2188 days ago
A web map that is updated in near-real time. I'm working on a launching a startup (notasatellite.com) that uses a network of cameras on 80,000+ commercial flights to build the most accurate map. Had the idea flying home one day and realized the image quality at 30,000ft is just about as good as a satellite at 300 miles. There are thousands of planes flying around interesting places every day, so 100x the revisit rate w/o needing to spend millions building, launching and maintaining satellites. Original use case was detecting port container volume over 5 minute periods on approach to PDX which proved the feasibility.

I've got ~250 customer commitments with letters of intent so far but need help with some of the ingestion pipeline work. If you have GIS experience in any capacity (as an analyst, developer, enthusiast, etc.) I'd love to chat.
1 comments
dbetteridge 2188 days ago
Are you comfortable talking about the existing pipeline on HN?

Do the cameras geo-tag the images into a GEOTIFF or similar at the edge?

What sort of spatial resolution do you get on the resulting maps?

Any chance of multi-spectral imagery in the future? would be amazing for doing remote-sensing projects

Sounds like a awesome project.

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csteubs 2188 days ago
Thanks! I can definitely elaborate on some of the strategy here. The cameras geo-tag the images at the edge and verify against the flight path using time stamps for accuracy. Resolution is a function of altitude (among other things), but tests have consistently demonstrated <1m resolution at common cruise (35,000ft) and <10cm below 4,000 AGL. Multi-spectral is planned, and the final the prototype is equipped with an IR dome among the other sensors in the array. The entire device is mounted internally on the window which sidesteps the need for FAA clearance or tunnel testing.
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dbetteridge 2187 days ago
Awesome stuff, This sort of data is going to be key for future planning/remote sensing work so great to see an alternative to satellite imagery popping up.

What sort of issues are you having with the ingestion pipeline? I have some amount of GIS/mapping experience and happy to weigh in if I can.

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