Minds Behind Maps

Ep 4 - Aravind Ravichandran - Earth Observation markets & value propositions

Episode Summary

Aravind Ravichandran is an independent consultant helping multiple businesses work with Earth Observation data. We talk about how Aravind's background as a software engineer helps him in his consulting work and how he ended up in space sector in the first place, some of the current big picture aspects of the field and Aravind is kind enough to help me understand a bit more about the Indian EO market.

Episode Notes

Welcome to the 4th episode of this experiment!

This was a insightful conversation talking about the big picture of where the Earth Observation market is and might be heading in the next few years.

About Aravind:

• Aravind's Twitter: https://twitter.com/aravind_raves
• Aravind's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aravindravichandran/
• TerraWatch Space consulting: https://www.terrawatch.space/services
• TerraWatch Space podcast: https://anchor.fm/terrawatch-space

Time stamps:

• 04:05 : Aravind presents himself
• 13:25 : How a software background helped in Aravind's consulting work
• 17:00 : Explaining the field at a high level / low level
• 21:50 : Helping companies get "out of the Earth Observation bubble"
• 25:20 : Working with non-geospatial industries that need Earth Observation data
• 31:45 : How to manage expectation for people not familiar with geospatial data?
• 38:10 : Is the SaaS (Software as a Service) model leading to some of rise in funding?
• 41:00 : IaaS; Insights as a Service instead of SaaS
• 46:25 : The relationship between Big Tech and Earth Observation
• 53:10 : The iPhone moment in Earth Observation
• 1:00:00 : Public / Private sector interaction
• 1:12:20 : The value of working on the boring stuff
• 1:17:25 : The Indian EO market
• 1:28:35 : Trying to understand why the West hears little about the Indian scene
• 1:31:00 : Aravind's podcast: TerraWatch Space
• 1:41:25 : Book recommendations!

Links towards topics in the discussion:

• Kerbal Space Program: https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/
• PwC: https://www.pwc.com/
• Planet acquiring Google's Terra Bella constellation in 2017: https://spacenews.com/planet-to-acquire-terra-bella-from-google/
• Indian Space Research Organization: https://www.isro.gov.in/
• Pixxel: https://www.pixxel.space/
• Tim Ferris Show: https://tim.blog/podcast/

Book recommendations:

• Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

As always feel free to reach out to me if you have anything to say about the podcast:

• minds.behind.maps@gmail.com
• or through Twitter: @MaxLenormand

Thanks for taking the time to listen :)