Ariel Seidman - Taking on Google Maps, Crowdsourced mapping & Crypto - MBM#58

Ariel Seidman is one of the co-founders of Hivemapper, a company building a map through selling dashcams & paying contributing drivers with the aim of competing with Google Maps. Ariel has a long history of mapping, working on Map & Search at Yahoo in the mid 2000s.Sponsor: PlanetFind more about accessing Planet's high resolution & high frequency imagesAbout ArielTwitterLinkedInHivemapperShownotesElon Musk by Walter Isaacson (Affiliate Link)Econ 102 with Noah Smith: https://www.youtube.com/@ECON102PodcastTimestamps(00:00) - Introduction(02:29) - Sponsor: Planet(03:43) - Ariel describes himself(05:59) - Steve Jobs influence(07:30) - Leaving Yahoo(11:32) - Importance of owning the collected data(14:15) - Hivemapper(25:53) - Incentivizing contributions(30:42) - So, Why crypto?(33:23) - Public distrust of crypto(39:16) - Building trust with contributors(46:40) - Regulations & Privacy(51:14) - Turning images into maps(01:06:04) - Customer base(01:16:26) - Bike support?(01:19:11) - Most interesting users(01:22:31) - Future predictions(01:26:10) - Collaborating with car manufacturers(01:27:47) - Book & podcast(01:31:51) - Changes in JournalismSupport the podcast on PatreonMy video on an introduction to satellite imagesWebsiteMy TwitterPodcast TwitterRead Previous Issues of the NewsletterEdited by Peter XiongFind more of his work