Community Voices

Data Challenge Winners: Identifying African crop types using satellite imagery

In May, we announced the winners of the Radiant Earth Computer Vision for Crop Detection from Satellite Imagery data challenge, which took place in February and March 2020. A total of 440 data scientists signed up for the challenge, representing a wide range of educational backgrounds, institutions, and geographies. While five winners were selected, in this Q&A, we sat down with Karim Amer, the First Place Overall Winner of the Data challenge, and the First Place African Citizen winner, Femi Sotonwa. Our goal is to learn more about the people behind the top scores.

Read More

Community Voices, Machine Learning

Olayinka Fadahunsi: Open Data Opportunities and Challenges in Africa

It is our pleasure to introduce Olayinka Fadahunsi, a Data Scientist with Stanbic IBTC Bank in Lagos, Nigeria and focuses on predictive customer models in personal and business banking. A graduate from the University of Lagos with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, he also moonlights as a Data Scientist on Zindi, Africa’s first data science competition platform that is focused on solving the continent’s most pressing problems. As one of the top data scientists on Zindi, Mr. Fadahunsi is enthusiastic to use his data science skills to solve real-world challenges …

Read More

Community Voices

Catherine Nakalembe: Enhancing Agricultural Productivity with Earth Observation

It is our pleasure to introduce Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maryland. Dr. Nakalembe travels the world working with national ministries and regional agencies in East and Southern Africa to monitor agriculture with Earth observation (EO).

As Lead of the NASA Harvest Eastern Africa-Hub program and part of the NASA Harvest and SERVIR Global Applied Science Team, she conducts remote sensing training in the use of EO tools to assess and forecast crop conditions.

Read More

Community Voices, Machine Learning

Hamed Alemohammad: Addressing global challenges with models that are faster

It is our pleasure to introduce Dr. Hamed Alemohammad, Chief Data Scientist with Radiant Earth Foundation. Dr. Alemohammad is a technical leader and researcher with extensive expertise and knowledge in remote sensing and imagery techniques, and statistical and machine learning models for geospatial and big data analytics. With a proven record of developing new algorithms for multi-spectral satellite and airborne observations and analyzing them to infer actionable insights, he is spearheading Radiant MLHub’s open repository of Earth observation training data and ML models.

Radiant MLHub is democratizing ML data and models, and, diversifying EO applications. At its core, Radiant MLHub provides an open source “Hub” for discovery and access of thematic training data and models, which are necessary to innovate for sustainable development globally.

Read More

Community Voices

Awa Thiam: Creating Efficient Sustainable Food Systems with Geospatial Data

It is our pleasure to introduce to you Ms. Awa Thiam, Founder of Lifantou and 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow alumna. Lifantou is an innovative social enterprise connecting smallholder farmers with school canteens in Senegal using geospatial data and tools.

African social entrepreneurs are considered essential for social progress in Africa. Often combining innovative technological solutions to address local societal challenges, these social entrepreneurs are not only creating jobs. Perhaps more interesting, their businesses are transforming all facets of society …

Read More

Community Voices

Beth Roberts: Supporting Equitable Land Tenure Interventions with Geospatial Technology

It is our pleasure to introduce to you Ms. Beth Roberts, an Attorney and Land Tenure and Gender Specialist with Landesa’s Center for Women’s Land Rights. Equipped with a Juris Doctor (JD) and an LL.M in Sustainable International Development Law, Ms. Roberts works to strengthen gender-equal land rights globally.

Founded in 1967, Landesa is an established global land rights organization that provides assistance directly to governments worldwide to promote gender-equitable rights to land through policy and legal advocacy, reform, and implementation. Landesa also engages in ground-level research and project implementation, and works in collaboration with civil society, corporations, global institutions, and initiatives.

Read More

Community Voices

Vanessa Lawrence: Understanding ‘where’ improves decision-making

It is our pleasure to introduce to you Dr. Vanessa Lawrence CB, a senior strategic geospatial advisor to governments, inter-governmental organizations and the private sector. As the longest-serving Director-General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey — Great Britain’s national mapping agency since 1875 — as well as the first woman to hold that position since it was founded in 1791, Dr. Lawrence helped to transform the organization to be a leading provider of geospatial data, before stepping down in 2014, after 14 years at the helm.

Read More

Community Voices

Einar Bjorgo: Earth Observation Data to Build Climate Resilience

Radiant.Earth is pleased to introduce to you Dr. Einar Bjorgo, Director of the Division for Satellite Analysis and Applied Research and UNOSAT’s Programme Manager at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). In this Q&A, Dr. Bjorgo talks about how to contribute to sustainable development and improve disaster responses for small island nations that are experiencing climate change.

Read More