
Community Voices, Machine Learning
Data Challenge Winner: Q&A with Christian Ayala Lauroba
A conversation with the First Place winning team’s lead of the AI4FoodSecurity Data Challenge.
Hosted on ESA’s AI4EO platform, the AI4FoodSecurity data challenge brought together participants worldwide to find the best machine learning/AI solutions for crop identification using Planet Fusion data and Sentinel-1 and -2 data. The challenge covered two areas of interest, Germany and South Africa, with high-quality cadastral data on field boundaries and crop types as ground truth input. It was organized by Planet, TUM/DLR, and Radiant Earth from 4 October to 19 December 2021. 188 competed for a chance to win one of the fantastic prizes that included internships, subscriptions to various platforms, and scholarships. In this Q&A, we sat down with Christian Ayala Lauroba from Spain, the leader of the team that won first place in both the …