D.C. geospatial mapping company Impact Observatory, which uses artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to power its technology, has raised a nearly $6 million seed round to bring its product to market — and multiply in size.
The company taps an AI-driven algorithm and real-time data to build digital maps that it plans to pitch to other businesses, nonprofits and governments to better track and understand the world’s land and environmental shifts. Yes, that world currently has Google Maps and the like, but Impact Observatory officials said those don’t indicate how much of an area may be forest or wetlands — or neither anymore because it’s been turned into condominiums in the past year.
Instead, they hope to be an alternative to the U.S. Geological Survey’s most recent national map, last updated in 2019, to help those with little expertise in either AI or space evaluate satellite imaging data to make better decisions about land use.
“We teach computers to turn satellite images…
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