On November 1st, I went to my aunt’s workplace called EarthDaily analytics. It is in the Vancouver Convention center right next to BC place. I learned a lot about satellites and the projects that they are launching. I learned was it was like to be in an office all day and go to multiple meetings every day. The company is planning to launch satellites in June. Theses satellites will constantly be taking images of the earth and will be able to compare the images. These images will help give them information about climate change, farming, droughts, and lots of helpful information. At the workplace, my aunt explained to me how satellites work and how satellite imaging works. I attended a couple of meetings, and they talked about potential projects. They are constantly problem solving and learning new things and researching more information. In this post I will share more about my experience at EarthDaily analytics.
- What did you hear, see, smell, and feel in the work environment on Nov. 1st?
I spent my day at EarthDaily analytics with my aunt. The building was an office in downtown Vancouver in the convention Center right next to Canada Place. It was very cool inside the office because the walls were made of glass, making the whole place see through. Each of the meeting rooms had a name. For example, one was called mountain and the other forest, so that you knew which room to go to. The offices had an incredible view of the water and mountains. Everybody was very inviting and friendly. It was quite quiet inside because everybody was working on their computers. One of my favourite things was that the boss had a dog. Its name was churro, and it was adorable. There was another dog too, that was also quite cute. One of my aunt’s coworkers, John, brought some sort of chocolate ball dessert that was rolled in sprinkles, and I thought it tasted quite good. We went out for lunch and then we went for a short walk along the seawall, when we returned to the office it was extremely hot on the inside, but I suppose it was because it was cold outside. I met with one person near the end of the day named Meriam. She explained to me how she ended up at EarthDaily analytics and what courses she took. She grew up in Spain and said that when she was little, she wanted to be a pilot. Her father said it would be too expensive, so she had to think about what else she wanted to do. Then she wanted to be an astronaut and discovered her passion for astronomy. She decided to study physics in university and studied black holes. When she moved to Canada, she decided she wanted to be a software engineer at EarthDaily because she would be able to combine her passion of astronomy with her love for earth and animals. I find her story interesting because she changed her idea of what job she wanted so many times. During the meetings I attended, I noticed that each room had TV for teams’ meetings, a table, a whiteboard, and comfortable chairs. The space itself was not that large but there was a lot of people working there. Overall, it was a workplace packed with interesting sounds, sights, smells, and feelings.
- What about the environment would motivate you to wake up every day to attend work?
One plus about the location of the office is that there is a lot of stores that you could go to for lunch, or you could go for a walk around the seawall. The office also has a beautiful view which is very lovely. In terms of the workplace everybody was welcoming and that would motivate me to attend work daily. On the inside of the office, it is all very visible, and you are surrounded by gorgeous views so that would also be motivating. I attended a couple of meetings, and they talked about satellite imagery, and they were talking about a field test they were debating of running in the following week. There was a lot of problem solving that took place. My aunt said that every day she is learning something new. The fact that you are always learning something new would keep me engaged and keep work interesting. If you already know all the answers, then things become less interesting. Currently, they are trying to train AI to be able to identify tracks on fields. My aunt said that when she started working, she knew almost nothing about AI, and she has learned quite a bit about it from her colleagues. In conclusion, there would always be new things to learn, and it would continue to be interesting.
- What about the work environment would discourage you from waking up every day to attend work?
An important part of this job is attending a lot of meetings. This is something that would discourage me from waking up every day to attend work because sometimes too many meetings become boring. Personally, I did not become bored in any of the meetings because all the information was new to me, but I am sure that after a while they had become less and less captivating. Another thing is that since the room has all glass walls. It is quite easy for people to observe what you are doing, whether you like it or not. Sometimes it might feel as if you do not have much privacy. It is a lot of computer work and there are times when you must brainstorm a lot and so sometimes you might not want to spend so much time at the office. This convention center is in downtown Vancouver, and it takes a while to get there in traffic. This would mean you would need to wake up earlier to arrive at work on time. I had an enjoyable time at the workplace today and it is hard to find too many since there are so many negative things.
- What is ONE thing you found interesting about your workplace visit?
The thing I found the most interesting was learning about satellite imagery. My aunt made a PowerPoint, that I took pictures of a couple of slides. I learned that when satellites take picture at first all you will see is a whole bunch of numbers and then you extract it and see the raw footage which is only red, green, and blue. From there it goes through a whole bunch of processing and then you can see the completed image. There are tons of satellites in space, and most of them work by passing a ground signal and then it knows when to take the image and then it goes around the earth a couple of times. EarthDaily is launching their satellites in June 2024. Their satellites are a bit different because they contain 22 bands whereas the usual ones only have 3+. Different bands (Colours) are used to detect forest fire or agriculture or melting ice and with 22 bands there are lots of possibilities. The satellites they are launching will take pictures everyday making it possible to observe and compare changes in the earth. This is beneficial because then you can observe what climate change trends, or it could help with earthquakes. One of the employees at EarthDaily told me that because of the atmosphere, sometimes the images are not noticeably clear since there is so much pollution. The images then must be cleaned, and this can be difficult. Satellites can take images through dirt, but it there are clouds in the way, the pictures it takes will not be visible. In the image below there is a slide that compares satellite images to pie. The raw downloaded date is like raw apples, it is not tasty, and it is dirty and not very pleasant to look at. The normal image is like a baked pie, it is good and all the data you need it is there. Once you add the analytics, then it is like adding ice cream. It makes the whole thing better. I liked how she compared it to a pie because it makes it easier to understand when it is something in everyday life. I found it interesting to find more about satellites and learn what it is like to be a part of a large project.
