Abhinav | Devcon 8 🌱 | FAFO arc

a photo can show you what a place looks like. getting data that helps a robot understand that place is a different challenge. that's the distinction that makes @vangrid_io worth following in the spatial data space. robots and world models need more than images collected at random. they need useful views of real environments, from ground level details to how spaces are arranged and what has changed since the last capture. Vangrid is building a network that lets people use ordinary phones to collect this kind of data on demand. a specific location gets requested, someone nearby records it, and faces and license plates are blurred on the device before the capture is uploaded. the data is then fingerprinted and anchored on Base, giving buyers a way to verify its recorded details later. there's an interesting connection in the background here too. CEO Robert Brighton has experience with Microsoft's Quantum Computing and HoloLens groups in Europe. HoloLens dealt with how digital systems interpret and interact with physical environments, a relevant area of experience for a network focused on real world spatial data. but can crowdsourced captures become reliable enough for machines to use, not just people to view? that will depend on data quality, coverage, freshness and verification as the network grows. collecting more footage alone won't solve those challenges. Vangrid's web and Android apps have been live since july, so this is already moving beyond an idea on paper. you can explore the network here: explorer.vangrid.io