Zhuang-Fang Nana Yi: Satellite Imagery to Solve Local Problems - MBM#45

Zhuang-Fang Nana Yi is a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Regrow, though today's conversation is about her story from going to school not speaking the language, to mapping rubber tree plantations and ultimately using global satellite imagery methods to solve local problems.

Episode Sponsor: OpenCage

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About Zhuang-Fang:

Shownotes

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Timestamps

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:17) - Sponsor: OpenCage

(03:57) - Conversation Begins: Zhuang-Fang presents herself

(07:34) - Nana's Story

(13:01) - Going to a Chinese school without speaking Chinese

(17:57) - From wanting to be a doctor to geography

(22:57) - Picking up English

(28:27) - Working with Limited English

(30:20) - Rubber Trees: A Geopolitical Tool

(36:35) - Working with Local Governments

(38:24) - Process for change

(42:38) - Navigating financial incentives

(47:32) - International collaboration vs Chinese gov

(55:41) - Work as a data engineer

(58:20) - On the ground vs Satellites

(01:01:06) - Data alone doesn't lead to action

(01:02:28) - Art

(01:09:55) - Art in China vs US

(01:12:23) - AI Art

(01:17:38) - Book & Podcast Recommendations

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- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work

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Can Duruk: Felt, Making Maps Fun & Collaborative - MBM#46

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Jed Sundwall: Making Open Data Actually Accessible (in a world with ChatGPT) - MBM#44