AI for Earth started as a grants program to fund 81 projects in over 60 countries. It has since expanded to directly work on conservation problems by using machine learning to accelerate tasks like camera trap surveys, land cover mapping, and acoustic wildlife monitoring. However, environmental science depends on vast amounts of data, so AI for Earth is building a Planetary Computer to make petabytes of geospatial data accessible without requiring advanced computing skills. They are seeking feedback on current data sets and tools to continue improving how conservation scientists can access and use environmental data.

1. AI for Earth:
Where we started and where we’re headed
(and why we need your help!)
Dan Morris
Microsoft AI for Earth
aka.ms/aiforearth
aka.ms/dmorris
dan@microsoft.com
gratuitous
pictures of
animals that
aren’t related to
this talk

2. AI for Earth started as a grants
program…
Grants
aka.ms/ai4egrants

3. AI for Earth: our grants program
615
grants
81(ish)
countries
aka.ms/ai4egrants

4. aka.ms/ai4egrantees
AI for Earth: our grantees’ stories

5. …but we saw some common AI problems
among our community, so got our hands in
more directly…
Grants
aka.ms/ai4egrants
Accelerating
conservation with ML
aka.ms/ai4etech

6. AI for Earth data science:
Using ML to help conservation scientists spend less time clicking stuff, and
more time doing conservation.
Accelerating camera trap surveys
github.com/microsoft/cameratraps
Accelerating land cover surveys
aka.ms/landcovermapping
Accelerating aerial wildlife surveys
aka.ms/aerial-wildlife-surveys
Accelerating acoustic wildlife surveys
github.com/microsoft/belugasounds
All the fun animal stuff in one place
aka.ms/biodiversitysurveys

7. …but science runs on data, and environmental
science can’t operate as a bring-your-own-data
universe…
Grants
aka.ms/ai4egrants
Data
aka.ms/ai4edata
Accelerating
conservation with ML
aka.ms/ai4etech

8. aka.ms/ai4edata
AI for Earth: data

9. …but doing stuff with petabytes of data – without a PhD in
distributed computing – isn’t for the faint of heart…
…which brings us to our next adventure:
The Planetary Computer

10. …and we need your help!
We want to know about…
• The geospatial data sets you use
• The formats that delight/annoy you
• The tools you use to access/process data
• Your experiences with the data we host
• Your experiences with the data other clouds host
aiforearthdatasets@microsoft.com

11. AI for Earth:
Where we started and where we’re headed
Dan Morris
Microsoft AI for Earth
aka.ms/aiforearth
aka.ms/dmorris
dan@microsoft.com