With EOfactory.ai, domain experts can focus on their domain-related workflows and use automation for some of the other repeatable tasks such as downloading imagery and preprocessing.

1. Another challenge I faced was
the expensive cost of acquiring
such software. I saw this oppor-
tunity and gap in this market
segement and launched EOfac-
tory.ai as a unique virtual Earth
Observation ‘factory’ on the
Cloud connecting different stake-
holders. With SAAS (software as
a service) as the driver from the
start, we built a powerful and
scalable platform which allows
for scaling up of processing. The
goal was to bring in the state of
the art technology framework
that everyone could access and
integrate to their workflows.
We connect to multiple data
sources and download them
to shared workspaces which
everyone can collaborate on to
derive insights. We have built
the architecture to support and
run our AI/ML algorithms and
processing at the data source
to avoid unnecessary transfer
of huge data volumes. It also
protects the movement of data
within the network.
We also allow users to build
their own AI models and run
EOfactory.ai: Now everyone can
apply AI in Earth Observation
(From Pixels to Intelligence)
wave, GHG, aerial platforms and
drone sensors. With satellites,
drones and aerial platforms
being launched in global markets
almost every month, how could
we contribute to this unprec-
edented amount of data going
to the users? One known fact is
that many geospatial experts are
domain experts, not programing
experts; hence, we envisioned a
platform that could help these
professionals maximize the
benefits of Earth Observation
with Remote Sensing + GIS
+ Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Business Intelligence
(BI) dashboards.
The origin of EOfactory.
ai's concept goes back to
the days when I tried using
desktop-based GIS and
image processing software
to generate relevant insights
for an intuitive and visually
appealing dashboard. The chal-
lenge was to find the right icons
to click in an ocean of menus
and options to select, without
having the option to display
such results on an opti-
mized dashboard.
Can you tell us about
EOfactory.ai and how it
is different from other
similar platforms in the
market?
Data is everywhere and it is
increasing every day at an
exponential rate, especially
with the introduction of new
optical, hyperspectral, micro-
2 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | July-August 2021
INTERVIEW
From data acquisition and processing, all the way to building BI dashboards, we have
come a long way from a small-scale project solution provider to a global platform.
We support both small/medium commercial clients and large enterprises, including
government institutions, in translating big data pixels into actionable intelligence, says
EOfactory.ai CEO Abhay Mittal, in an interview to Geospatial World.

2. them on our EOfactory.ai plat-
form, which gives researchers
the confidence of protecting
their algorithms and models of
their own research work. With
EOfactory.ai, domain experts can
focus on their domain related
workflows and use automation
for some of the other repeat-
able tasks such as downloading
imagery and preprocessing.
We built a time-series
management framework with
an integrated open data cube
storage. Time series analytics
together with Machine Learning
capabilities allows us to support
multiple workflows in sectors
like agriculture, forestry, tele-
communications, defense,
etc. From data acquisition
and processing all the way to
building BI dashboards, we
have come a long way from a
small-scale project solution
provider to a global platform
supporting both small/medium
commercial clients and large
enterprises, including govern-
ment institutions, in translating
big data pixels into actionable
intelligence. By operating on
the Cloud, we are able to scale
up and provide processing
power and efficiency much
faster than traditional software.
Using Kubernetes, we are able to
cluster and scale up micro-ser-
vices for specific workflows.
Can you tell us about
some of the sectors in
which you are currently
operating, and the areas
you will be targeting in
the near future?
We are currently focusing on
agriculture and forestry sectors
using both satellite and drone
data. We have also been doing
some research and develop-
ment work for construction and
defense sectors. Although our
platform caters to a wide range of
industries, it is important that we
stay focused on a couple of areas
and deep dive into those sectors.
Building workflows specifically
to solve problems in agriculture
and forestry sectors allows us to
deliver solutions at the national
level. We have built a community
framework under which we will
be launching programs for the
communities to contribute to the
development of other custom
workflows. Our technology team
is composed of data scientists in
AI, Remote Sensing, GIS and BI
to put it all together for our users.
Any functionality that is required
for a specific workflow can be
built and delivered in weekly
sprints in an agile framework
methodology that is applied in
the platform.
We derive insights into object
detection and feature extraction
as the two main drivers of the
platform. Identifying multi-ob-
jects such as solar panels, planes,
ships, cars, swimming pools,
trees and extracting features
such as building footprints,
landuse, landcover, crops,
etc. are the building blocks of
the workflows and models we
establish for clients to extract
value in an automated way from
the vast source of relevant data.
Prediction and risk analysis are
two key areas we are currently
working on.
How does EOfactory
provide customized
solutions to different
stakeholders in the
agriculture sector?
EOfactory has developed its
own workflows for the agri-
culture sector by generating
automated farm level data,
which is built using proprietary
algorithms, and then gener-
ating monthly, fortnightly or
weekly analytics on these farm
level data. We have also inte-
grated data capture through
field surveys to the display of
analytics on the dashboard.
Through this application and
the use of geo-tagging, we
are able to collect details of
farmers, plots, crops and their
conditions. This information is
connected to a web dashboard
that provides a synoptic view of
all field data that helps in staff
management and monitoring.
These solutions can be used by
fertilizer, insurance, seed or
other agencies which require
farm monitoring. We are also
exploring workflows to increase
security and transparency at
farm level by developing a frame-
work for implementing larges-
cale blockchain technology.
July-August 2021 | www.gwprime.geospatialworld.net | 3
With EOfactory.
ai, domain experts can
focus on their domain
related workflows
and use automation
for some of the other
repeatable tasks
such as downloading
imagery and
preprocessing.