3 ms·

Satellite surveillance is being used to gather market-moving information

43 points by jamesjyu 15y ago

apaprocki 15y ago
I've heard the technology is also in use to monitor corporate offices. They can track how many cars are in the parking lot and even what makes/models are showing up to indicate the rate the company is hiring or laying off workers and whether the employees are trading up to pricier models. Similarly, infrared cameras are used to constantly monitor power stations (e.g. smoke stacks, cooling towers) to gather data on what level of capacity they are running and if there are any undisclosed shutdowns. Workers in ports are paid to monitor incoming tankers to record what their draft is to calculate how much oil/whatever they are carrying. If they are resourceful they can even gather intel about what % of different grade materials are on the ships. This is used to track / estimate commodity flows and pricing. Data == $$$
- mc32 15y ago
  So what happens where stores have underground parking or multi-level parking structures (where people seldom park on the topmost floor)? This story is a year old and also it's been commented on here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2124784 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2124784
- wladimir 15y ago
  They can track how many cars are in the parking lot and even what makes/models are showing up to indicate the rate the company is hiring or laying off workers These days, you can also find that out using LinkedIn. No need to go out in the cold or buy something expensive as a satellite anymore :)
jluan 15y ago
This is somewhat unrelated, but speaking of UBS, this video came to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4poQw1mZo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4poQw1mZo It depicts the Ivy League finance-jobs-at-all-costs mentality very well.
joshu 15y ago
Not new - I looked at a company doing this sort of research in the early 2000s.
qthrul 15y ago
This has been going on since the time executive window shades would drop and stock prices would (speculatively) rise. It's just the binoculars work at longer ranges now and remote sensing isn't just for the military anymore.
nivertech 15y ago
If somebody looking for middleware, which allows you to process large amounts of aerial / satellite imagery in realtime - please contact me. Example: https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/8489156/1/CLASTR_demos?h=0460e8#gallery:0 https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/8489156/1/CLASTR_demos?h=046... Email: zvi AT CLASTR DOT com

43 points by jamesjyu 15y ago

I've heard the technology is also in use to monitor corporate offices. They can track how many cars are in the parking lot and even what makes/models are showing up to indicate the rate the company is hiring or laying off workers and whether the employees are trading up to pricier models. Similarly, infrared cameras are used to constantly monitor power stations (e.g. smoke stacks, cooling towers) to gather data on what level of capacity they are running and if there are any undisclosed shutdowns. Workers in ports are paid to monitor incoming tankers to record what their draft is to calculate how much oil/whatever they are carrying. If they are resourceful they can even gather intel about what % of different grade materials are on the ships. This is used to track / estimate commodity flows and pricing. Data == $$$

mc32 15y ago
So what happens where stores have underground parking or multi-level parking structures (where people seldom park on the topmost floor)? This story is a year old and also it's been commented on here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2124784 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2124784
wladimir 15y ago
They can track how many cars are in the parking lot and even what makes/models are showing up to indicate the rate the company is hiring or laying off workers These days, you can also find that out using LinkedIn. No need to go out in the cold or buy something expensive as a satellite anymore :)

jluan 15y ago

This is somewhat unrelated, but speaking of UBS, this video came to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4poQw1mZo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx4poQw1mZo It depicts the Ivy League finance-jobs-at-all-costs mentality very well.

joshu 15y ago

Not new - I looked at a company doing this sort of research in the early 2000s.

qthrul 15y ago

This has been going on since the time executive window shades would drop and stock prices would (speculatively) rise. It's just the binoculars work at longer ranges now and remote sensing isn't just for the military anymore.

nivertech 15y ago

If somebody looking for middleware, which allows you to process large amounts of aerial / satellite imagery in realtime - please contact me. Example: https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/8489156/1/CLASTR_demos?h=0460e8#gallery:0 https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/8489156/1/CLASTR_demos?h=046... Email: zvi AT CLASTR DOT com