Minds Behind Maps

Benjamin Grant is the founder of Overview, which started as a project of sharing 1 satellite image per day on Instagram, now to an audience of nearly 1.5 million. It has since turned into books, exhibitions and collaboration with huge brands like Louis Vuitton; all in an effort to showcase Earth using satellite images.

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About Benjamin:

• Overview's website
• Daily Overview on Instagram
• LinkedIn

Shownotes

Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.

• Overview by Planetary Collective
• Planetary Collective's Twitter
• Benjamin's Books on Amazon (Affiliate Links)
  • Timelapse (2020)
  • Overview: A New Perspective on Earth (2016)
• Books & Podcast recommendations:
  • Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman (Affiliate Link)
  • Lex Fridman's podcast

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
03:01 Conversation begins: Benjamin describes himself
04:42 What is Overview?
06:50 The Origin Story of Overview
21:43 The serendipitous value of unexpected software use
25:20 Is it Photography or Curation?
32:23 Talking about Climate, without being Doom and Gloom all the time
36:24 Overview's Access to Images; Partnerships & Collaboration with image providers
50:01 Thinking of satellite images like a photographer
54:10 The Louis Vuitton collaboration
01:00:53 Financials: How does a business like Overview run?
01:04:47 Using anything else than optical?
01:09:50 Having a specific audience in mind when sharing something
01:14:17 Changing formats in social media
01:18:28 Feedback from people following Daily Overview
01:21:57 Books and podcast recommendation
01:25:15 Benjamin's collaboration offer to the industry

Feel free to reach out! 
- Website
- My Twitter
- Podcast Twitter
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- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work