Navigate Data Vault: Leveraging Crowd-Sourced Aerial Data for a Constantly Refreshing Map Application

Navigate Data Vault Allows Drone Users to Upload Images for Rewards

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Data contribution and app creation platform Navigate has opened its first Data Vault, providing a global audience of drone users with the ability to upload their drone data and gain rewards in the form of Navigate’s native utility token, NVG8.

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This crowdsourced data will serve to power Navigate Maps, the platform’s constantly-refreshing mapping application.

Navigate’s Data Vaults function as storage space for predefined, high-quality data sets uploaded by the Navigate community. This data is then utilized in the creation of new decentralized applications, or “dapps.” The platform’s new Aerial Imagery Data Vault uses uploaded drone-captured images to create high-resolution and recent aerial images, which can be viewed via the platform’s first dapp, Navigate Maps.

Navigate intends to launch additional Data Vaults in the coming months, allowing users to upload other forms of data sets, such as images and footage from dash cams and smartphones. These additional data sets will provide Navigate Maps with sources of detailed street-level imagery.

“The quality data and high-resolution imagery that we collect from our community worldwide will allow us to offer unrivaled levels of detail within Navigate Maps,” said Navigate Chairman Amir Husain. “These rich mapping insights have a myriad of powerful applications that appeal to a broad base of users, from the enterprise to the individual level. The exciting user experiences that a map application like Navigate Maps are near-endless.”

Upon uploading data to the Navigate platform, users are rewarded with the platform’s native utility token, NVG8. This token can be used to bootstrap network effects, facilitate governance, and access products and services across the Navigate ecosystem. NVG8 will be made completely transferable for users following the end of Navigate’s Token Generation Event. Users who connect a wallet to the platform will be able to manage the reward system shown on their personal upload dashboard, take part in a public leaderboard showcasing and rewarding top contributors, and receive access to an alpha version of Navigate Maps.

“We designed Navigate to empower people to take an active role in the creation of new solutions and products, allowing users to leverage their data for exciting applications, like Navigate Maps, while also being rewarded for their contributions,” said Navigate’s Director of Growth, Amanda Center. “While we are just at the beginning, the launch of our first data vault marks a significant step towards building the decentralized products of the future with our community.”

This new announcement comes after Navigate’s closing of $7.6m in a Seed round this past June, with the funding led by Distributed Global, and contributions from Alan Howard, Kraken Ventures, Jez Mohideen, Outlier Ventures, and more. At the same time as the Seed round, SparkCognition Founder and CEO Amir Husain and Digital Currency Group Director of Investments Rumi Morales were appointed as founding members of the Navigate Board of Directors.

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.