Rowan Weismiller discusses how the Spexi app uses blockchain technology, and what that means for LayerDrone, a decentralized protocol for drone imagery collection. Learn about NFT flight receipts, smart contracts, and building a pilot-owned data network that sets world-scale standards for aerial imagery.

Key Topics:

• How Spexi integrates blockchain technology into drone imagery collection
• The transition from centralized to decentralized systems and smart contract challenges
• NFTs as flight receipts and mission verification tools
• Creating a world-scale standard for aerial imagery collection
• The LayerDrone Foundation's approach to decentralizing the tech stack

Highlights:

• Spexi maintains flight receipt NFTs as an immutable record of pilot activities
• “If drone manufacturers want to give pilots a good reason to buy their drone, they would create an app on this network and allow people to participate.”

0:00 - Meet Rowan Weismiller

1:45 - How Spexi Uses Blockchain Technology

8:00 - Building a World-Scale Standard for Aerial Imagery

13:00 - Innovation or Idiotic? Game Segment

Hosted by Bryce Bladon (brycebladon.com) | Edited by AJ Fillari (ajfillari.online) | 

Sponsored by Spexi.com | LayerDrone.org

Just as the internet evolved from Web1 to Web2 to Web3, mapping technology is experiencing its own paradigm shift. This episode explores how we've progressed from static maps to real-time navigation to contextual spatial understanding—and why this convergence of technologies represents a foundational shift that most people haven't recognized yet.

Mapping 1.0 (3000 BCE - 1990s): Locate

• Fixed coordinates, static maps, survey-based
• Key milestone: GPS consumer access (1995)

Mapping 2.0 (1996 - 2010s): Navigate

• Interactive wayfinding, real-time updates, universal smartphone access
• Key examples: MapQuest (1996), Google Maps (2005), Waze (2013)

Mapping 3.0 (2010s - Present): Understand

• Temporal intelligence, predictive insights, contextual interpretation
• Multidimensional data layers (environmental, social, economic)
• Key capabilities: ML traffic prediction, AR overlay, computer vision

Highlights: 

• Just as internet evolved from Read (Web1) → Read/Write (Web2) → Read/Write/Own (Web3), maps evolved from Locate → Navigate → Understand
• Mapping 1.0 lasted millennia, 2.0 lasted ~20 years, 3.0 is evolving rapidly as a foundational layer rather than distinct domain

Host: Bryce Bladon | Editor: AJ Fillari | Sponsors: Spexi.com / LayerDrone.org

Bill Lakeland, CEO of Spexi Geospatial, explains how his company is revolutionizing spatial data collection through a decentralized drone network. From flying aerial mapping cameras in airplanes to building the world's largest standardized drone imagery network, Bill discusses why current imagery solutions are broken, how distributed drone operators can capture better data at 50x less cost than satellites, and why blockchain technology became the missing piece for global scale.

Topics:

• How Spexi's decentralized drone network collects imagery at 3cm resolution (10x better than traditional aerial mapping, 50x cheaper than satellites)
• The evolution from expensive airplane-based aerial photography to accessible consumer drone mapping
• How blockchain technology enables "proof of capture" and authentication for decentralized data collection
• Real-world applications: insurance underwriting, 911 emergency response, last-mile delivery optimization, city operations

Notable Quotes:

• "This is all for computer and robot interactions... to make minute by minute operational decisions"
• "The last hundred meter problem" - solving hyperlocal spatial data needs that Google Maps can't address

Guest: Bill Lakeland, CEO & Co-founder of Spexi Geospatial
Hosted by Bryce Bladon 
Edited by AJ Fillari 
Sponsored by Spexi.com / LayerDrone.org

Host Bryce Bladon shares his journey from co-founding CryptoKitties—the blockchain game that became WIRED's mascot and catalyzed the NFT movement—to discovering the transformative potential of drone infrastructure. Bryce explains his career in identifying emerging technologies, why the drone industry represents a fundamental infrastructure upgrade, and how a conversation about blockchain led him to join Spexi Geospatial.

Topics:

• How CryptoKitties (2017) pioneered NFTs and became WIRED's mascot
• Why the drone industry (~$90B) is worth 2x the video game industry
• Pattern recognition: infrastructure + underestimated demand = transformative opportunity
• Why blockchain makes sense for global drone networks (frictionless payments, standardization)

Highlights:

• Technological maturity: consumer drones now match $100K+ equipment
• Regulatory clarity: aviation authorities establishing commercial frameworks
• Demand explosion: agriculture, insurance, urban planning need high-resolution spatial data faster

Hosted by Bryce Bladon. 
Edited by AJ Fillari. 
Sponsored by Spexi.com / LayerDrone.org 

Introducing the DRONE ON podcast: mapping the tech, economics, and people building the world’s largest drone imagery network. 

Hosted by Bryce Bladon.
Edited by AJ Fillari.
Sponsored by Spexi.com and LayerDrone.org