Become a PlanetWatcher

September 22 AMA session with PlanetWatch CEO

September 22 AMA session with PlanetWatch CEO

In this article you will find the answers that our CEO, Claudio Parrinello, gave in the AMA session on September 22.

Before answering your questions, let me first start with some announcements.

We will soon publish online forms to collect your questions about:

– Technology: questions related to how our systems, blockchain, interfaces, apps operate;

– Environmental: questions related to what we are measuring and learning from your sensor data, what is the difference between pm 2.5 and pm 10, why VOC are important, why do you see an increase in CO2 when you spend a long time in a room.

In the last AMA I mentioned I was going to meet with people who manufacture Airqino, who are also making a prototype for a new Type 2 device. I saw a preliminary device and I think it is very, very appealing. I cannot give you the details so far since we are still discussing them but, broadly speaking, we call it a Type 2 because it measures PM 2.5, has GPS and a solar panel.

We put a new sensor page online to give you the relevant information about our approved sensors.

I mentioned the Stake for the Planet initiative. I signed the contract with our partner and it would work broadly this way: we will jump start a purchase of 1000 trees in sustainable forests that will be the seed of the PlanetWatch Forest. If you participate in our Stake for Planet initiative, for example the one for the month of November 2021, we will create a sub-forest related to stakers of November 2021 and, based on the amount of PLANETS staked there, we will transfer trees from our forest to the community that staked during that month.

We are also closing a partnership with some very advanced air purifiers. You will be able to use your PLANETS to buy these air purifiers. 

Please note, you will not earn Tokens from the air purifiers.

An air purifier can improve your health at home, it does not send data to us and it does not earn tokens.

The new App is still being tested as we speak. We are being very careful in testing, since the App will, amongst other things, manage licenses, therefore it has to be perfect from day one. I expect that next week both the iOS and the Android version will be released.

Regarding the delay in the delivery of the Kaiterra Sendsege sensor, unfortunately this is beyond our control because it’s a customs issue. We just received a big customs which we are going to pay, so this will be sorted in a matter of a few days.

Talking about customs, I believe that it’s worth reminding that there are things which are beyond our control. When you order a sensor, there are Terms and Conditions that you subscribe to: we state that we are not responsible for customs cost after you purchase the sensor. We cannot also be responsible for customs-related delays either. 

Another key subject, if we talk about Airqino, for example, is Internet connectivity by a mobile network coverage. You should not install an Airqino in an area where you know that there is no good network coverage, because it just will not work. In this context, since I know that some problems have occurred, I should stress that each Airqino sensor is tested before delivery, including for SIM connectivity, so the SIM cards work. What can happen is that in specific areas, the SIM is unable to connect to the local network because the signal is not strong enough: in this case, the best we can do for you is to issue a full refund of sensor and license, but that would be only on a case by case basis, it is not a blank check. If the GPS or the SIM card do not work properly in an area with verified network coverage, then we can issue a refund, but if you try to install it in an area which is not suitable, that’s a different story.

Please, do not send direct messages to Mods or managers – including myself – because that would not be an efficient way to communicate with the community. The default procedure is to open a ticket, but please, before you open a ticket, make sure you go through the following steps:

If the answer to your question is contained in one of these, we may not answer.

Here you can find PlanetWatchers’ questions to Claudio

Are there any plans to add Air Filters to the network? My new sensors are alerting me to allergens but I would prefer to contribute to the project by getting an air filter approved by PlanetWatch.

As I have just said, Air Purifiers are coming, in the sense that you will be able to buy them with PLANETS. Over time, we might offer additional devices for specific situations, but we don’t do these things in a rush. 

Aside from BitMart, is there a plan for other exchanges?

Yes, of course. We will soon be listed on Bitmart. I’m waiting for their feedback. Emirex is also coming soon, DeFi on Algorand is about to be launched by a number of projects and there would be more exchanges. 

Please fix the ticket system and improve the activation process of Type 1. This is taking way too long.

We are now working with Zendesk, the market leader. It seems to work fine. As for Airqino activation, we are talking to the manufacturer to improve the process, but it could take some time.

Will licenses be limited in the future? We can expect the Type 4 saturation point to be reached easily in the next few months. The other Types aren’t far behind. When designing a global system, how were the saturation points determined? With PW aspiring to be a global project, it feels like the saturation points are extremely low.

Saturation to me is a goal, not a threat. Maybe the choice of the word “saturation” was not perfect, as it suggests inconvenience. We need at least to attain the saturation figures in order to have a relevant network. Remember that data monetisation depends on the size of the network.

Are there any price changes for the Airqino? I bought the license a few days ago. But I have to wait until it is available, and I heard the delivery date shall begin in 2022. 

For sensors not sold by us, obviously we have no control on prices. For items that we sell, there may be price changes in the future or changes in shipping fees, etc. 

Our commitment to fairness is the following: if you buy your license on a specific date, and you then wish to buy from us a device that goes with that licence, you will get the device at the price effective on the date of your license purchase, assuming you purchase the device when we inform you that we are ready to deliver. 

For example, you buy a Type 1 license on the 10th of October because you want to get an Airqino. You join the waiting list to get a Airqino, which at that time is priced at 1.350 euros plus tax. Then on the 1st of November we raise the price of Airqino. You will still pay 1.350 euros plus tax when we inform you that the device is ready. 

Are PLANETS going to be listed on Binance?

We hope so. I believe it is not unrealistic, in due course.

How do you make money with indoor sensor data? I mean, who cares what the air quality in my bedroom is?

We have just submitted a research proposal on air quality in households, together with a number of academic and corporate partners. These data are very important for public health studies, risk analysis for insurance, and more use cases. 

What is the expected revenue from companies that are going to pay for air data? 

It obviously depends on the specifics of the dataset, plus on data access requests. For example, if we sell outdoor air quality feeds to an online local newspaper: pricing will be based on the number of API calls per month, and so on the size of the audience. For other types of data, like indoor data from an hotel monitoring system, the hotel is paying a price to have a turnkey solution from us: if we use the hotel data and aggregate them with others from other venues worldwide, the pricing will really depend on the specifics of the data set. 

Is it possible to do something with scammers who buy 20-30 or more devices just to sell them for a price 5 times higher on eBay? We are allowed to have 1 device of each type so maybe we should be allowed to buy only 1 device as well.

We will soon set up a threshold for sensors purchased via our website. If you are a business and if you have a legitimate and interesting project, to leverage a large number of sensors, get in touch with us via [email protected] and we will discuss it.

Hello, don’t you think it would be better if PlanetWatch distributed sensors instead of external companies? In my opinion, this would help prevent the pathology that can be observed with awair sensors where many greedy people buy them without limitation only to resell them for a higher price on eBay, which causes a situation in which the sensors instead of going to real planetwatchers go to auctions on auction portals. A very good idea with Type 3 and Type 1 sensors, maybe all sensors should be sold like this? 

Hardware management is a very important question for a project like PlanetWatch. At this time, as a byproduct of the pandemic, the global electronic component market is very unstable so as they say it’s a sellers market. It is difficult to procure components, prices can shoot up, some people would exploit this, etc. We are trying to mitigate all this by buying in bulk and then selling directly to you without sudden price changes, but unfortunately we cannot provide this service effectively for all sensor types, at least at the moment. Managing customs, etc, is a big job as you have seen, and I cannot put too many resources on that and leave other activities behind.  Believe me, we are putting a lot of thought and work on this challenge and results will come.

In some countries, there are restrictions on payment systems that you have provided. Will there be alternative payment methods to buy a license?

I really hope that very soon it will be possible to buy globally with PLANETS.

Keep watching our Planet and stay tuned for more announcements coming soon!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *