Why Matterport is Creating a Spatial Data Moat (& Why That's Good for MSPs)10864
Pages:
1
 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
 Screen Grab courtesy of Intricity101 YouTube Channel (2 July 2018) Please see this video ... Video: What is a Data Moat? Video courtesy of Intricity101 YouTube Channel (2 July 2018) Why Matterport is Creating a Spatial Data Moat (and Why That's Good for Matterport Service Providers) Hi All, Matterport is creating a spatial data moat around its platform that will be key to raising the next round of venture capital and fulfilling Matterport's vision of "digitizing and indexing the built world." [That spatial data moat is also good for Matterport Service Providers (MSP). More on this below.] [Please watch the excellent, short video above for more about digital data moats.] Today, we might think that the visual tour - the walk around experience - is the most important feature of a Matterport Digital Twin. As "the leading spatial data company digitizing and indexing the built world," Matterport will scale exponentially, and the spatial data that Matterport captures that will be considered way more valuable. If someone asked you to explain how 130+ 3D/360 virtual tour platforms – or 50+ 3D/3560º Cameras – are different today, you might compare: ✓ shooting ✓ processing ✓ producing ✓ viewing ✓ sharing Less obvious is to compare the spatial data, if any, captured by - or used by - the 3D/360 hosting platforms or 3D/360º cameras. Only a handful of platforms create and use depth data and the one that has the most depth data - by a long shot - is Matterport as summarized in their media release About Matterport boiler plate as: "the leading spatial data company digitizing and indexing the built world." Instead of water to fill a moat - deep and wide - around a castle to keep the occupants safe from attack, substitute the spatial data captured by the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, Leica BLK360 and now the data created by Matterport's machine learning/Artificial Intelligence, Cortex. Matterport is building this spatial data moat - deep and wide - around its platform before other companies can do that. Plus, competitors will likely not be able to catch up to the volume of spatial data and use cases of that spatial data. To maintain that competitive advantage, it's likely that Matterport wants to scale quickly to dominate all verticals, globally. Thus, expect another large venture capital raise by Matterport: likely by end of 2Q2020; if not sooner. It takes a lot of money to dominate at scale: ✓ internationally (geography and language) ✓ vertically Uses Cases for Spatial Data There are many uses cases for the Matterport data - known and yet-to-be-determined. Here are three examples: 1. Floor Plans - a Matterport API that enables realtor.com, for example, to serve up floor plans for listings. Imagine a day when the Matterport database is so vast that the major of listings can automatically include a floor plan. Matterport's floor plan API would enable realtor.com to have something that zillow.com does not offer. If Matterport's competitor offers the same service, but with one-tenth the floor plans, which API would you want first? Matterport's bigger spatial data moat protects it from competitors. 2. Carpet Versus Tile versus Hardwood Floors – I could imagine that floor covering companies would be interested in knowing which houses had carpet and what percentage that the floor is covered in carpet. While there may be virtual tours of a ton of homes, its the data that matters to the floor covering companies and, using Matterport Cortex, the process can be automated. 3. Mortgage underwriting - As I predicted three years ago this WGAN Forum discussion: ✓ How to Get a Mortgage Loan in Three Days with Matterport Spatial Data Matterport Service Providers Earlier I mentioned that the Matterport spatial data moat is valuable to Matterport Service Providers too. That's because when virtual tours start to experience exponential growth, it's the digital twin - with the scan data - that will have the most value: not necessarily virtual tours shot with a 360º camera. Plus, as Matterport expands the feature set of its digital twins, it will take a Pro to understand all the features and how to implement them on behalf of clients. (360º tour tours will continue to have value in the eco-system: but those that know how to shoot - and do post productions with Matterport - will see the demand for our services increase (and compensation will increase as the demand starts to exceed the supply of professional digital twin content creators.)] Unclear is how Matterport Service Providers will be compensated for the use of the spatial data collected. Matterport would be wise to: ✓ enable a shared revenue model ✓ enable the content creator to Opt In to a spatial data licensing program ✓ enable Opt Out by folders (of digital twins) and individual digital twins [In February 2016 - four years ago – 360Cities.net and Getty Images pioneered an opt-in shared revenue model for 360º content creators.) If Matterport excludes content creators from a revenue share model, it's likely to experience whiplash as professional digital twin content creators switching to other visual storytelling solutions. Sharing revenue with photographers will enable Matterport to scale data collection faster by providing photographers with a new revenue stream for our work. Investors will want to know Matterport's plan for compensating digital twin content creators so that Matterport can scale exponentially with the enthusiastic support of photographers: avoiding the misstep of previous Matterport leadership. While Matterport might claim that derivative works do not require compensation to photographers, Matterport would succeed faster by included the digital twin content creators in a revenue share model. Plus, content creators will know which models that derivative works will be okay and which clients will go ballistic if a derivative work is created and licensed for sale: notably $5 million pocket listings. As Matterport Director of Accounts Brandon Donatelli told me in this WGAN-TV Live at 5 show on December 19, 2019, "we're chasing 100 millions of models and we're going to need everybody that's willing to help us get there, so we look forward to again what the future brings for all of us." In this earlier WGAN-TV Live at 5 show on July 11, 2019, then Matterport Chief Marketing Officer Chris Bell told me, "Well, there's a long distance between two million spaces and 100 million. I think the answer is twofold. The product and the user experience has a lot to do with getting there and getting to hyper growth and velocity, so I'll start there. Until [Matterport CEO RJ Pittman] RJ's arrival, our Matterport offering was fairly verticalized and fairly focused on the real estate vertical specifically, and that has carried the company and helped us build the company to date, but we see it much bigger opportunity when it comes to the entire built world." As I wrote three years ago in the WGAN Forum in this commentary, titled - Exponential Growth Coming Soon to Matterport, "Once these essential tools are public, we will begin seeing amazing possibilities become reality in ways that we have imagined and can not even imagine – all because of the data that the Matterport Camera captures. That data is (truly) the MAGIC of Matterport." I still stand by what I wrote three years ago in this WGAN Forum post: "I see Matterport Scenes as helping grow demand for scans done by professionals with professional tools. Matterport Scenes will amplify the message for what’s possible with depth data. Some of us can remember black-and-white-analog-transistor-TVs and “mobile” phones quaintly called bag phones because they came in a big and very heavy bag." "“The ENIAC [computer] … occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons,” according to the Smithsonian. In today’s dollars, it likely cost $50+ million. Today, that computer is within 3 feet of us 24/7. We call it a smartphone and it is likely thousands of times even more powerful than that 1940s computer." "As exciting as everything we have seen from Matterport, we still may be in the ENIAC days of 3D-VR-360 and related tech known and unknown on planets known and yet to be discovered." "Everyone once in awhile, we need to step back from our Cameras – our Matterport Service Provider businesses – and know that we all are on the road to greatest. And remember, even the Autobond is likely to experience a bump in the road now and then. ..." What are your thoughts on Matterport creating a spacial data moat and how this affects your Matterport Service Provider business? Best, Dan More Reading on Digital Data Moats ✓ Intricity101 (July 2018) Data Moat Strategy ✓ CB Insights - 19 Business Moats That Helped Shape The World’s Most Massive Companies ✓ Techcrunch 27 March 2018) Data is not the new oil ✓ Heartbeat (25 April 2019) Synthetic Data: A bridge over the data moat ✓ Andressen Horowitz (19 May 2019) The Empty Promise of Data Moats |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
|
KeithMitchell private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Dan, I’m a newcomer to Matterport and so I struggled a bit to keep up with this article that you obviously wrote with great excitement, but I get the idea. Still, as a newcomer, I must ask a question that most of the others on this forum may already know: Who owns the data that we capture when we scan and upload to Matterport? It seems that the answer to that question is central to knowing whether Matterport even has a right to use the data for other purposes beyond their original intention, and also to whether Matterport service providers have a right to be compensated for the use of the data beyond what they charge their clients. Again, I know I’m not up to speed on all things Matterport (and probably haven’t read licensing agreements very carefully) but if you can answer that one question or point me to where I can find the answer, I may be able to share your excitement and vision of our futures as MSP’s. |
||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KeithMitchell Thank you for your thoughtful post. And, you ask a great question: Quote: Originally Posted by KeithMitchell While there has been a ton of discussion in the We Get Around Network Forum on this topic, it is still unclear to me. My best guess is that while we own the copyright to the photography, Matterport likely takes the position that the data is a derivative work and that it can use the derivative work as it wishes, without our permission. Quote: Originally Posted by KeithMitchell As far as I know, Matterport has never answered either of your questions: just that we own the copyright to our tours (which, does NOT address the data ownership and potential use of the data). Also, last time that I looked at the Matterport Terms of Service that governs the 2D schematic floor plans that it creates at an additional charge, that it reserves the right to use these floor plans without requesting additional permission or providing compensation. You have identified the exact issues: ownership of the data and use of the data. While I believe that Matterport will use the data in expected - and unexpected ways - I also believe that they will need to offer an Opt In and shared licensing arrangement for the use of the data/derivative works, or the Community will go nuts. It would be much better for Matterport to provide clarify on data ownership and usage AND to enable Matterport Digital Content Creators to have an additional revenue stream from the use of "our" content. Your additional thoughts or questions? Thanks again for your insightful questions. Best, Dan |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
|
|
KeithMitchell private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Thanks for the reply, Dan. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. This is just my opinion, but based on what you have presented I would not expect Matterport to create opt-ins for service providers for any additional use cases that generate new revenue streams for them from the scanned data. There are certainly two sides to every story and I may be missing something, but here are my reasons: 1. MSP's are already getting what we paid for and Matterport is not obligated beyond that. 2. It's just raw data that is leftover of another, completed business process. These additional use cases that build a "data moat" are all based on Matterport leveraging their own intellectual property. It is all their R&D, their software, their product development, their marketing, their effort. Sure, the data that comes from MSP's and direct customers (realtors, construction businesses, etc.) as the result of their original purpose in creating virtual tours is the raw material that they need, but it is just that, raw material that is the by-product of another process and they are just taking advantage of the opportunity. Here is an analogy. Let's say a phone company has a database of all of their phone call data (time of day, length of call, distance of call, geographic areas called, etc) for thirty years. And let's say that they mine that data and come up with use cases for products they can sell based on that data and how they analyze and manipulate that data. Do they owe the customers who made the phone calls a share of the profits from their new products? Are they obligated to provide an opt-in to the customers? Again, I'm just a relative newcomer and you are an industry luminary, so I'm probably missing something, but that is how it looks to these eyes. |
||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KeithMitchell Thank you for your additional insight on a challenging topic. Quote: Originally Posted by KeithMitchell While I would agree with you in one use case; I (respectfully) disagree regarding others. Applying your analogy to Matterport, it's fine with me if Matterport does machine learning using our models to train Matterport Cortex AI on what is a refrigerator or what angle do most photographers consider the beauty-shot of the kitchen. (Others might disagree.) Where I disagree is the use of the data that is specific to one of my models. For example, using the data from my Matterport 3D Tour for 123 Main Street, Atlanta to auto-generate a floor plan to service up in an API to realtor.com. Matterport should - and will - compensate Matterport Digital Content Creators for the use of the data, in this example. As I shared above, Matterport should - and will - offer an Opt In for the use of "our" data for creating derivative works that generate revenue for Matterport. Matterport should - and will - offer us to Opt In for shared revenue and also the ability to Opt Out for specific folders (group of Matterport Tours) or specific Matterport tours. In the short run, Matterport could use "our" data without compensation, BUT. A BIG BUT, that will upset - as it should - Matterport Digital Twin Content Creators for the use of "our" data to generate revenue. If Matterport thinks this through - and I'm sure that they will - in the long-term, much better to share revenue in order to bring more Matterport Digital Twin Content Creators into the platform and win the hearts/minds of existing Matterport Digital Twin Content Creators (whom have a long history with Matterport being sneaky. Given that there is new management, Matterport new management will recognize the opportunities and best long-term strategies for all. It's about making all boats rise: not just some boats rise. This is a complex and challenging puzzle. We're still in the very early days of data collection to get to scale where it is possible to monetize data in expected and unexpected ways. Matterport will do the right thing for its service providers because it is in the long-term best interest of Matterport to do so. Additional thoughts? Best, Dan |
||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
|
|
KeithMitchell private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Thanks very much for clarifying your views so well. This is a great forum to flesh this out and I hope that others in the forum are benefiting from this discussion as much as I am. You make a great point. It really does get down to who owns the data and, as you just explained, that could possibly be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on how Matterport uses the data for new revenue streams. And how much Matterport values its MSP's. |
||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KeithMitchell Thank you for asking ... and thank you for your kind note. Quote: Originally Posted by @KeithMitchell That is a telling statement and should not be a mystery. Unfortunately, when Matterport introduced its new logo, it was silent on the Matterport Service Partner (MSP) logo (none revised as far as I know) and has stopped accepting new MSPs.) Hmmmmmmmm....... Hi All, Two related WGAN Forum discussion from nearly a year ago: still timely  ✓ Is Matterport a Service Company or is Matterport a Software Company? ✓ Matterport Survey: a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? Best, Dan |
||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi All, Quote: Originally Posted by @DanSmigrod From this WGAN Forum Discussion ✓ Matterport Raises $39 Million: $153 Million Lifetime Raised Quote: Originally Posted by @DanSmigrod Want me to guess your weight? Dan |
||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Video: What is a Data Silo? | Video courtesy of Intricity101 YouTube Channel | 16 November 2020 | ||
| Post 9 • IP flag post | ||
Pages:
1This topic is archived. Start new topic?