About
Dr. Samapriya Roy is a geospatial leader, open-source advocate, and community builder advancing the intersection of Earth observation, community commons and AI. He is CEO of Spatial Bytes and a Research Scientist and Senior Geospatial Engineer at the Desert Research Institute. A Google Developer Expert for Google Earth Engine, he founded the Awesome Google Earth Engine Community Catalog, a community-driven data commons connecting researchers, developers, and decision-makers with geospatial datasets and serving millions of requests worldwide.
Samapriya works with large organizations and collaborative projects to develop AI approaches and evaluation frameworks, bridging technical innovation with practical applications. He is passionate about teaching and speaking engagements bringing perspectives from industry, research, and open-source development into the classroom. He serves as an advisor to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and NASA Lifelines. His career spans leadership and technical roles at Planet Labs and Vantor, alongside academic affiliations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and others. Across these roles, he focuses on building communities, lowering barriers to data and technology, and helping organizations translate geospatial and AI capabilities into real-world impact.
