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AtmosWatch

Southeast Asia

Category:

Product Design

2025

Project Year

Geospatially-enhanced land monitoring for an emerging industry.

Problem Statement

Imagine 150,000 hectares of patchy Bornean forest, a three-year verification timeline, and up to 95 million dollars of financing funneled into boots-on-the-ground surveys—yet everything hinges on blind trust. The upside is tantalizing: successful projects can unlock as much as 4 billion dollars in carbon revenue, biodiversity gains, and community impact.

Two pressing questions drove us at Fairatmos: how many resources vanish into traditional monitoring, and can trust alone validate every data point? One client spent a month mapping species, waited three more for interim results, then scrapped it all when unforeseen factors and a sprinkle of HR drama—forced a full restart.

Two pressing questions drove us at Fairatmos: how many resources vanish into traditional monitoring, and can trust alone validate every data point? One client spent a month mapping species, waited three more for interim results, then scrapped it all when unforeseen factors and a sprinkle of HR drama—forced a full restart.

By talking with carbon experts and landowners from all across Southeast Asia, we confirmed the gap: without in-field teams, owners can’t control what’s collected or monitored. That uncertainty—combined with project commitments reaching up to 30 years—puts potential project owners on edge. And this is where this solution comes in: we need to build something that alleviates these worries.

By talking with carbon experts and landowners from all across Southeast Asia, we confirmed the gap: without in-field teams, owners can’t control what’s collected or monitored. That uncertainty—combined with project commitments reaching up to 30 years—puts potential project owners on edge. And this is where this solution comes in: we need to build something that alleviates these worries.

The Process

We were not alone in this thinking

In under two weeks after coming up with a potential problem, we tapped into project owners, remote sensing experts, community managers, and wildlife specialists. Through focus groups and our jump-to-solution board, participants brainstormed, grouped, and ranked features straight from their own field experiences and success stories. From this lively mess, we sharpened hypotheses around the core problems that this project—now aptly named AtmosWatch, must solve.

Key aspects to consider

During these sessions, three themes kept popping up:

Data fragmentation across monitoring layers
Frustration previewing raw inputs before analysis
Fear of feature bloat versus need for an all-in-one hub

A carbon project’s many unique metrics begged for one unified platform that handles diverse data inputs and turns them into on-the-go visual insights. The risk of overpacking features was real, but that’s the magic of ground-up design.

Mapping user flows and initial prototypes

Eager to hit the field fast, I sketched the first AtmosWatch dashboard—a visual-first map interface that anchors every metric. Each prototype iteration brought clearer data pathways and streamlined input forms. We even repurposed our earlier data-entry modules from Fairatmos, integrating them into this fresh design so teams can drop in new readings without retracing old steps too much.

Around this time, we also decided to create an offline-capable companion app to be used by on-field operators and managers. This many input demands a lot of on-the-go reports for impromptu cases, and we were even able to validate the necessity of it by doing some live alpha tests with members of a carbon project partner.

The One Map to Rule Them All

Toggles that save the world

I categorized these layers that offers critical information through intuitive toggle buttons into 3 different categories:

Quick entries that need to be monitored periodically to track fast-changing metrics, such as deforestation rates, shifting land cover, and new fire hotspots.
Existing landmark references. Pin village clusters, road networks, and fire towers to orient every comparison in real time.
Hardware assets placed within the boundaries of the project: sound sensors and wildlife camera traps that need to be regularly maintained fall into this category.

We can imagine this as a sort of "command center" for the project. Every toggle draws from field-reported inputs processed in AtmosWatch, with live satellite feeds also used for some items via third-party APIs.

Business Goals

Modules for Climate, Community, and Biodiversity

Catering datasets for different carbon projects

Carbon projects can stretch from Java’s mangroves to the Laotian highlands, so I decided to split these into two squads: core modules that you’ll always need, and adaptable widget-esque modules that flex to regional quirks and linked datasets.

Think of this as your customized data lineup. This plug-and-play setup keeps the UI tidy and tailored for specific user needs, and hands developers a Lego-style framework to tackle any project’s unique twists for future-proofing purposes.

On Wednesdays, We Wear Data Pathways

The place where magic happens

This is where field specialists and project operators fuel AtmosWatch with every crucial datapoint, from tree diameter and soil composition, to wildlife snapshots and community grievances. Our built-in OCR sidekick even turns your trusty pen-and-paper notes into digital, adjustable numbers. Hit upload on the varying items needed, and watch as raw inputs get calculated into tangible numbers, dynamic graphs, and vivid photos on your main dashboard.

Gotta Sync 'Em All

Off the grid? Meet AtmosGo

A little bit of additional backstory: AtmosWatch began life as a desktop command center that is perfect for executives and managers steering projects from afar. But we quickly discovered that turbocharging report speed meant handing field operators the data-input torch. And here is when AtmosGo finally enters the fray: as the companion app for AtmosWatch.

Whenever your laptop stays home,this app takes its place as your offline sidekick for every remote mission. Snap tree measurements, track ongoing tasks from headquarters, and fire up the built-in OCR to turn your pen-and-paper notes into digital versions of it. The instant you’re back in range, AtmosGo beams every datapoint, wood density numbers, wildlife shots, and even community feedbacks, all straight into AtmosWatch. It's the perfect field companion: rugged, offline-ready, and always synced to be the source of your main dashboard’s numbers, graphs, and photos.

Gotta Sync 'Em All

Live testing and reflection on project outcomes

We rolled out alpha builds of AtmosWatch and AtmosGo on a partner’s active carbon project—and the results were electrifying. Data-collection times shrank dramatically, proving our efficiency goals weren’t just talk.

Of course, the magic doesn’t happen overnight. The team spent a day in the field guiding operators away from their beloved pen-and-paper workflows, helping them pivot into our platform's ways of working. That little nudge unlocked full buy-in: our pilot partner went all-in on AtmosWatch, and two more large-scale, ecologically diverse projects signed on shortly after we went public.

100

% increase in productivity

on average, for tasks related to data input

100

% increase in productivity

on average, for tasks related to data input

Large-scale projects partnered with

within 6 months after release across Southeast Asia

Large-scale projects partnered with

within 6 months after release across Southeast Asia

So, what's next?

AtmosWatch and AtmosGo have successfully breached across three diverse carbon landscapes, I'd say the real challenge is just beginning. To evolve into a truly adaptable monitoring duo, we need fresh ecosystems to refine our engine, a bigger user base, and continuous feedback loops that will eventually refine every widget and workflow.

The next moves:

Expanding the reach: Target new project leads spanning a myriad of different project owners with varying landscapes
Self-service signup: I succesfully implemented a KYC flow right on fairatmos.com around 6 months after our initial tests, so prospects can (hopefully) dive right in without any sales detour.
Guided first flights: We've also launched our dashboard coachmarks and in-app tutorials to turn every newcomer into an AtmosWatch power user overnight.

By empowering users to explore, input, and visualize data independently, I am hoping that this whole design process accelerates further adoption, boosts revenue, and hardens our platform against any terrain twist. Any design iterations done in the future will surely help this growth as well, as I believe that this platform has an unspeakable amount of room to grow beyond what its current state is showing.