Macro was Medieval. Now It’s in Its Renaissance
Atlas Analytics is rethinking how we measure the economy in real-time
This past week, Our Founder and CEO, Jake Schneider, joined the Balerion Space Ventures podcast to discuss the idea at the heart of Atlas Analytics: using satellites, computer vision, and AI to measure the economy in real time.
The conversation was a natural fit with Balerion’s focus on emerging companies shaping the space economy. Atlas fits that thesis directly by combining satellite imagery, AI, and financial market intelligence to measure real-world economic activity as it happens. At its core, Atlas is tackling one of macro’s most outdated questions:
How do we measure the economy as it is happening, rather than waiting for delayed government reports and traditional economic forecasting?
The idea has roots in a simpler use case. More than a decade ago, hedge funds began using aerial imagery to count cars outside Walmart stores. More cars meant more shoppers. More shoppers meant stronger sales. Stronger sales meant the stock might move.
It was a simple idea, but a powerful one: physical activity leaves observable economic signals.
Jake first came across that story while working for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. At the time, he was helping build macroeconomic forecasts using government data, anecdotal inputs, and real-time observations from across the economy. The work was rigorous, but the data was still delayed.
That raised a bigger question:
If satellite imagery could help investors understand activity at a single retailer, why couldn’t similar techniques be used to measure broader economic activity in real time?
Welcome Atlas Analytics to the Stage
Today, Atlas uses proprietary algorithms combining satellite imagery, computer vision, and AI/ML to forecast GDP ahead of official government releases. Satellites circle the planet roughly every 90 minutes, capturing changes in the built environment: construction activity, port movement, land use, vegetation, logistics hubs, and other physical signals of economic activity.
Those signals are then translated into a weekly GDP estimate.
Not quarterly. Weekly.
That matters because GDP remains one of the most important numbers in the global economy, but it arrives late. The first official estimate comes after the quarter ends, with revisions continuing over the following months. Subsequent revisions follow over the next several months. By the time the final number is available, markets, investors, and policymakers have already moved on.
The Gap
On the podcast, Jake described this as a shift from traditional macro forecasting toward real-time economic measurement. The goal is not simply to improve a model. It is to change the timing of the information itself.
That distinction is important.
Most macro data tells us what already happened. Atlas is focused on what is happening now.
The practical implications are significant. For investors, earlier GDP signals can inform portfolio tilt, ETF exposure, fixed income positioning, foreign exchange trades, and broader macro regime analysis. For companies, the same signals can help with inventory planning, capital expenditure decisions, and market expansion strategy. For governments, they can support economic development, bond issuance, and policy decisions.
Atlas’ recent forecasts provide an early example of what this approach can deliver. Four days before the official government release, Atlas published its GDP forecast publicly on Substack: 2%. The Bureau of Economic Analysis later reported 2%.
As Jake put it on the podcast:
“Whereas macroeconomic forecasting was in the Middle Ages, it is now at a renaissance, a golden era where we finally have the tools to see the economy as it actually is, in real time.”
The Core of the Atlas Thesis
Better measurement does not just mean better forecasts. It means better decisions.
Faster signals can help investors allocate capital more intelligently, help policymakers respond earlier, and eventually help countries with limited statistical capacity understand their own economies with more precision.
Watch the full conversation to hear how Atlas is helping investors generate alpha and using satellite intelligence to rethink macroeconomic measurement in real time.
Balerion Space Ventures is an early-stage venture firm focused on the New Space Economy, investing in companies building the infrastructure behind launch, Earth observation, propulsion, defense, communications, and other dual-use space technologies. They are based in Dallas, Texas and you can subscribe to their podcast here.