5 Key Reasons for Using Satellite Data
From seeing change and spotting objects, there are many ways to use satellite data and here’s why you should.
Satellites have transformed our view of the world. From high in space we can see the familiar shapes of countries and continents.
Satellites such as Pléiades, MODIS, Sentinel, and SPOT, paint a new picture of our planet with each orbit. They capture every corner of the Earth, from cityscapes in London to coffee fields in Kenya.
According to the Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 4987 satellites orbited Earth at the start of this year. That’s an increase of 2.68% compared to 2018.
With so much data available, making sense of it is everything. That’s where analysis comes in.
Analyzing satellite data allows us to take a closer look. Machine learning algorithms are trained to detect specific insights from specific datasets. Cars, temporal change, wind turbines, crops, the list is endless.
It’s now easier than ever to use satellite data as a source of knowledge. To apply these algorithms and analyze data for answers.
So why should you use satellite data?
1. To make better business decisions
Back every decision with data. By adding satellite data analysis to your decision-making process, you’ll gain a true, up-to-date view of the market and be able to better justify key business decisions.
For example in real-estate, when scouting locations for potential property sites, knowing the key areas of growth will help to decide where to invest. Using satellites to remotely monitor large property portfolios helps real-estate businesses to save time and money—freeing up room to focus on data-proven priority projects.
A change detection algorithm applied to satellite imagery is a helpful way to observe changes over time and even go back in time with historical imagery. This way, past, current, and future key business indicators such as property values can be estimated.
2. To assess risk and make a plan
Before a natural disaster such as a hurricane strikes, there is often no clear knowledge of the extent of damage that could be caused. As sea levels rise, so does the risk of storm surges. Satellite images are already heavily used to assess the situation and map flooded areas during and after a natural disaster. But knowing which areas are most at risk of flooding is crucial to plan in advance.
Satellites allow us to harness information and take prescriptive action. This way, we can design better cities, monitor environmental changes, and predict the likelihood of injury and damage caused by natural disasters.
NASA’s SWOT satellite on schedule to launch in 2021 could offer just that. A study published in the journal of Geophysical Research Letters found that the satellite will likely improve flood modeling around the world. That could mean more accurate flood plain maps and better predictions about which areas are likely to flood after snowmelt, hurricanes, and more.
That could look like securing high-risk sites in advance, identifying buildings that need to be raised near flood-risk rivers, or identifying support for communities that need relocating. When you know the risk, it’s possible to plan accordingly.
3. To assess damage and save resources
Satellites are equally able to help after disaster strikes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2018 Hurricanes Michael and Florence each caused about US$25 billion in damages, contributing to a total of $91 billion from that year’s weather and climate disasters.
It’s clear that natural disasters not only affect lives, but also our environment, infrastructure, and businesses. To really understand the economic cost of an extreme weather event, it’s important to quickly and accurately assess the damage caused.
For example, in 2018 Storm Burglind brought winds of up to 201 km/h to Switzerland, causing thousands of trees to snap or fall. Forest assessments following a storm are usually made from the ground and within a two-week assessment window, 1.4 million m3 of wood was estimated to lay on the ground.
Now, satellite data analysis offers a way to do this quickly. By comparing imagery of an area before and after a storm, analytics algorithms can identify which trees are left standing and which aren’t. This way response measures and resources can be spent in the areas that are most in need.
4. To see the bigger picture
Zoom out and see changes over time. From environmental to societal shifts, satellite data can help you to understand global trends and patterns.
Whether it's scoping new business opportunities by looking at ship activity in ports, or seeing how consumer attitudes towards solar panels are changing—satellites help you to gain global macro and micro intelligence.
For example, a car detection algorithm applied to satellite imagery allows you to monitor the number of cars outside retail businesses. As a result, you are better able to better understand and even predict global and regional business changes such as declining sales, consumer behavior, and company revenue. This works well when combined with reason 1) making better business decisions.
Top tip: use a high-resolution satellite such as Pléiades and enhance it even further with a pan-sharpening algorithm to see areas in even crisper detail.
5. To save time and money
Time is money as they say and everything mentioned above will save you a lot of it.
By adding satellite data to your decision-making, risk-analysis, damage assessment, or trend analysis processes—you’ll have information when you need it.
A great example of this is in agriculture. The time required to monitor agricultural land for drought, fertilizer needs, and disease can be significantly reduced with satellite data. Algorithms that can measure health indicators such as the level of chlorophyll, water content, and burnt vegetation are powerful ways to better understand your crops sooner.
Instead of setting up ground sensors or manually monitoring, satellites enable you to save time while identifying time-critical areas to focus on first.
So, now that you know why, you might be wondering how?
How can you access and analyze satellite data?
Until recently, satellite data has been an expensive commodity requiring background knowledge and technical understanding. However, it’s gradually becoming cheaper and easier to find and use as new resources are made available:
- Online mapping applications such as Google Maps offer an interactive satellite base map. Although it’s easy to use and free, the basemap is not designed to be used for analysis, however.
- Free satellite imagery is available from organizations such as the European Space Agency, but combining this with processing algorithms requires technical know-how and computing power.
- Open marketplaces bring together multiple satellite data sources enabling easy access. For instance, at UP42 we have curated a growing, easy-to-use marketplace of both satellite data and processing algorithms from leading providers.
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