Commercial satellite imagery is the sector concerned with providing images taken by an Earth observation satellite for use in commercial purposes. The main applications of these satellites are data collection, mapping, natural resource management, disaster management, security, urban planning, and surveillance. Images are also used for environmental forecasting and emergency response, including natural disasters and security events.
Market Overview
In 2022, the commercial satellite imagery market was valued at $4.15 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.25% over the next five years. Satellite imagery has become more accessible than ever, becoming more popular among users than aerial photography or ground imagery applications due to comprehensive coverage of the world and fast delivery of image data. At the government level, satellite imagery has also brought significant benefits, which has accelerated the development of the industry itself.
The US Department of Commerce has helped companies improve image quality by relaxing image resolution restrictions. For example, DigitalGlobe was able to deliver its high resolution Earth images after restrictions were lifted.
Satellite constellations have a critical impact on the market. Thanks to them, the frequency of data collection is increased, and those who use satellite imagery can detect changes quickly. In addition to investing in high-resolution satellites and launching constellations, AI technologies are essential to improving image quality.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can significantly enhance the visualization of images and make it possible to interpret them from different points of view. AI is the very tool that enables valuable information extraction from rapidly growing satellite images. Moreover, data analytics, which has a wide range of applications, also works based on this technology.
How to Get Satellite Imagery?
Satellite images in different resolutions, including the highest quality satellite imagery, have become available at an unprecedented level. Every day, trillions of Earth pixels come in from space. Pictures can be found in the public domain and obtained free from providers’ websites.
Finding and purchasing commercial satellite imagery can be difficult. However, this sector has been greatly democratized in recent years, and today users can download high-resolution satellite images, receiving data directly from providers, including with the help of various marketplaces.
Historically, this process has been much more problematic as it required the user to ideally define an area of interest and a date range and submit a formal request to suppliers. The main disadvantage of this process is the expectation that the image suppliers will contact the user directly and offer a price and a contract. In addition, private users who do not have a large budget and are not big corporations also encountered difficulties acquiring images, especially if the AOI was not large.
Today, most of the steps above can be skipped, and the required data loaded faster. In addition, the downloaded data is much easier to integrate with other tools for processing and analyzing high quality satellite images.
EOSDA LandViewer Satellite Imagery Catalog
EOSDA LandViewer is one of the tools that brought satellite imagery closer to users. Created by EOS Data Analytics, this tool enables users to perform a wide range of tasks. EOSDA LandViewer provides satellite data to industries seeking ways to solve business problems efficiently.
Users can use the rich functionality of EOSDA LandViewer for fast search, operational processing, and analytics of satellite images. It only takes a few clicks to highlight areas of interest and get data from anywhere worldwide.
Users can also analyze the received data on-the-fly or observe changes over a certain period by receiving images taken on different days by different satellites. To more effectively assess changes, the creation of frame-by-frame animations from different images of the Earth is available. In addition, users can apply advanced land cover analysis with the help of a range of spectral indices, including NDVI.
How to Get High-Resolution Images in EOSDA LandViewer?
To begin with, the user needs to specify the area of interest and select “high-resolution images” as the initial data. Then, by applying filters, the user can access a list of available images that match the query.
The next step is to check the intersection area with the selected location. The server will also calculate and display the cost of the images. Also, users can find other details so that the resulting images fully comply with the request. Then the image can be added to the cart. Users can pay for the order in one click or contact the sales manager if necessary.