Satellites photograph the entire Earth regularly. Remote sensing turns these images into information about land, vegetation, water and buildings.

Data sources

  • Copernicus Sentinel-2: free multispectral images with 10 m resolution and frequent revisits – ideal for vegetation and land cover.
  • Sentinel-1: radar images that see through clouds, useful for floods and ground movement.
  • Landsat: free imagery with a long historical archive.
  • Commercial satellites: very high resolution for detailed analysis.
  • Drones: centimetre-level detail for smaller areas.

Key techniques

  • Spectral indices: NDVI measures vegetation health from red and near-infrared light.
  • Classification: mapping land cover such as forest, farmland, water and urban areas, increasingly with machine learning.
  • Change detection: comparing images over time to see construction, deforestation or damage.
  • Object detection: counting buildings, vehicles or solar panels.

Business applications

  • Agriculture: crop health, yield estimation, irrigation planning
  • Forestry: damage after storms or pests
  • Insurance: damage assessment after floods or storms
  • Urban planning: growth, green spaces, heat islands
  • Energy: site analysis for solar and wind, monitoring infrastructure
  • Environment: water bodies, wetlands, compliance monitoring

Workflow

  1. Define the question and area of interest
  2. Select imagery (sensor, dates, resolution)
  3. Pre-process (cloud masking, corrections)
  4. Analyse and classify
  5. Validate with ground truth
  6. Deliver maps, statistics or dashboards

Tools

Google Earth Engine, Python (Rasterio, GDAL), QGIS, ESA SNAP and machine-learning libraries.

Our team has an academic background in geospatial science and remote sensing – we turn imagery into reliable information for your decisions.

Planning a project like this? Our AI project assistant asks the right questions for your field and turns your answers into a clear brief – then our team near Munich sends a free, non-binding quote within 24 hours on business days. Start now or read the complete GIS & Geospatial guide.
#Remote sensing#Satellite imagery#Sentinel#NDVI