The benefits of satellite imagery

Satellites are successfully deployed in both spectral and morphological analyses of hazardous waste on legacy land sites. The imagery they produce includes information on related to spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions.

Spectral resolutions provide statistics to help us classify images. Spatial resolutions allow for accurate identification of ground objects. Temporal resolutions help generate land coverage maps for activities such as environmental planning, site detection, and transportation planning.

Many refer to satellite data as remote sensing data, partly because of its ability to monitor previously inaccessible pieces of land. Regardless of its name, this data provides key information to help monitor applications such as image fusion, change detection, and land cover classification.

This is good news for environmental site managers or natural resource managers. It allows them to:

1. Inspect archive data to show trends in the landscape from a bird’s-eye perspective
2. Remotely capture data across an area and quantitatively measure how the landscape changes
3. Measure and understand how tracts of land change over time regarding vegetation parameters
4. Make more holistic, accurate, and data-driven decisions in a timely manner

In short, site owners can now access pictures of their property on demand.

The next generation of land management

Today, landowners and managers can see measurements across their entire landscape and monitor data trends over time without leaving their desk. They can quickly report the status - its progress or regression - of their site to stakeholders and regulators without spending as much time and money on in-field checks.

Satellite imagery does not completely replace manual surveys. It is worth validating satellite imagery with occasional on-the-ground inspections to ensure reliability. However, platforms like Galago present site owners with a clear overview of what’s happening on their land so they can use resources more efficiently. Such an overview comes with a high degree of accuracy never been seen before.

With these new generation of technology, environmental site managers and legacy landowners no longer must solely rely on ground-based vegetation surveys. Instead, they can use data and analytics to pinpoint how they allocate their resources, ultimately saving themselves time and money.

Interpreting and analysing satellite data

To support landowners and managers, the Galago team uses satellite and drone imagery to turn sites into digitised maps. Then, using an AI platform, analyses sites to give landowners a baseline to identify changes over time. Galago’s AI platform and algorithms are based on decades of datasets to ensure recommendations are both accurate and extensive.

As far as user experience goes, anyone managing land assets can use the Galago platform. The platform is designed for users to easily receive a complete report showing if, where, and how their land is deteriorating as well as provide recommendations for next actions.

Moreover, the platform sends an alert to landowners and managers when issues arise on their site. This can prevent or mitigate future restoration costs, strengthen relationships with authorities, and give site owners concrete evidence for any litigation challenges.

What’s next for satellite-based sustainable land management?

Satellite data analytics have changed the way we manage land, and this will only continue as technologies gets better and their costs get lower. Best yet, easy-to-use platforms like the one from Galago will continue to help site managers and legacy landowners interpret and use the imagery effectively.