Remote Monitoring Grant Program Technology Options
Many companies offer geospatial technologies that can help support land trusts’ remote monitoring needs. Different stewardship teams may have needs that are better addressed through certain approaches than others, and a technology that serves one organization well may not always be the ideal choice for another. Generally, the products and services that can be used to conduct remote monitoring fall into several niches:
- Direct-from-vendor products include imagery and data sold straight from the source. The providers of these kinds of products include, for instance, satellite imagery vendors that operate their own constellations of Earth-observing satellites, as well as independent drone operators who might gather imagery or advanced remote sensing data to visualize the landscape on a smaller scale. Because of the large scale at which some satellite imagery providers operate, they can have large minimum purchase requirements that are often best suited to large organizations or collaborations between multiple organizations. Typically, direct-from-vendor products require more technical expertise to use effectively and may offer opportunities for custom analysis and enable you to maintain licensing of files on your own servers.
- Imagery resellers offer many of the same imagery and data products as those that you might acquire directly from a vendor, but typically have lower minimum purchase requirements and, sometimes, offer discounted rates. They typically offer flexibility to purchase imagery from multiple sources, depending on your project needs.
- Imagery analysis offer a variety of analysis of direct from vendor products. They specialize in analysis and interpretation of the data, not the true color image. They are able to show and predict many different types of habitats and environmental health indicators based on imagery provided from satellite imagery vendors.
- End-to-end or integrated services may offer data and imagery products as well as analytical tools, image viewing platforms, and web-based data storage options that are typically offered on a subscription basis. They tend to be more user-friendly and often offer cloud storage to reduce data storage constraints on your organization, but sometimes their offerings have limitations in terms of customization.
Within each of these broad groupings, different companies may offer a range of tools and services that you might consider when deciding on which technologies best suit your land trust’s needs. We have compiled a list of several of the vendors that land trusts have partnered with as well as others that work in the conservation field and demonstrate potential for the land trust community.
This is not an exhaustive list of possibilities, nor an endorsement of any particular remote monitoring solution, and we encourage grant program applicants to research additional opportunities that will best suit their unique needs.
For any remote monitoring options you consider, be sure to evaluate:
- Spatial resolution: What level of detail are you able to visualize given the quality of the imagery?
- Spectral resolution: Do you want to access visible spectrum imagery that represents what you would see with your own eyes, or do you want to use multi-spectral data that can help visualize things like vegetation productivity or waterways?
- Temporal resolution: How frequently do you need access to imagery, and when is imagery from vendors available? Daily? Monthly? Yearly?
- Geographic availability: Is data available for all areas where you require imagery?
- Cost and pricing structure: Is data available on a per-image or per-acre basis, or is it wrapped up into a subscription service?
- User friendliness: How easily can staff or volunteers learn to use a new monitoring platform? Do vendors provide training for staff?
- Customer service: How accessible are company representatives to answer questions and provide technical assistance?
- Feasibility: Do you need to have an appropriate organizational capacity and technical background to effectively use a particular approach? Will it be viable to replicate year after year?
- Data storage: Do you need to store large data files on your own servers, or are products available online?
- Data ownership: Depending on your needs for long-term access, is the data you purchase retained in your own possession in an accessible format, or are you only able to access it through a third party platform?
Please contact Kate Losey, remote monitoring project manager, for more details or questions.
Direct-from-Vendor
Nearmap is an aerial imagery service that provides high-resolution vertical and oblique imagery covering primarily urban and suburban areas. Its imagery, which is derived from aviation-based sources, is housed on a web-based platform and tends to be one of the more cost-effective options available.
Contact: Ryan McCulloch
Planet Labs is one of the largest satellite operators, offering a robust constellation of Earth-observing satellites that provide both an archive of high-resolution data as well as the option to “task” a satellite to retrieve imagery on demand for a higher cost. Planet also offers frequent global coverage, up to every 24 hours for some of their products. Because of the scale at which it operates, it tends to require large minimum purchase amounts and large minimum capture areas for tasked imagery. They are partnered with Skytech who use the imagery for their change detection software and imagery viewer platform.
Contact: Jaclyn Schumeyer
Near Space Labs provides low-cost, high-quality imagery gathered using high-altitude balloons. TheirIn 2022 they expect to consistantly be Because its image capture equipment is not in orbit, staff must be deployed in the field to operate the system.
Contact: Natalia Farhadmotamed
Independent operators
In many areas, local aviation or drone-based companies provide opportunities for land trusts to access aerial imagery as well as, in some cases, LiDAR or multispectral data. While some operators exclusively provide access to imagery and data, some also provide additional analysis and consulting services. Examples of independent operators that have worked with land trusts include:
Green Eyes Aero, Charleston, S.C.
Contact: Jon Engle
Foresight Drone Services, Portland, OR
Contact: Nick Wagner
Imagery Resellers
HistoricalAerials is a reseller of high-resolution imagery beginning in 1938 when the USDA documented the entire country with plane flown high resolution photography. The search engine works with a best known address, so it's not necessary to have a shapefile of the property to use this resource. The images are priced according to size and delivered electronically. They can be used to document landscapes in the past and changes to the landscape.
L3Harris is a reseller of satellite data from several large companies, and is a preferred reseller of Airbus’s OneAtlas products. Airbus data is often less expensive than other high-resolution imagery, and is available at 1.5-meter resolution that can be a better tradeoff in terms of quality vs. cost for monitoring across large landscapes. The OneAtlas platform also offers a number of data analytics tools.
Contact: Robert Eadie
Imagery Analysis
TerraPulse maps and monitors landscape changes through satellite-based measurements of forests, farms, ranches, wildlife habitat and residential and urban development. Its platform includes access to both higher- and lower-resolution imagery and multispectral data as well as robust analytical tools, including algorithms that apply expertise in satellite image analysis to automate the provision of near real time, and cost-effective decision-making tools.
Contact: Joseph Sexton
End-to-End/Integrated Services
Astraea, an official partner of the large satellite operator Maxar/Digital Globe, sells imagery at smaller scales and with lower minimum purchase requirements than larger vendors. It also offers optional data analysis tools that can be integrated with their web-based platform, including machine learning-driven change detection systems, which can be customized for users depending on their level of technical expertise.
Contact: David Yoken
Skytec offers an annual subscription to its Ranger web-based monitoring application, which is powered by multiple remotely sensed data feeds, ranging from Planet multispectral satellite images to high resolution UAS imaging and LiDAR products. Basic features include compliance monitoring, land disturbance event detection or change detection, in-field tagging and data collection capabilities, a conservation priority layer, annual monitoring reporting template and direct data compatibility with Esri GIS software. Optional upgrade products, such as advanced LiDAR, 3D visualization, custom UAS monitoring and biomass evaluations, are available for an additional cost.
Contact: Andy Carroll
Upstream Tech’s Lens platform was designed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy to facilitate easement and fee property monitoring. Users receive an annual subscription including free public satellite imagery, and can order high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery from multiple providers on an as-needed basis. They have developed a batch tasking system that allows organizations to get a bulk deal for tasking with other organizations tasking in a similar time period. Reporting and analysis features are embedded in the platform and able to be synced to Landscape Conservation Software. Subscription costs depend on the size of your land trust’s stewardship operation, and include an allocation of high-resolution imagery beyond which there may be a per-acre fee. Alliance members receive a 30% discount.
Contact: Jake Faber