The Value of Imagery Subscriptions
For agencies that depend on the most current imagery and information, a subscription offers numerous benefits. Access to the latest imagery is crucial for applications such as disaster response, environmental monitoring and urban planning. In addition to imagery streaming, users can perform feature extraction and analytics such as change detection and object detection.
Subscribing to an imagery service can be more cost-effective than purchasing imagery outright, especially for users who require frequent updates or large volumes of data. Overall, an imagery subscription is a valuable investment for anyone needing reliable and comprehensive imagery to support their projects and operations. These services can be injected into most major GIS software systems or accessed through online platforms. The imagery available within these services can be viewed on demand at full resolution, and in many cases, can be downloaded for offline use or analysis. Some services also offer the ability to be alerted with an email anytime new imagery from a target area has been collected. The main imagery streams we offer are One Atlas Living Library from Airbus Defense & Space, MGP Pro from Maxar, and PlanetScope from Planet, offering global 3m coverage. We also offer a Hexagon Imagery stream with aerial imagery of the U.S. and western Europe. We are adding more streaming services as they become available.
Satellite technology is more up-to-date, but the vintage of any given location will vary depending upon the extent of the individual scenes that have been collected for an area. Since satellites collect imagery from their position above the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere, some level of cloud cover may be present and may affect the overall imagery. Off-nadir angles tend to be less than 25掳, but any imagery from the archive can be requested to be added to the stream even if the metadata is not ideal.
These satellite services are updated frequently, though new imagery of a given area may not be collected for several months at a time. In general, the more developed an area is, the more often imagery is collected. For some services, collections can be scheduled either from within the service or outside of it, with the new imagery automatically loading into the service once completed. Satellite streaming services provide worldwide coverage.
Aerial imagery streams are more ubiquitous but often contain older imagery since full states, countries or regions are collected in their entirety once every few years. Clouds are often not present in the imagery since poor weather can be avoided with good flight planning. The detail is often finer than satellite imagery since aerial collections are not subject to the same regulations as commercial satellites. Coverage for aerial streams is usually only the United States, much of Western Europe, U.S. territories, some Canadian cities and a few other locations. Some of the services also stream elevation data.
The following table summarizes the key features of and differences between the various services.
| Key Differences | Satellite | Aerial |
| Resolution | 30cm - 3m | 7.5cm - 30cm |
| Vintage | 2010 to the present | 2017 to the present |
| Coverage | Global | U.S., Europe, a few others |
| Cloud Cover | Possible though minimized | Almost nonexistent |
| Off-Nadir Angle | Majority less than 25 degrees | Almost at nadir |
| Update Frequency | Every few months in most cases | Every few years |
| Layers | Many dates of imagery | Latest available |
| Download Capability | Yes | No |
Understanding Subscription Payment Methods
A subscription payment method is a recurring billing system where customers are charged at regular intervals鈥攕uch as monthly, quarterly, or annually鈥攆or continuous access to a product or service. This method provides customers with the convenience of automatic renewals, ensuring uninterrupted access without the need for manual payments each period. This seamless process not only saves time but also ensures that users always have the resources they need at their fingertips.
Pricing is based on total usage of data for both streaming and download. We can help project costs based on anticipated use, or you can start with the lowest pricing tier and add more data as your usage requires. Tasking new imagery to be collected is an option within some services.
Please contact us at geospatialdata@l3harris.com with any questions. We can help coordinate the scheduling of regular updates for offline-use platforms or for use within a satellite imagery stream. Additionally, we can provide pricing based on your anticipated annual usage and number of users, or arrange a demonstration of services that may fit your needs.
