Available to beta testers since May 2019, space tech startup UP42 has now launched its open platform and marketplace for satellite data and analytics to the public. The Airbus Defence and Space subsidiary promises to give small businesses and startups – and even independent developers – easy access to a wide range of geospatial data and scalable processing workflows. Traditionally, only large corporates and governments have enjoyed access to the kind of data quality and analytical prowess that UP42 is promising.

UP42’s continually-updated earth observation data sources comprise of everything from commercial and open-source high-resolution satellite/drone imagery to IoT data. So, you can expect to find data from Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, SPOT 6/7, Pleiades 1A/1B satellites as well as digital elevation models (DEM) by OneAtlas and public transportation data blocks.

Further, the geodata processing algorithms that have gone live on the platform today include the following:

• Pre-processing tools to help prepare satellite imagery for data analysis. For example, the platform will remove cloud cover or ensure that images are lining up properly for pixel-based analytics.
• Vegetation indexing and moisture/chlorophyll level detection to aid precision agriculture. The platform will help to identify regions that require additional care (e.g. watering or fertilizer) in order to maximize yields.
• Object detection for urban planning, tracking traffic patterns, and energy production forecasts. UP42 can detect vehicles (cars and ships, etc.) or structures (wind turbines or storage tanks, etc.) in satellite imagery.
• Change detection for monitoring activities like deforestation. The powerful tools of UP42 satellite data platform can detect change over time with as little as two images and can prove especially useful for tropical areas with heavy cloud coverage.

Apart from these ready-to-use tools, developers and data scientists will also be able to use their own algorithms by uploading the code directly to the platform or via the API and executing it in the cloud. “UP42’s scalable, modular infrastructure, will adapt to an application’s requirements in real-time, and developers will be able to scale their processing by leveraging custom Docker containers and other state-of-the-art technology,” Eli Tamanaha, CEO of UP42 points out.

For those with entrepreneurial inclinations, the startup will offer an opportunity to monetize the processing algorithms on the developer platform. “Entrepreneurial developers will be able to unlock new customers, tap into new revenue, streams, and increase their visibility,” Eli explains.

To learn more about the startup, we recommend reading Geoawesomeness’ exclusive interview with Sean Wiid, CPO of UP42.

Related: UP42 has launched | New open satellite data and analytics platform