Esri Unveils Landsat Explorer: A New Era in Satellite Imagery Analysis

Esri Unveils Landsat Explorer: A New Era in Satellite Imagery Analysis
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 15, 2024

Esri, a leading authority in mapping and location intelligence, has announced the introduction of the Landsat Explorer, an innovative online application designed to enhance accessibility and analysis of multispectral imagery from Landsat satellite missions. This announcement marks a significant advancement for organizations involved in managing natural resources, landscapes, and environmental concerns.

The Landsat Explorer app, part of Esri's ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, offers a user-friendly platform for accessing Landsat Level-2 multispectral imagery. This imagery is pivotal for various land monitoring applications, including tracking changes due to climate change, urbanization, and natural events like wildfires and droughts.

Sean Breyer, Esri's program manager for ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, emphasized the importance of Landsat multispectral imagery. "This imagery is a record dating back over 40 years, constituting one of the most valuable sources for understanding land change from a temporal perspective," Breyer stated. He further highlighted how GIS technology not only simplifies data access and sharing but also facilitates the extraction and dissemination of valuable insights.

The Landsat program, a collaboration between the USGS and NASA, is the longest-running spaceborne land observation initiative. Since its inception in 1972, Landsat satellites have provided continuous data essential for observing and analyzing Earth's processes and changes over time.

The Landsat Explorer app integrates seamlessly into the ArcGIS system, offering a dynamic time series of imagery accessible across various platforms. Key features of the app include:

- Visual exploration of a global mosaic of the best available Landsat scenes.

- Customizable multispectral band combinations and indices for enhanced visualization and analysis.

- An interactive "Find a Scene" feature that allows users to search by location, sensor, time, and cloud cover.

- Tools for comparing visual changes over time, including Swipe and Animation modes.

- Spectral analysis capabilities for assessing vegetation, water, land surface temperature, and more.

This development is expected to significantly benefit organizations that rely on remote sensing and earth observation imagery, providing them with a powerful tool for making informed decisions regarding environmental management and resource allocation.