Spot Image

Spot Image

Spot Image is a company that helps people see Earth from space. It was started in 1982 by the French Space Agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the IGN, and some space companies like Matra and Alcatel. Today, it is mostly owned by Airbus Defence and Space.

The company works with special satellites called the SPOT Earth observation satellites. These satellites fly around our planet and take pictures of places on Earth. This helps people study the land, watch over forests, and even plan where to build things.

Because these satellites can see Earth clearly, they are very important for scientists, farmers, and many others who need to know what the world looks like from above. Spot Image makes sure these pictures are available to everyone who needs them.

Network and partners

Spot Image sells products and services using pictures taken from satellites looking at Earth. It has offices in countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, United States, Japan, Peru, and Singapore. The company wants to give quick help all around the world.

Spot Image uses more than 30 places that get pictures from SPOT satellites. It works with the EU's GMES/Copernicus programme and shares map information with the OGC to make web services better. With Infoterra Global, it also gives services for farming with great detail.

Satellites

The three SPOT satellites in orbit—Spot 5, 6, and 7—can capture images with different levels of detail, ranging from 2.5 meters to 10 meters. Spot Image also shares data from other satellites, such as Formosat-2 from Taiwan and Kompsat-2 from South Korea, as well as radar satellites like TerraSAR-X, ERS, Envisat, and Radarsat. Spot Image is the only company that can share data from the very-clear Pleiades satellites. The first Pleiades satellite, Pléiades-1, was launched in 2011, and the second, Pléiades-2, was launched in 2012. Spot Image also provides tools for receiving, processing, and adding extra features to these satellite images.

Products

Spot Image makes special products to help people see and understand the Earth better. These include pictures that show the exact location of places, colorful maps of large areas, and 3D views made from pictures taken by satellites.

The company also helps plan when satellites take pictures and keeps a large collection of pictures from past years. You can see some of these pictures online for free, thanks to a partnership with Google Earth.

Planet Action, an initiative launched by Spot Image

Planet Action was started by Spot Image to help people study and solve problems caused by climate change. It supports local projects that use satellite images and special computer tools to learn more about how global warming affects our world.

The projects look at important topics, such as how climate change impacts people and nature, water and dry lands, plants and animals, the oceans, and ice and snow. This helps everyone understand and find ways to protect our planet.

Planet Action Web Site

Important dates

Spot Image was created in 1982 in Toulouse, France. Over the years, it grew and opened offices in many countries, including the United States, Australia, Singapore, China, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Japan. Several important SPOT satellites were launched. The first was SPOT 1 in 1986, followed by SPOT 2 in 1990, SPOT 4 in 1998, SPOT 5 in 2002, SPOT 6 in 2012, and SPOT 7 in 2014. Spot Image also worked with satellites like Formosat-2 and Kompsat-2 to share their data.