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 distributes products and services using images from Earth observation satellites. It operates through subsidiaries and local offices in countries like Australia, Brazil, China, United States, Japan, Peru, and Singapore. The company aims to provide quick service worldwide.

Spot Image works with over 30 stations that receive images from SPOT satellites. It also partners with the EU's GMES/Copernicus programme and shares geographic information with the OGC to improve web services. Together with Infoterra Global, it offers services for precision agriculture.

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 on December 16, 2011, and the second, Pléiades-2, was launched in mid-2012. Spot Image also provides tools for receiving, processing, and adding extra features to these satellite images.

Products

Spot Image offers 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 huge collection of pictures from past years. You can even 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 gives support to local projects that use satellite images and special computer tools to learn more about how global warming affects our world.

The projects look at many important topics, such as how climate change impacts people and nature, how it affects 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. The company expanded worldwide over the years, opening offices in many countries such as the United States, Australia, Singapore, China, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Japan. Several important SPOT satellites were launched, starting with SPOT 1 in 1986 and continuing with SPOT 2 in 1990, SPOT 4 in 1998, SPOT 5 in 2002, SPOT 6 in 2012, and SPOT 7 in 2014. Spot Image also signed contracts to distribute data from satellites like Formosat-2 and Kompsat-2.