The best photographers in the world are probably bursting with frustration as they look at NASA’s photographs of Earth taken by space telescopes and satellites. It is not due to jealousy, but rather a lack of opportunity and ability to capture their city, beloved island, the peaks of the Alps, the Great Wall of China, the Sahara, vineyards in the French province of Champagne, or anything else from a bird’s-eye view several hundred or thousands of kilometers above the Earth. However, one does not have to work at NASA or any other institution, nor be a top and renowned photographer or just an amateur who enjoys viewing the world through a camera lens to access satellite images. Thanks to the development of new technologies, it is now possible to retrieve them for free from the web using a computer or mobile phone at any moment and from anywhere.
Versatile Roles
The Earth satellite imagery industry has been growing in the last decade. Satellites no longer serve only for espionage and signal transmission; today, their role is much more versatile than it was at the beginning, aided by the increasing number of satellites in orbit. The first image of Earth, the sunlit center of the Pacific Ocean, was captured on August 14, 1959, by the Explorer 6 satellite while it was at an altitude of twenty-seven thousand kilometers and passing over Mexico. Initially, the most powerful countries captured satellite images of Earth, and since the beginning of this century, numerous companies for commercial purposes have been doing so as well. Many satellites float in orbit, from defense spy satellites to those for environmental management and climate change analysis. These satellites continuously capture images of Earth, and the pictures they transmit are used to read and analyze valuable data utilized in intelligence and warfare, meteorology, agriculture, forestry, geology, cartography, oceanography, environmental conservation, development planning, education… In addition to various institutions, satellite images of Earth are also useful to scientists, consultants, company management, or just curious individuals interested in where this planet is heading.
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Satellite data has been hot property in agriculture for some time as it aids in cultivation, transportation, and logistics, and even in journalism, but it also enables better decisions in other sectors.
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These are satellite images that do not fall under privacy rules, are publicly available, and anyone can use them for free. They are evidence of climate change, witness natural disasters such as fires and floods, urban sprawl, deforestation in the Amazon, storms… Satellite data has recently become valuable for the economy, especially for agriculture as it aids in cultivation, transportation, and logistics. Today, satellite data is used across all sectors, even in the media. For example, the first image of Earth from space published by television was sent back in 1960 by the meteorological satellite TIROS-1.
How to Find Them
However, one must know how to use the mechanisms and information to retrieve these images for free from the browser. One path to this data leads through Google Earth Pro, which has many tools that allow users to download an image of a specific area, which may be useful for preparing lectures, presentations, and similar tasks. To download high-resolution images from Google Earth Pro, one must select and save the image on the toolbar. This will open an interface that allows customization of the image to be retrieved. Options can be selected: title, description for the map, and so on, or all of this can be removed, and the image resolution can be selected and saved to a computer or mobile phone. In addition to downloading the latest images, it is also possible to view older ones through Google Earth Pro. However, they are not as numerous as those recently captured by satellites because not all parts of the globe have been equally interesting and received the same satellite photographic treatment over the past few decades.
Satellite photography of certain parts of our planet began in the mid-twentieth century, and there are countless images in archives, allowing for comparisons of how certain areas have developed over the last seventy years, while some areas have only been photographed recently. In any case, such available high-resolution photographs can serve, for example, in research, for preparing scientific papers, lectures, and presentations, as well as for analyzing data needed for decision-making. Images retrieved through this browser can be archived, stored in folders, and detailed descriptions with links to the images can be added, which is very useful when working on a mapping project.
Then and Now
Google Earth Pro is not the only free source of satellite photographs; there is also ESRI World Imagery Wayback, an archive that allows users to explore and compare historical ESRI satellite data. Although this archive is not as large as Google’s, it is valuable for research when looking for something specific that may not be available on Google Earth. A special feature of ESRI World Imagery Wayback is the Swipe Mode tool, which allows for comparison of images of a specific area, which can be important if significant changes have occurred there. By using animation, a temporal gap is created between images of a specific area, and the animation can even be downloaded as a GIF, making it very easy to share images anywhere online. This is a very good choice for satellite images, but there is an even better one – USGS EarthExplorer, whose archive offers many more images than the other mentioned browsers, whether they are decades-old images or the latest captures, digital elevation data, maps… Exploring the USGS EarthExplorer archive is free, and to download images, one must open a free account.
Path to Download
How to download an image from that web page? The first step is to zoom in on the desired area and use the drawing frame tool, for example, the option that uses the map to select the entire area displayed on the screen. Then, through the datasets, one must open the desired option and use a filter that will remove all options that are not available at the selected location. For safety, it is good to open the info option to view the explanation page for a specific dataset. After selecting the dataset, by activating the results option, one can see what is available and download the image for free. If the image is not available for free download, one can request its scanning, but that costs thirty dollars per image.
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More than 8300 satellites, according to the website Orbiting Now, are currently above us. In orbit, there are everything from defense spy satellites to those for environmental management and climate change analysis.
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One of the most valuable sources of free images with a resolution of ten meters per pixel is the Sentinel&Landsat browser, where images are available for viewing just a few hours after capture. The resolution of images on Sentinel&Landsat is sufficient to see, for example, the clearing of old plantations or neglected land, the progress of agricultural work, ships at sea, infrastructure construction, and the consequences of fires and floods…
Mobile Tools
It is not necessary to always be at a computer to access these images, as SkyFi offers users of mobile phones a free mobile application, as well as a web application through which one can access Sentinel data along with access to Umbria’s open data catalog and purchase commercial high-resolution satellite images. After downloading the SkyFi application on the mobile phone, one must register for a free account and search for images for free on the web page. However, the desired image still needs to be paid for, and SkyFi will deliver it via email and in the application in just about twenty minutes. The Copernicus browser also offers a lot of material: the Sentinel-1 radar, the historical Landsat archive, and others. Copernicus can be used for free and without an account up to a certain limit. This browser is easy to use, and alongside the desired data, explanations about the images are found in pop-up windows. It is possible to view images without downloading large files and loading them into the browser. Additionally, there are extra processing options such as infrared color, saving the current image for future needs, editing and adjusting images in the browser, comparing one image with another, and even the possibility of downloading sequences of images.
When Will It Be Croatian?
However, there would be nothing if it weren’t for spaceports from which satellites are launched into space. The most famous in the world is the Kennedy Space Center & Cape Canaveral in the USA, from which numerous space missions have launched. This center is now expanding to serve the growing commercial space industry. Today, it is common to have a satellite in space, even the smallest one. Thousands of satellites float in Earth’s orbit, and among the member states of the European Union, only Croatia does not have one. However, the first Croatian satellite Perun is currently being developed, fully designed, and manufactured in Croatia, whose launch has been announced several times but is delayed due to financial difficulties.
HUMAN RIGHTS Thus, international crimes are investigated and what your neighbor is doing
Satellite images are relied upon as evidence of international criminal behavior, according to the Harvard Human Rights Journal, by prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and human rights groups. This data is particularly useful when investigating or prosecuting crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC, such as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. However, as useful and precise as it may be, satellite data collection raises concerns. It is neither clearly regulated nor ethically pure. On one hand, for example, human rights groups rely on satellite images, while on the other, they advocate for the human right to privacy.
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Satellite images abound with data important for security, but also for the economy. In the last decade, the satellite imagery industry has grown, as has the number of satellites in Earth’s orbit, as well as spaceports.
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Satellite technology can indeed be used to violate an individual’s right to privacy in many ways, including surveillance. Satellites, states the Harvard Human Rights Journal, can track an individual’s movements and schedules, even showing when someone’s car stops in the driveway of a building. Satellite photographs can also be used to monitor groups of people and determine when and where political gatherings are held. Some satellites are even capable of facial recognition. In combination with other data sources, satellite images can be used to create a detailed profile of an individual’s habits and behaviors, as well as their social environment. Satellites can also produce images of private property belonging to you and your neighbors, including fenced yards and parts of houses visible through windows or skylights.
Most satellite data is initially collected by private companies, which could also affect the objectivity of the data, and states control companies dealing with geospatial data and further influence how the data is collected. However, they do not always provide it for free.
