Do you want to explore Landsat imageries on geology, vegetation, agriculture, and cities anywhere in the world?
If yes, you can now do this with Esri’s new Landsat Explorer web app. The app gives users a way to better visualize the planet and understand how the Earth has changed over time using publicly accessible image services.
Landsat Explore is powered by Esri’s Landsat image service. The service includes more than 500,000 Landsat scens with over 500 new scenes added daily. This is made possible in part by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its Landsat on AWS dataset, which hosts Landsat 8 scenes (from 2013 to present) for FREE. Esri’s Landsat image service combines this massive Landsat 8 collection with the Landsat Global Land Survey (GLS) datasets from 1975, 1990, 2000, 2005, and 2010. The result is four decades of global coverage. And while Landsat Explorer app is a simple way to interact with this dataset, the Landsat image service can also be used directly in a wide range of other Esri apps and software, including ArcGIS Pro. To use the Landsat Explorer app is simple: Open it in a web browser; search for a location; and apply analysis tools on the fly to get immediate, dynamic results. Landsat Explorer also offers extensive analytical capabilities using its visualization and analysis tools. Esri’s Emily WIndahl said users can “perform change detection, create custom masks, make your own indexes, generate spectral and temporal profiles, and more, all on the fly. Curious to see how your hometown has expanded since your were a kid? Zoom to your hometown and use the time slider to compare before and after images. Want to quantify areas of agriculture usage of forest burn? Use the Mask tool to identify specific types of landcovers, interactively setting thresholds. Want to measure the extent of a flood? Select two points in time and use the Change Detection tool to highlight the affected areas.”
Landsat Explorer is open source, developed using ArcGIS API for JavaScript (interested developers can find more information here about building similar apps]. It joins Esri’s existing suite of Landsat apps, including the Landsat Arctic and Antarctic Apps.