Monitoring on Demand

IO Monitor

Spotlighting change in the areas you care about

Impact Observatory’s innovative AI-powered methods automate and accelerate Land Use Land Cover mapping and monitoring in near-real-time. IO Monitor uses a unique deep learning approach to classify land use and land cover categories globally using state-of-the-art Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery. Custom land use and land cover change maps are available for any area of interest, over user-specified time periods, beginning in 2018, up to the present (refreshed daily). Results have an average accuracy of 85%, which has been independently assessed in a peer-reviewed scientific study as the most accurate global maps currently available [ref: Venter et al. 2022].

Burn scars from the North Complex Fire within Plumas National Forest. On the left, Sentinel-2 images depict forestry prior to the fire in August 2020, and a year after the fire in August 2021. On the right, our Land Use Land Cover maps vividly illustrate the extent of the burn scar as well as the receding shorelines of Lake Oroville due to the drier conditions of 2021. Beyond illustration and thematic discovery, our maps can measure the amount of land changed with unprecedented speed and scale.

Images of Earth collected by the Sentinel-2 satellite constellation observe the world as trillions of pixels, each showing a 10 meter by 10 meter patch of ground. IO turns millions of these satellite images collected throughout the year into maps that label every pixel into one of nine categories of major land use and land cover. Since the release of our first global map in June 2021, we have been thrilled to receive over 1,000,000 visitors accessing and downloading our annual maps via Esri Living Atlas, Microsoft Planetary Computer, and the AWS Registry of Open Data.

How IO Monitor Can Help

Timely, actionable data for insights and decisions

Food and Farming

Agricultural expansion can lead to deforestation, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and water pollution, and unhealthy crops can create food insecurity. IO Monitor can help assess risks to food systems as well as the surrounding ecosystems by comparing the amount of land under agricultural production to previous growing seasons. One example is the expansion of agricultural land into rainforest areas of South America, clearly visible in this sample data from Bolivia.

Agricultural Expansion in Bolivia Sample Data

Supply chain monitoring in Reyes, Bolivia Sample Data

Sustainable Sourcing

Deforestation is a significant contributor to climate change and a challenge for corporations and governments around the world. For organizations committed to being Deforestation Free, IO Monitor can help identify where supply chains impact tree loss, and provide quarterly change results in the regions where companies operate.

Human Expansion

Cities around the world are growing at incredible rates. IO Monitor can help to verify the magnitude and spatial patterns of this rapid urban expansion. In the span of a few months, land at the edge of Las Vegas shows the initial construction of a new housing development. This same growth can be seen in cities around the world such as New Cairo (Egypt), The Line (Saudi Arabia), and Xiong'an (China).

Human Expansion in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Sample Data

Tree loss in Ukraine Sample Data

Forests and Water Supply

Forests act as natural water filters, improving the quality of water by removing pollutants and sediment. Trees also help reduce the risk of both floods and droughts. IO Monitor can help assess where forest loss has occurred and might lead to an impact on critical watersheds and downstream communities. Customers use this data to assess risks and prioritize action plans. Tree loss due to conflict increases risk to the downstream Dnipro Reservoir in Ukraine, which can be seen in these results.