When collecting satellite imagery of a large area, sometimes a single image collection won’t cover your AOI in its entirety. In a marketplace console like EarthCache, Mosaicking is an optional setting that allows for multiple images from the same satellite sensor to be mosaicked (aka “stitched”) together. This creates a single continuous image of your area of interest. Cloud-free imagery is prioritized when the images are mosaicked.
Why use mosaicking?
- If you have a large AOI (larger than 20 sqkm), it may be covered by more than one satellite image. If you do not turn on mosaicking with a large AOI, you may not receive results from your pipeline because no image covers enough of the AOI to meet the coverage requirements.
- If you do not require your entire AOI to be captured on the same day, multi-day mosaicking will provide flexibility & ensure there is imagery for the entirety of your AOI.
When you select Mosaicking, there is then a mosaic range option that appears.
- 1 Day: Satellite images will be mosaicked together only if they are captured on the same calendar day (UTC). For example, one image was taken at 12 pm and another at 5 pm. This option is recommended for time-sensitive events or if you want to optimize for image consistency.
- Entire Interval: Any satellite images captured during your pipeline interval can be mosaicked together. For example, if your interval is monthly, one image was taken on day 2 and another was captured on day 25. This option is recommended for larger AOIs (>30km²) or if you want to optimize for image delivery.
Check out our Ultimate Satellite Imagery Guide for additional insights on ordering satellite imagery.
