10 to 20m resolution panchromatic imagery is available for the UK and Ireland from 1986 to 1995 (from SPOT 1, 2 and 3 satellites). They are isolated scenes captured over an extended time period and as such are unsuitable for analysis where change over time is an important factor. The data were acquired by the Landmap project from Infoterra. There have been 7 SPOT (Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre) satellites launched since 1986 (as of August 2014), providing medium to high resolution of the Earth's surface. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded Landmap service which ran from 2001 to July 2014 collected and hosted a large amount of earth observation data for the majority of the UK. After removal of JISC funding in 2013, the Landmap service is no longer operational, with the data now held at the NEODC.

The SPOT satellite Earth Observation System was designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), in France. CNES owns and operates the SPOT satellite system while worldwide commercial operations are anchored by private companies (i.e. SPOT IMAGE Corporation in the United States, SPOT IMAGE in France, SATIMAGE in Sweden, and distributors in over 40 countries). The SPOT Program supports commercial remote sensing on an international scale, establishing a global network of control centers, receiving stations, processing centres, and data distributors. SPOT 1, 2 and 3 carried a multi-spectral and panchromatic sensor on board. SPOT 7 was successfully launched on June 30th 2014.

The first three SPOT satellites carry twin HRVs (High-Resolution Visible Imaging instruments) that operate in a number of viewing configurations and in different spectral modes. Some of those viewing configurations and spectral modes include one HRV only operating in a dual spectral mode (i.e. in both panchromatic mode and multispectral mode); two HRVs operating in the twin-viewing configuration (i.e. one HRV in panchromatic mode and one HRV in multispectral mode); and two HRVs operating independently of each other (i.e. not in twin-viewing configuration). The position of each HRV entrance mirror can be commanded by ground control to observe a region of interest. Operating independently of each other, the two HRVs acquire imagery in either multispectral (XS) and/or panchromatic (P) modes at any viewing angle within plus or minus 27 degrees. This off-nadir viewing enables the acquisition of stereoscopic imagery. To make sure the satellite covers every point on the earth's surface, the HRV imaging instruments offer a field of view that is wider than the greatest distance between two adjacent tracks. The three bands used in multispectral mode are:

• Green: 0.50 to 0.59µm
• Red: 0.61 to 0.68µm
• Near InfraRed (NIR): 0.79 to 0.89µm

The SPOT imagery is available to all UK academics and students. To apply for access, please

1. Register as a NEODC user. If you already are a NEODC registered user, skip this step. If you have forgotten your NEODC user ID and/or password, please contact the NEODC helpdesk at neodc@rl.ac.uk.
2. Apply for access to the Landmap data. Application involves the agreement with the Landmap terms of use.

10 to 20m resolution panchromatic imagery is available for the UK and Ireland from 1986 to 1995 in GeoTiff format, they are isolated scenes captured over an extended time period. The data are archived in the structure country/year/geotiff/orthospotxx_xxx_ddmmyyyy/datafiles where ddmmyyyy is the date that the image was collected on. XML metadata files containing information such as latitude/longitude, collection date and general information about the product; are located with their respective image files.

GeoTiff files are TIFF files which have geographic metadata embedded as tags within the TIFF file. The geographic metadata can then be used to position the image in the correct location and geometry on the screen of a geographic information display. They can be opened by most Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Image Processors (IP) such as the freely available Basic ERS & Envisat (A)ATSR and Meris Toolbox (BEAM).

Software

Basic ERS & Envisat (A) ATSR and Meris Toolbox (BEAM): BEAM is an open-source toolbox and development platform for viewing, analysing and processing of remote sensing raster data. Originally developed to facilitate the utilisation of image data from Envisat's optical instruments, BEAM now supports a growing number of other raster data formats such as GeoTIFF and NetCDF as well as data formats of other Earth Observation (EO) sensors such as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), AVNIR, Polarised Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (PRISM) and Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS). Various data and algorithms are supported by dedicated extension plug-ins.

Documentation

• Technical information about the SPOT satellites and their instruments
• Details on SPOT satellite orbits
• Information about the instruments on-board SPOT 1-5
• Information on how the SPOT imagery is collected

Links to further information

• The Landmap project SPOT website, this site may be offline after 1st August 2014 due to a withdrawal of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funding, see below for an archived version of the site
• An archived version of the Landmap project SPOT site, hosted by the Internet Archive project
• Infoterra page on the SPOT satellites
• The CNES website

If you have queries about these pages or about obtaining the SPOT imagery from the NEODC then you should contact the NEODC Support team. Your query should be answered within one working day. When follow-up work is required, the NEODC support team will carry out the work as quickly and efficiently as possible.