Transport and logistics
Supply chains photograph well.
Clouds close airports. They do not close container yards to radar.Container yard occupancy measurement from SAR
Synthetic aperture radar detects and counts intermodal containers in port yards at any hour, in any weather, using the distinctive double-bounce signature of metal boxes stacked on concrete. Temporal stacking of SAR scenes converts occupancy snapshots into throughput indices.
Sentinel-1 (C-band SAR, 5.405 GHz)ICEYE X-band SAR constellationCapella Space X-band SAR
Ports report congestion late. Satellites report it daily.Vessel dwell time and berth utilisation from optical imagery
Repeated high-resolution optical passes over commercial ports let analysts measure how long individual vessels occupy berths, revealing congestion days before it surfaces in official port statistics or freight indices.
Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades Neo
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off physics.Dark vessel detection by fusing AIS gaps with RF and SAR
When a vessel goes dark on AIS, its radar cross-section and incidental RF emissions remain. Fusing spaceborne AIS gaps with SAR imagery and HawkEye 360 RF fingerprints produces detections that no single sensor can achieve alone.
Spire Global spaceborne AISHawkEye 360 RF geolocationSentinel-1 SAR (ESA)
Trucks park. Pixels remember. Supply chains cannot hide inactivity.Road freight activity proxied by truck counts at logistics nodes
Sub-metre optical imagery from Planet, Maxar and Pléiades Neo can count heavy goods vehicles at distribution centres and border crossings, turning parking geometry into a daily freight-flow index.
Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades Neo
Wagons must stay on rails. That constraint is your detection advantage.Rail wagon and intermodal yard occupancy from satellite imagery
Track geometry forces rolling stock into predictable linear positions, making satellite-based counting far more tractable than open-area vehicle detection. High-resolution optical and SAR data can count, classify and monitor loading state across classification yards and intermodal terminals globally.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Capella Space SAR (X-band)
Stands look empty on the schedule. Satellites check the apron.Airport aircraft counting and stand utilisation monitoring
Very-high-resolution optical imagery at 0.3–0.5 m lets analysts count aircraft, infer type from geometry, and convert stand occupancy into throughput proxies. Published studies using WorldView and Pléiades data show the method works; the hard constraint is that no tasking system can guarantee overpass timing against a morning banking wave.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Shoppers leave their cars visible. Satellites can count them.Retail and industrial activity proxied by parking-lot occupancy
Counting passenger vehicles in car parks from high-resolution optical imagery is a published, peer-reviewed method for estimating retail footfall and factory shift activity before official data are released.
Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Planet SkySatMaxar WorldView-3
Queues form in minutes. Satellites catch them once a day.Land border crossing queue length estimation from satellite
High-resolution optical satellites can count stationary vehicles in border-crossing approach lanes where ground sensors are absent or politically inconvenient, but the revisit problem is real and must be managed honestly.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Aircraft cross oceans invisibly. Satellites above disagree.Air traffic flow analysis from spaceborne ADS-B
Ground radar stops at the coastline. Spaceborne ADS-B receivers on Spire Global and Aireon/Iridium NEXT reconstruct full oceanic and polar trajectories, exposing route utilisation and congestion that terrestrial systems simply cannot see.
Aireon ADS-B on Iridium NEXTSpire Global spaceborne ADS-BAircraft ADS-B transponders (1090 MHz ES)
A building invisible to statistics is still visible from orbit.Cold-chain and logistics warehouse construction progress monitoring
Satellite imagery can track cold-store and logistics warehouse construction months before facilities enter official capacity databases, giving freight operators and investors a leading indicator of supply-chain infrastructure.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveAirbus Pléiades Neo stereo
Floodlights cannot lie about shift patterns the way manifests can.Port and freight terminal activity indexed by nighttime light intensity
VIIRS Day/Night Band radiance turns port floodlighting into a continuous operational index. The method is cheap, globally consistent, and honest about its 750 m resolution floor.
VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB)DMSP-OLS (historical archive)VIIRS Nightfire (VIIRS VNF product)
Barges carry no transponders. Physics still leaves a trace.Inland waterway barge traffic monitoring from SAR and optical
Most inland barges are invisible to AIS networks. SAR and optical satellites can detect and count them, but low freeboard, river clutter and sun-glint geometry impose real limits that any serious monitoring programme must account for.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Planet SuperDove (optical, Planet Labs)Spire Global spaceborne AIS
Ships wait. Owners guess. Radar counts.Vessel anchorage queue density and waiting-time estimation
SAR imagery detects every vessel at anchor regardless of AIS status, while historical AIS archives supply individual dwell durations. Together they turn anchorage queues into quantified congestion signals for ports, traders and freight forwarders.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA/Copernicus)ICEYE SAR constellationCapella Space SAR
A yard's shadow tells you what its gates do not.Container stack height estimation from SAR shadow geometry
High-resolution SAR imagery casts measurable radar shadows behind container stacks. Trigonometry converts shadow length and sensor incidence angle into tier count, extending occupancy measurement to true volumetric utilisation.
ICEYE Spotlight SARCapella Space Spotlight SARUmbra SAR
Finished cars sit in the open. Counting them is the trade signal.Roll-on/roll-off vehicle terminal inventory from optical imagery
Very-high-resolution optical satellites resolve individual passenger cars on RoRo aprons, turning parked inventory into a quantitative signal for automotive exporters and commodity traders tracking production-to-shipment lead times.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SuperDove (PlanetScope)
The pile looks the same. The volume tells a different story.Bulk commodity stockpile volume estimation at export terminals
Combining high-resolution optical footprints with spaceborne elevation data lets analysts estimate coal, iron ore, grain and bauxite stockpile volumes at export terminals, turning pixel counts into inventory and throughput proxies.
TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on Digital Elevation Measurement)ICESat-2 (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, ATLAS)Maxar WorldView-3
Ground access is restricted. The corridor still has to move.Pipeline and infrastructure construction logistics corridor monitoring
Sequential satellite acquisitions over a construction corridor reveal active work fronts, equipment concentrations and staging-yard activity without a single site visit. Useful for project-finance oversight and supply-chain scheduling where physical access is constrained.
Planet SuperDoveSentinel-2 MSIMaxar WorldView-3
Ferries file a schedule. AIS records what actually sailed.Ferry route frequency and passenger demand proxying from AIS
Spaceborne AIS data from Spire Global and exactEarth lets analysts reconstruct actual ferry departure frequencies on island and coastal routes, compare them against published timetables, and infer demand suppression or cancellations at scale.
Spire Global spaceborne AISexactEarth spaceborne AISOrbcomm spaceborne AIS
Self-reported draught lies. The waterline does not.Tanker loading and discharge event detection from draught proxies
SAR imagery can infer whether a tanker at berth is loading or discharging by tracking the vessel's waterline position between arrival and departure passes. The method is most reliable for VLCCs and Suezmax hulls, where the freeboard change is large enough to exceed sensor resolution floors.
ICEYE SAR constellationCapella Space SARSentinel-1 SAR (ESA)
The roof moves. The shadow tells you how much is inside.LNG and petroleum storage tank fill-level estimation
Floating-roof storage tanks reveal their fill level through the shadow cast by the roof rim in sub-metre optical imagery and through roof position in SAR data. The method is well documented, commercially deployable, and honest about its limits.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoICEYE SAR (X-band)
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off physics.Ship-to-ship cargo transfer detection at sea
At-sea cargo transfers between tankers are a primary sanctions-evasion route for oil and grain. Fusing SAR imagery, RF monitoring and AIS behavioural analysis exposes them even when both vessels go dark.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA/Copernicus)ICEYE SAR (commercial)Spire Global RF/AIS (commercial)
Vessels at berth still burn fuel. Satellites can tell when they stop.Port electrification and cold-ironing uptake proxied by nighttime emissions
Sentinel-5P TROPOMI measures SO2 and NO2 columns over port areas at 3.5 km pixel resolution. Cross-referenced with AIS dwell times, falling per-vessel emissions during port calls proxy cold-ironing uptake, with honest caveats about fuel-switching ambiguity.
Sentinel-5P TROPOMISpire Global AISSentinel-1 SAR
An aircraft at the gate is invisible to AIS. Its service vehicles are not.Airport apron ground-vehicle activity as turnaround efficiency proxy
Sub-0.5 m optical satellites can count and classify ground-support vehicles on airport aprons, turning parking-stand imagery into a proxy for turnaround intensity and gate throughput between scheduled movements.
BlackSky GlobalMaxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades Neo
Passenger jets carry cargo too. Satellites can tell which is which.Cargo airport freighter-to-passenger mix analysis from aircraft classification
Very-high-resolution optical satellites measure fuselage length and wingspan on airport aprons to distinguish freighters from passenger aircraft, giving a repeatable proxy for dedicated air-cargo capacity at major hubs.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoBlackSky Global
AIS tells you where ships are. It says nothing about where boxes go next.Inland dry port and intermodal container depot activity monitoring
Satellite optical time series can track container-stack footprints and truck patterns at inland clearance depots, answering whether dry ports are absorbing coastal congestion or sitting idle. AIS data alone cannot answer that question.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveMaxar WorldView-3
Ground sensors miss the night shift. Radar does not.Road freight corridor congestion index from vehicle density mapping
Satellite SAR and high-resolution optical imagery can count stationary or slow-moving trucks on major freight corridors, producing a congestion index where loop detectors and GPS probes are absent or unreliable.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band)Capella Space SAR (X-band)
Official trade data arrives months late. Wagons do not move invisibly.Cross-border rail wagon flow estimation at international rail crossings
High-resolution optical satellites count rail wagons queued or transiting at international border crossings, producing freight-flow proxies weeks before official statistics are published. The method is sharpest at gauge-break facilities where physical wagon transfers create dense, countable concentrations.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Ships turn off their transponders. They cannot turn off their radar cross-section.Shipping lane traffic density mapping from fused AIS and SAR
Fusing spaceborne AIS position reports with SAR-detected vessel centroids produces gridded traffic-density maps that expose route shifts, dark fleets and chokepoint stress that neither source can reveal alone.
Sentinel-1 SAR (ESA/Copernicus)Spire Global spaceborne AISexactEarth spaceborne AIS
A storm clears in hours. Knowing what it destroyed takes longer.Port infrastructure damage assessment after extreme weather or conflict
SAR coherence and very-high-resolution optical imagery can detect structural damage to quay walls, cranes, warehouses and aprons within hours of an event, even under cloud cover. Honest limits apply: pre-event archive gaps and debris ambiguity constrain confidence.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band)Maxar WorldView-3 (optical/SWIR)
Small vessels skip AIS. They cannot skip a SAR image.Fishing port catch-landing activity and fleet return patterns
Satellite SAR and optical imagery count vessels at berth and in anchorage at small fishing ports, producing fleet-return indices and catch-landing proxies where official landings data is sparse or delayed.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)ICEYE SAR (X-band, commercial)Planet SuperDove (optical, commercial)
Planning permission is slow. Construction is not.Logistics park expansion and land-use change monitoring
Satellite time series can date every phase of a logistics park build, from first ground-break to sealed hardstanding, weeks before a planning register updates. Sentinel-2 and high-resolution optical imagery together give investors and regulators a verifiable construction timeline.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveMaxar WorldView-3
A ship's waterline tells you what its manifest may not.Container ship load estimation from waterline draught proxies
High-resolution optical and SAR imagery can resolve a container vessel's freeboard at berth or anchor, letting analysts infer approximate load state without touching a cargo manifest. Accuracy depends on knowing the tide, the hull class, and the pixel.
Planet SuperDoveCapella Space SAR (X-band)Sentinel-2 MSI
Gates open. Physics records who is still waiting.Truck queue length at freight terminal gates
Sub-metre optical satellites can count stationary trucks queued at freight terminal gates, exposing throughput bottlenecks that port operators and logistics buyers rarely publish. Intra-day tasking turns snapshots into a queue-dynamics time series.
Planet SkySatAirbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView Legion
Platforms go silent. Their supply boats do not.Offshore supply vessel activity as oil platform operations proxy
Platform supply vessels run on schedules tightly coupled to production and maintenance tempo. Their AIS tracks, corroborated by SAR detections near known platform coordinates, give analysts a reliable operational proxy for installations that publish no direct output data.
Spire Maritime spaceborne AISICEYE SAR constellationSentinel-1 SAR
Cranes cannot hide their posture from a 30-centimetre camera.Ship-to-shore crane activity as port productivity indicator
Ship-to-shore gantry cranes are the physical rate-limiters of container terminal throughput. Satellite imagery and SAR time-series can classify crane posture, estimate move-rate proxies, and flag productivity shifts without a single ground sensor.
Airbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView-LegionPlanet SkySat
The deck is open. The vehicles are visible. The trade flow is readable.Vehicle count on pure car and truck carrier decks
Very-high-resolution optical satellites can count individual vehicles on PCTC upper decks before departure, giving analysts a direct proxy for automotive export volumes days ahead of port statistics.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Airline cargo statistics are self-reported. Apron imagery is not.Air cargo apron ULD and pallet inventory from very-high-resolution imagery
Sub-metre optical satellites can count unit load devices and pallets staged on cargo aprons, producing a throughput signal independent of airline or airport disclosure. This page covers sensor physics, detection limits, and how ULD counts relate to published freight tonne-kilometre data.
Maxar WorldView-LegionAirbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
Cranes get the headlines. Tractors do the actual work.Yard tractor density as container terminal throughput proxy
Internal terminal tractors are the connective tissue of any container port, yet they are invisible to AIS and crane sensors. Sub-50 cm optical imagery makes them countable, and multi-temporal stacks make their patterns readable.
Planet SkySatAirbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView-3
The river drops centimetres. The logistics bill rises by millions.River port access disruption from seasonal low-water detection
Seasonal low water on the Rhine, Mississippi, Paraná and Yangtze can close port approach channels for weeks. ICESat-2 altimetry and Sentinel-2 water-body mapping give early warning, though neither can measure draught directly in narrow channels.
ICESat-2 ATLASSentinel-2 MSI (NDWI)Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, water extent)
Customs zones cannot hide construction; rooftops precede throughput.Bonded warehouse rooftop expansion as trade volume proxy
Bonded warehouse and free-trade-zone rooftop growth, tracked through optical time-series, gives a spatially explicit, lagging signal of import and re-export demand at specific customs nodes. Combining building-footprint change detection with cadastral overlays separates trade-policy-sensitive storage from general logistics expansion.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet Basemaps (PlanetScope)Airbus SPOT 6/7
The boxes are white. The heat they shed is not.Refrigerated container plug-point utilisation at cold-chain ports
Refrigerated containers cluster near power pedestals in predictable patterns, and their thermal signatures are detectable from orbit. Combined optical and thermal analysis turns reefer density into a real-time proxy for cold-chain trade volumes.
Airbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySatLandsat 8/9 TIRS