Frequently Asked Questions

Analytic Feeds - Building Detection

• Why are certain buildings missed?
• Why do the position of the buildings shift month-to-month?
• Why does the same building look different sizes month-to-month?
• Does Planet classify building type?
• What is the smallest size building that can be detected?

Analytic Feeds - Vessel Detection

• Can Planet match this data with AIS data?
• Why does the bounding box not exactly match the vessel (partial fit or over fit)?
• Why are so many false positives detected, even when there is no object in the image?
• Why are there duplicate detections in some AOIs?
• Can Planet run the analytic over open water (i.e. not a port)?
• Does Planet classify vessel type, color, other features?

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Analytic Feeds - Road Detection

• Why are certain roads missed?
• Why do the position of the roads occasionally shift month-to-month?
• Why does the same road look different sizes month-to-month?
• What is the smallest size road that can be detected?

Planet Analytic Feeds

• Do you support automated tip and cue with Planet Analytic Feeds?
• How do I get access to the source imagery (scenes for vessels and source quads for roads and buildings)?
• How do I interpret cloud cover?
• How do I interpret the “score” surfaced in object-detection based Analytic Feeds?
• Can I integrate Analytic outputs into my platform?
• What types of applications can be built using Planet Analytic outputs?

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Next Generation Planetscope

• What is “Next-Generation PlanetScope imagery”?
• How can I access this new imagery?
• How far back in the archive can you find Next Generation PlanetScope imagery?
• What changes will be made to the imagery products (as described in Product Specification)?
• Can Next-Generation PlanetScope imagery be used with existing PlanetScope imagery?
• Do I need to update my workflows to incorporate this new imagery?

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Quota

• What is Quota? How much of my quota is consumed by each full size (no-clip) download?
• What to do if the activation link expires and the download couldn't be completed?
• Is it possible for my quota to reach it's capacity in the middle of a download?
• When is a Planet product charged against my quota?

Pricing

• What is the minimum order value and how much does it cost?
• What is the required information I must provide to get quotation?

Surface Reflectance

• What can I do with surface reflectance product?
• Why Planet surface reflectance product uses 6S atmospheric radiative transfer model?
• What is Surface Reflectance?
• When is the Surface Reflectance product available?
• How is the Surface Reflectance product provided?
• How does Surface Reflectance improve on what came before it?

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Education and Research Program

• Am I eligible for the Education and Research Program?
• What usage rights are granted with a Basic Account?
• I need more than 10,000 square kilometers per month. How should I proceed?
• What if I have a commercial use in mind?
• I represent a university. Can my whole institution apply for access?
• Can I teach a course with a Basic Account?

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Basemaps

• What is the difference between a Automated Timelapse and a Automated basemap?
• When do I get access to my Automated Timelapse Basemaps?
• Are there area of interest (AOI) limitiations?
• How does this compare to imagery in applications like Google Maps?
• How can I access basemaps?

Planet Explorer

• How can I compare two scenes?
• Is there a way to share my saved searches?
• What is the license and terms of use for the data set I have access to?
• How long does it take to get an order processed?
• What’s the maximum area of interest size I can define to get a list of individual scenes and not mosaics?
• How can I switch from Planet Explorer to Planet Basemaps?

Accounts

• How can I get a Planet account?
• What is my API key?

Satellites

• How big are the Dove satellites?
• How many of your satellites are in a polar (or sun-synchronous) orbit?
• How do you deal with space debris?
• How do you calibrate the optical sensor on each satellite?
• Do you sell cubesat kits or hardware?
• Could you launch a cubesat or host a payload for me?

Imagery

• What does the “ground_control” field in the metadata signify?
• How can we interpret image file names and ID numbers?
• Do all PlanetScope images have the same quality?
• Using Planet GeoTIFFs in QGIS
• Using Planet GeoTIFFs in Google Earth Pro on Desktop
• Why can we see gaps between scenes?

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Product

• Do you provide Relative Spectral Response Curves (RSRs) for your satellites?
• What are your products?
• How do I access your products?
• Are you like Google Maps?
• What is the difference between an analytic, visual, and basic scene?
• Can we search an area of interest to find the scenes that we require?

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API

• API authentication options
• Downloading Planet data with PHP cURL

Finding data

• Does Planet publish daily imagery?
• How do I enable notifications for new imagery?
• How can I find data that I'm interested in?
• What search criteria can I use for finding scenes?