GEM · Project

Satellite Monitoring of Entire Continents at a Fraction of Current Costs

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Imagine you could watch the entire surface of the Earth from space — not just snapshots, but a continuous live feed that automatically spots every change as it happens. That's basically what GEM built. They combined satellite imagery with smart machine learning so you can monitor millions of square kilometers non-stop, without needing an army of analysts or a massive budget. Think of it like setting up a security camera for the planet, except it's smart enough to tell you what changed and why.

By the numbers

10 million km²

Area continuously monitored in demonstration

EUR 3,504,062

EU contribution to the project

9 partners across 7 countries

Consortium size and geographic spread

5 use cases

Specific monitoring use cases developed and validated

78%

Industry partner ratio in consortium

6 months

Duration of continuous operational demonstration

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies and agencies that need to monitor large land areas — for agriculture, insurance claims, environmental compliance, or security — currently face prohibitive costs and slow turnaround. Traditional satellite analysis requires expensive processing, massive storage, and manual interpretation, making continuous coverage of regions beyond a few hundred km² economically impractical for most organizations.

The solution

What was built

GEM delivered continuous monitoring services combining mapping, automated alerting, and drill-down analysis across satellite data. Concrete outputs include: Adjustable Data Cubes for cost-efficient processing and storage, upgrades to the open-source EO-LEARN machine learning platform, a QGIS plugin for direct service integration, a meteorological/climate data service powered by METEOBLUE, and a validated demonstration of 6-month continuous monitoring over 10 million km².

Audience

Who needs this

Large agribusiness companies monitoring crop health and land use across extensive territoriesProperty and crop insurance companies needing automated damage verification at scaleEnvironmental consulting firms tracking deforestation, urban sprawl, or habitat changesNational mapping and land registry agencies requiring continuous territory updatesDefense and border security organizations needing persistent area surveillance

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Agriculture & Land Management

enterprise

Target: Large agribusiness companies or agricultural cooperatives managing extensive farmland

If you are an agribusiness company managing thousands of hectares and struggling to detect crop stress, illegal land use, or irrigation failures before they cost you a season — GEM developed continuous satellite monitoring services that automatically detect changes across areas up to 10 million km², alerting you the moment something shifts. The system fuses multiple satellite data sources and uses machine learning for change detection, so you catch problems in days, not months.

Insurance & Risk Assessment

enterprise

Target: Property and crop insurance providers needing large-scale environmental risk monitoring

If you are an insurance company trying to assess and verify claims related to natural disasters, deforestation, or crop failure across entire regions — GEM built a monitoring process validated across 10 million km² that combines mapping, alerting, and drill-down analysis in one service. Instead of sending adjusters to every site, you get continuous satellite-based change detection with integrated meteorological data from services like METEOBLUE.

Environmental Consulting & Compliance

any

Target: Environmental monitoring firms and government agencies tracking land use, deforestation, or urban sprawl

If you are an environmental consultancy that needs to track deforestation, urban expansion, or habitat loss across large territories but current satellite analysis is too expensive or slow — GEM demonstrated continuous monitoring of 10 million km² at a fraction of current costs using Adjustable Data Cubes and the open-source EO-LEARN machine learning platform. The system integrates directly into QGIS through a dedicated plugin, fitting into workflows your team already uses.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What does this cost compared to traditional satellite monitoring?

GEM's core promise is continuous monitoring of large areas for a fraction of current costs. The project achieved this by combining static and dynamic data cubes to optimize processing and storage expenses. Exact pricing depends on the area monitored and service tier, but the architecture was specifically designed to make continent-scale monitoring economically viable.

Can this scale to monitor areas relevant to my business?

Yes. GEM was demonstrated on areas of 1 million and 10 million km² in continuous operation. The system was designed to be scale-independent, meaning it works from regional to global coverage using the same underlying technology. The 9-partner consortium validated this across 5 specific use cases.

Who owns the technology and how can I license it?

The coordinator Sinergise Solutions already operates Sentinel Hub, a commercial satellite data platform. Key components like EO-LEARN are open-source. For commercial licensing of the full GEM monitoring stack, you would need to contact Sinergise or the relevant consortium partner. Based on available project data, specific licensing terms are not publicly detailed.

What satellite data sources does this work with?

GEM integrates Sentinel 1, 2, 3, and 5P, MODIS, Landsat, and commercial very-high-resolution imagery — all processed through Sentinel Hub. It also incorporates meteorological data from METEOBLUE's weather models. This multi-source fusion gives you more complete and reliable monitoring than any single satellite alone.

How mature is this technology — can I use it today?

The system was validated through a demonstration of continuous operational monitoring over 10 million km². Sinergise already offers Sentinel Hub as a commercial service, and EO-LEARN is a publicly available open-source ML platform. The GEM-specific continuous monitoring pipeline was demonstrated at operational scale during the project period ending August 2023.

Does it integrate with tools my team already uses?

Yes. A dedicated QGIS plugin was developed as part of the project, allowing users to configure and access GEM services directly within QGIS, a widely used open-source geographic information system. The front office services were also designed for integration with partners like TomTom and SATCEN.

What kind of changes can it actually detect?

The system uses multiple machine learning approaches including attention mechanisms, Bayesian deep learning, and incremental learning specifically tuned for change detection and causality analysis. It operates at sub-resolution, native resolution, and super-resolution levels. Based on the project data, it handles continuous change detection as new satellite data arrives.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a heavily industry-driven consortium: 7 out of 9 partners are from the private sector (78%), with only 1 university and 1 other organization. The coordinator, Sinergise Solutions from Slovenia, already operates Sentinel Hub — one of the leading commercial platforms for satellite data access. The consortium spans 7 countries (Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Slovenia) and includes notable commercial players: TomTom for mapping and navigation, SATCEN for security applications, and METEOBLUE for weather data. With 3 SMEs in the mix and EUR 3.5 million in EU funding, this project was clearly built to produce commercially viable technology, not just academic papers.

SINERGISE LABORATORIJ ZA GEOGRAFSKEINFORMACIJSKE SISTEME DOOparticipant · SI
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHENparticipant · DE
TOMTOM GLOBAL CONTENT BVparticipant · NL
METEOBLUE AGparticipant · CH
EUROPEAN UNION SATELLITE CENTREparticipant · ES

How to reach the team

Sinergise Solutions (Slovenia) — operates Sentinel Hub. SciTransfer can facilitate a warm introduction to the project team.

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Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how GEM's continent-scale monitoring could work for your land, agriculture, or environmental tracking needs? SciTransfer connects you directly with the team behind the technology — contact us for a tailored briefing.

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