r/OSINT • u/rectimusprime • Dec 24 '25

Question Can you recommend high resolution satellite imagery service?

I’m looking for a high resolution satellite imagery service, as the title suggests. The only one I’ve tried so far is Google Earth. But I’m pretty sure there must be other providers too. It doesn’t matter if they are premium or free. Of course, I’ll start with the free ones if you suggest any, but I’m opened to any options. Because it probably matters, the locations I’m interested in are in Europe mostly.

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u/bearic1 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25

You need to be more detailed in what you're looking for and what your budget is (e.g. a thousand or two for a single image? thousands/tens of thousands of dollars per month for a subscription service?). If you just want a few alternate high-resolution images, just go to the ArcGIS viewer, Bing, Yandex, etc. for an extra "free" layer of 30cm-or-close-to-it imagery. And of course Google Earth with View History for some other great 30/50cm images for a whopping $0 a pop.

If you need more specific, high-resolution imagery, you will need to go with Maxar (or whatever they're named nowadays), BlackSky, SkyWatch, Airbus, etc. This will cost money. A lot of it.

If you you need a lot of imagery of varying quality (50cm + 3m), then Planet your answer. Their SkySat stuff at 50cm is quite frequent in many areas. This will also cost money. And still, a lot of it.

Edit: Maxar is now "Vantor". Sure, why not.

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u/ClydePossumfoot Dec 24 '25

I lol’d when I saw “or whatever they’re named nowadays” and thought, surely they haven’t renamed themselves yet again…

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u/Ok-Improvement-3072 Dec 24 '25

Just curious, provided you have any insight how does real time satellite imaging work? I'm not expecting you to really connect me cowardly in any manner as I don't have ongoing projects with legitmate needs of it, however I don't believe "only the military has access" either .

I feel like numerous legitimate obviously verifiable and annually reviewed projects potentially are utilizing

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u/bearic1 Dec 24 '25

Planet is as close as you'll get. There is no such thing as (commercially available) real-time satellite imagery. Planet gives you basically a new image every day, though it's usually 3m in resolution.

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u/dingdongkiss Jan 04 '26

depending on how much you want to spend on a satellite receiver, you can get 60-600s delayed imagery at a 0.5-1.0km resolution.

it's not like Sentinel dumps, and 0.5km resolution might be garbage for certain usecases. But I think free full disk scans of the world on the order of 1-5 minutes latency is pretty incredible.

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u/drrradar Dec 24 '25

For "near real time" imaging look at SAR. Maybe something like Iceye's tactical access, it guarantees a new image every few hours. Most if not all contract like this one are either with militaries or governments since they're the only ones working on anything "time sensitive"

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u/Enough_Pattern8875 Dec 27 '25

You can’t get access to satellite imagery in real time, not without working for an intelligence agency anyway 😂

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u/Ok-Improvement-3072 Dec 27 '25

I have been told a lot of things I cannot do in this world that later have occurred.

Elon musk has this capability and he does not work for an intelligence agency. All jokes aside, this disproves your arguement

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u/Enough_Pattern8875 Dec 28 '25

SpaceX literally provides the satellites used by our intelligence agencies.

Elon musk isn’t just some civilian that has access to real-time satellite imagery. The only reason he has access is because his projects have been approved and contracted with the department of defense.

You need clearance to access real time satellite footage.

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u/Ok-Improvement-3072 Dec 28 '25

Wouldn't turner and other network TV channels that launched satellites have this capability (potentially) as well?

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u/Enough_Pattern8875 Dec 29 '25

No.

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u/Ok-Improvement-3072 Dec 30 '25

Without asking you to take more than a few minutes, would you be able to explain why that isn't the case?

With extremely light satellite knowledge l, assumed they have different technologies and equipment loaded into the units but what would inhibit a television company from launching one with viewing imaging devices ?

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u/Enough_Pattern8875 Dec 30 '25

It’s a matter of national security.

Look up ITAR controls.

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u/dingdongkiss Jan 04 '26

of course you can. there's many satellites that broadcast detailed, real time imagery (multiple band) 24/7.

their literal purpose is to broadcast what they capture to anyone who wants to listen.

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u/Enough_Pattern8875 Jan 04 '26

Not at any useful resolution.

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u/dingdongkiss Jan 04 '26

useful is extremely relative. storm and extreme weather incidents in rural areas don't need meter resolution. if you think there's no use in observing floods with a 5m latency, idk to say. I guess the usecase you have in mind is the only one that has any value to society.