Satellite-based Earth observation analytics for disaster management, infrastructure resilience, and environmental monitoring.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); World Bank; Asian Development Bank.
Developing countries and remote areas often lack reliable, ground-based data to monitor critical risks such as land subsidence, flood damage and illegal logging. Traditional surveying methods are costly, slow, and heavily dependent on weather conditions, limiting timely disaster response and infrastructure management. Governments, infrastructure operators and communities in these regions face challenges in assessing risks and allocating resources efficiently, which can compromise safety, resilience and economic stability.
Synspective provides a geospatial web-based analytics platform that integrates data from its high-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites ("StriX") with third-party SAR sources like Sentinel, from the European Space Agency and from Japan’s ALOS satellites. This hybrid approach allows both historical trend analysis and real-time monitoring. Key features include all-weather, day-and-night capability, wide-area coverage without on-site personnel, and millimetre-level precision detection of land subsidence. By fusing SAR, optical, and ground-based data, the platform helps users identify risk hotspots, prioritize scarce resources, and make informed, locally tailored decisions, even in areas where traditional monitoring is not feasible.
Synspective enables access to high-precision geospatial analytics in regions where traditional monitoring is difficult or too expensive. Governments, urban planners, and communities in developing countries or remote areas gain critical insights without deploying extensive on-site sensors or personnel. By reducing dependence on costly and weather-dependent surveying, the solution empowers vulnerable populations and decision-makers to anticipate risks, prevent disasters, and optimize infrastructure management.
Synspective’s solution has significantly improved disaster monitoring and risk assessment worldwide. It reduces response time from weeks to hours, lowers monitoring costs compared to traditional surveys, and enables precise, large-area observation in challenging conditions.
Notable case studies demonstrate the real-world impact of Synspective’s SAR Analytics Solution. In Guatemala City, in partnership with JICA (2018–2021), the platform monitored ground subsidence and identified three high-risk sinkhole locations that traditional surveys had missed. In Joshimath, India, it continues to track a sinking city to support preventive interventions, while in Jamaica, the solution contributed to a Disaster Response Report from the United Nations’ Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), following severe flooding. Beyond these field applications, Synspective has successfully launched multiple commercial SAR satellites (StriX series), strengthening global disaster management capabilities and infrastructure monitoring.
Synspective plans to expand its SAR StriX satellite constellation to 30 satellites by the late 2020s, enabling near real-time, high-frequency Earth observation globally. This will increase the temporal resolution and geographic coverage of its analytics, allowing faster disaster response, improved infrastructure monitoring, and expanded support to developing countries and remote regions worldwide.
