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| Issue Date: | February 18th 2019 |
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| Last modified: | March 13th 2019 |
Earth Observations for Official Statistics
This handbook, written by members of the United Nations Task Team on Satellite Imagery and Geospatial Data, provides a guide for National Statistical Offices considering using satellite imagery (known as earth observations) data for official statistics.
This is a white cover publication, pre-edited text subject to official editing and subject to further consultation.
This handbook, written by members of the United Nations Task Team on Satellite Imagery and Geospatial Data, provides a guide for National Statistical Offices considering using satellite imagery (known as earth observations) data for official statistics. It was produced as an input to the United Nation Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics report to the United Nations Statistical Commission for 2017.
The handbook provides a brief introduction to the use of earth observations (EO) data for official statistics, types of sources available and methodologies for producing statistics from this type of data. It also summarises the results of four pilot projects produced by Task Team members; Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografíca e Informática (INEGI), Mexico, Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica (DANE), Colombia and Google. Supplementary material includes a methodology literature review, and the full reports of the pilot projects.
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Dataset Landsat 8Cost: FREEMore detailsFirst launched in 1972, the Landsat series of satellites has produced the longest, continuous record of Earth’s land surface as seen from space.
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Dataset Sentinel-2Cost: FREEMore detailsThe Sentinel-2 mission is a land monitoring constellation of two satellites that provide high resolution optical imagery and provide continuity for the current SPOT and Landsat missions.
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Dataset Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)Cost: FREEMore detailsModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data is available for anyone to use via Amazon S3. Select products are made available each day, often within hours of production.