Venice in Italy captured by Planet Labs LEO satellite (photo courtesy of Planet Labs)

Venice in Italy captured by Planet Labs LEO satellite

Venice in Italy, captured by Planet Labs LEO satellite, is situated in the Veneto region of North-East Italy. Venice (Venezia), renowned as the ‘City of Canals’, remains virtually unchanged from its state six centuries ago, a facet that contributes to its captivating allure. Although Venice has witnessed some deterioration since its prime, it continues to be a popular tourist destination, drawing in a substantial crowd (with a resident population of 56,000 and an annual influx of 20 million tourists).

Recognized for its lagoon and the historic sectors nestled within it, Venice secured its spot on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987. This designation encompasses an expansive expanse of 70,176 hectares (173,410 acres), encapsulating the city’s rich cultural and historical significance.

Planet Labs is an Earth Imaging company based in San Francisco, USA. The company has built and successfully deployed 450 satellites and is operating 200+ in orbit collecting over 350 million sq. km of imaginary data. In addition to California, Planet has offices in Germany and Canada where they deliver market-leading geospatial imagery to a global network of customers and partners in over 100 countries.

Planet currently operates three constellations, SkySat, with 21 satellites, RapidEYE and Doves. The satellites that comprise each constellation have unique spatial, temporal, and radiometric resolutions, to capture Earth’s activities from multiple perspectives and dimensions.

The SkySat satellites, built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) aka Maxar, were originally operated by SkyBox Imaging, that was acquired by Google in 2014. In 2016 Skybox Imaging changed name in Terra Bella that was purchased by Planet in April 2017 with Google as a shareholder in Planet as part of that deal.