Land Change downloads the Sentinel-2 satellite image of the chosen place, cuts it into 64×64-pixel squares, classifies them with a ResNet18 model trained on the EuroSAT dataset, and reports the land cover or the change between two dates.
Flow
- Pick a placeA point is picked on the globe or searched for; a square of 5 to 25 km around it is analysed.
- Download the imageThe cloud-free Sentinel-2 image closest to the requested day is downloaded from the Microsoft Planetary Computer catalogue.
- ClassifyThe image is cut into 64×64-pixel squares (640 m at 10 m resolution); the model assigns each one of EuroSAT's 10 classes and reports its confidence.
- CompareThe two dates are compared cell by cell; the changed area and the transitions between groups are calculated in km².
Limits
- Every value shown is a model estimate, not a measurement.
- Areas are not measurements but approximations counted from cells, and they depend on the chosen scale; larger cells give coarser results, and the same place can give different figures at different scales.
- EuroSAT has no greenhouse or bare-soil class; greenhouses can show up as built-up, bare soil as built-up or agriculture.
- The model was trained on European images; results outside Europe are less reliable.
- Dates before mid-2015 are not supported (before Sentinel-2).
- The model decides on a 640-metre window; the 320 m scale makes the map finer but not the model sharper, so small changes may not show.
- Clouds, shadows and seasonal differences can show change that is not there.
- Globe basemap: Sentinel-2 cloudless by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data).
- Privacy: no accounts, cookies or tracking. Search text goes to Photon (komoot) for place search and the chosen location to this project's API for the analysis; the globe basemap loads from EOX servers. The browser stores only your language, theme and correction choice.
Source code on GitHub