The MapScaping Podcast - GIS, Geospatial, Remote Sensing, earth observation and digital geography Common Space
Mar 22, 2026
Bill Greer, co-founder of Common Space and remote sensing advocate, builds high-resolution satellites for humanitarian use. He discusses barriers to imagery access, the 50–70 cm resolution target, daily revisit and latency trade-offs, community-driven governance, and a club-good funding model to keep data open for relief groups while charging others.
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Submeter Imagery As Operational Sweet Spot
- CommonSpace aims for sub‑meter true‑color imagery (50–70 cm) to bridge the gap between Landsat/Sentinel and expensive commercial options.
- That resolution unlocks operational tasks like building damage assessments and infrastructure detection for responders.
Design Satellites For Daily Revisit And Low Latency
- Design mission tradeoffs around revisit, latency, and communications to ensure imagery reaches users within operational windows.
- Greer recommends daily revisit (6–12 satellites) plus fast downlink and processing to deliver data in 12–36 hours.
Humanitarians Need Surge On Demand Imaging
- Humanitarian users require surge, on‑demand imaging for sudden onset events rather than persistent monitoring.
- This drives the need for pre‑approved, low‑friction tasking so responders can image events like earthquakes or floods immediately.