orbit

OSINT satellite imagery tool — search, filter, and replay Planet imagery for geospatial intelligence and ground truth verification.

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What it does

Orbit is a local web app that lets you:

• Select any area of interest on a Leaflet map using polygon, rectangle, circle, or point+radius tools
• Search Planet's imagery archive across multiple sources (SkySat, PlanetScope, Sentinel-2, Landsat)
• View and compare results sorted by recency and resolution in a floating panel with thumbnails
• Replay imagery over time using a timeline slider with per-date dot markers, play/pause, speed control, and a calendar picker

Designed for OSINT, geospatial intelligence, ground truth verification, and change detection workflows. Runs entirely locally — no data leaves your machine except the API queries to Planet.

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Screenshots

AOI selection — Persian Gulf / Strait of Hormuz

Drawing a search area over the Oman coast

Ship detection — zoomed satellite imagery

PlanetScope imagery zoomed in to detect a vessel at sea

Satellite tile overlay — Boracay, Philipines

Island overview with imagery loaded

High-detail island imagery with results panel

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Getting a Planet API key

1. Go to planet.com and create a free account
2. Navigate to Account Settings → API Keys
3. Copy your API key
4. Check your subscription tier — free accounts include access to PlanetScope (PSScene) imagery; SkySat requires a paid subscription

Tip: Planet offers a free Education & Research program with expanded data access for qualifying users.

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Setup

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• A Planet account with an API key

Install

git clone https://github.com/seedon198/orbit.git
cd orbit

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate      # macOS/Linux
# venv\Scripts\activate       # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configure

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and replace the placeholder with your Planet API key:

PLANET_API_KEY=your_planet_api_key_here

Run

source venv/bin/activate
python app.py

Open http://localhost:5000 in your browser.

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Usage

1. Draw an AOI — use the toolbar in the top bar to draw a polygon, rectangle, circle, or drop a point with a radius
2. Set filters — choose image sources, date range, and max cloud cover
3. Click Search — results appear in the floating panel on the right
4. Click a result card — loads the image as a tile overlay on the map
5. Use the timeline — scrub through dates, hit play to replay imagery over time, or use the calendar to jump to a specific date

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Image sources

Source	Resolution	Notes
SkySat-Collect	~0.5m	Highest resolution; requires paid subscription
PSScene	~3m	Daily global coverage; available on free tier
Sentinel-2	10m	Free, ESA Copernicus program
Landsat 8	30m	Free, deep historical archive

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Architecture

orbit/
├── app.py              # Flask app + route handlers
├── planet_client.py    # All Planet API communication
├── requirements.txt
├── .env                # API key (never committed)
├── .env.example        # Template for setup
├── templates/
│   └── index.html      # Single-page shell
└── static/
    ├── css/app.css
    └── js/
        ├── map.js       # Leaflet map + draw controls
        ├── search.js    # Top bar controls + search dispatch
        ├── results.js   # Floating results panel
        └── timeline.js  # Slider, play/pause, calendar

The Flask backend proxies all Planet API requests — the API key is never sent to the browser.

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Development

# Run tests
source venv/bin/activate
pytest tests/ -v

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License

MIT