LittoralEye processes Sentinel-1 SAR imagery from the Copernicus programme to detect vessels at sea — no AIS transponder, no commercial data licence required. The full detection archive is free to query.
Most maritime awareness tools rely on AIS — the radio transponders vessels are required to broadcast. AIS is useful, but it only shows you ships that want to be seen. LittoralEye uses synthetic aperture radar to image the ocean surface directly, detecting vessels regardless of whether they are broadcasting.
The platform ingests Sentinel-1 SAR imagery from the Copernicus programme, runs automated ship detection, and serves the results as an interactive map updated continuously as new imagery becomes available. The full detection archive is queryable by area, date range, and vessel size.
LittoralEye is an early-stage platform. Coverage is expanding, AIS correlation is planned, and the detection pipeline is under active development. The known limitations of the current system are documented on the methodology page.
LittoralEye is operated under Geosolutions Consulting Inc., a Canadian company.
Drew's background is in geological engineering, with a master's thesis in InSAR remote sensing for monitoring slow-moving landslides. That work built the foundation in SAR processing and spatial databases that LittoralEye runs on.
When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, Drew wanted to know if publicly available satellite data could track the naval movements being reported in the Black Sea. LittoralEye is what came out of that.
More of his work at drewbranson.ca.
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