Gartner Says Earth Intelligence Is a $20 Billion New Revenue Growth Opportunity for Technology and Service Providers Through 2030
Gartner defines Earth intelligence as the application of AI to Earth observation data to deliver solutions specific to industries and business functions. It encompasses gathering and providing Earth observation data, fit-for-purpose transforming it, and then using it to produce actionable insights with domain-specific AI models, tools and applications.
“The future of Earth intelligence will be won by the vendors that move quickly to develop technologies that make sense of the oceans of raw data they collect,” said Bill Ray, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.
“The value of Earth intelligence data is only now being realized. For example, vendors are leveraging satellites to pinpoint fallen trees blocking railroad tracks in a storm, monitor the temperature of every metal refinery to assess global production, count vehicles to analyze traffic patterns and consumer trends, and track sea cargo to evaluate shipping activity,” Ray said. “These unprecedented insights are delivering immense value, and new use cases are being discovered daily as the AI vendor race intensifies with the ever-expanding volume of available data.”
Figure 1: High-Tech FutureSight: Earth Intelligence
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“As private technology and service providers begin to dominate Earth intelligence, they have the opportunity to sell data, models and applications to companies that lack the resources to analyze data for themselves,” Ray said. “Earth intelligence will lead to new markets and offerings for data, models, stand-alone tools and applications as well as capabilities to embed within existing applications. This represents a massive business opportunity for technology product and service providers.”
New economics are evolving because very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellites are cheaper to build and launch, and these satellites are watching the earth in new ways. Radar and hyperspectral techniques see things which used to be invisible, and revisit times can be an hour or less. Private companies are also experimenting with VLEO which can deliver a resolution as low as 10 cm. That is small enough to spot a mouse.
“This is driving, and will continue to drive, massive amounts of Earth observation data. Combining satellite data with ground observation data from sensors and drones further enhances Earth intelligence value,” said Ray. “This is where AI plays a critical role. Unlike many domains, there is a plethora of data. But that data needs to be engineered into fit-for-purpose information to feed industry- and function-specific AI models.”
