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ORBITAL FEED

NASA GIBS · MODIS / VIIRS · KEYLESS
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⚠ DELAY & LIMITATIONShide ▾

This is real orbital imagery from NASA's GIBS service (MODIS on Terra/Aqua, VIIRS on Suomi-NPP) — free and keyless. It is observation, not live surveillance. Be clear-eyed about what it can and can't do:

  • ~1 DAY DELAY Daily layers are composited from each satellite's passes. Yesterday is usually the freshest complete day; "today" often isn't processed yet (hours-to-a-day lag).
  • Not real-time. A given spot is imaged on a satellite revisit — roughly twice a day for MODIS/VIIRS. There is no continuous "live" video of the ground from these open feeds.
  • Resolution ≈ 250 m / pixel. You can see cities, coastlines, weather, smoke, fires, ice — not cars, buildings or people.
  • Clouds block the view, and polar regions go dark in winter.

Going higher-res / fresher needs keyed APIs:

  • Sentinel-2 (ESA Copernicus) — ~10 m, free, but ~5-day revisit and needs a free account (Sentinel Hub / Copernicus).
  • Planet / Maxar — sub-meter, near-daily, but paid commercial APIs.
  • None of these are truly "live" — satellites orbit; they revisit, they don't hover.

Want the 10 m Sentinel-2 layer wired in? It's a free key away — just say so.