EarthExplorer
EarthExplorer is an archive portal from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that allows users search a location and time range to discover and access historical satellite imagery and aerial photography.
URL
https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
Description
EarthExplorer is an archive portal for searching and downloading satellite, aerial, elevation, and other geospatial data.
It is especially valuable when you need original scenes, acquisition dates, and a reproducible data trail.
Datasets include:
Imagery from orbiting satellites
Images taken from aircraft or drones
Digital elevation models (DEMs) and terrain height information
Land cover (vegetation), hydrography (rivers, lakes), cartographic products (digitized maps, boundary data)
Features
EarthExplorer includes an interactive map interface for defining areas of interest, textual filtering criteria for date range, cloud cover, sensor type, and resolution. You can browse previews of individual scenes with full metadata.
After querying and getting results you can:
Download the original scene file (e.g., GeoTIFF, JPEG, SAFE format) with no processing applied
See the exact acquisition date and time
Access metadata including:
Sensor type (Landsat 8 OLI, NAIP aerial, etc.)
Resolution (30 m, 60 cm)
Geographic projection (the coordinate reference system used to align imagery with other GIS data)
Cloud cover percentage
Processing level (Level-1, Level-2)
Export query results (KML, CSV) showing what you searched for
Create a documented trail that you can:
Cite in a report, article, or legal filing
Reproduce by showing someone exactly how to find the same scene
Verify independently by re-running the search
Why this matters for open source research
In open-source investigations, you often need to:
Prove a claim (e.g., "This military base was built in 2021")
Document changes over time with specific dates
Reproduce your methodology so others can verify it
EarthExplorer gives you the source data with full metadata, which is what can make your open source research work credible and verifiable.
Datasets
EarthExplorer offers over 50 datasets presented in 20 categories.
Some example use cases for open source research are outlined in the table below.
Open Source Research Use Cases & Corresponding Datasets
Geolocation of a photo or video
NAIP → then OrbView-3 if pre-2008
NAIP gives 30–60 cm aerial detail for matching roads, buildings, vehicles;
OrbView-3 is the only sub-meter satellite option (2003–2007)
Verifying facility / building claims
NAIP (current), Landsat Legacy (historical)
Compare current NAIP against historical Landsat to show when structures appeared/changed
Tracking military / infrastructure activity
Landsat 8-9 C2 L2, MODIS
Medium res but 30-year history; detect new roads, pads, camps; MODIS for frequent (daily) updates
Natural disaster / conflict zone documentation
Landsat 8-9 C2 L2, ASTER
Global coverage, 30 m resolution, natural color imagery; ASTER for thermal/DEM analysis of damage
Mining / resource extraction investigation
Landsat 8-9 C2 L2, NLCD
Track pit expansion, waste piles, vegetation loss; NLCD for land-cover change quantification
Border / fence / wall construction monitoring
NAIP (US), Landsat 8-9 (global)
High-res NAIP for fence details within US; Landsat for international borders
Cost
Most data is free and in the public domain (Landsat, NAIP, SRTM, MODIS, etc.).
Select datasets have fees/use restrictions (indicated within EarthExplorer during search) but this is rare.
Level of difficulty
Requirements
EarthExplorer is web-based and will run in any modern browser on any OS. An internet connection is required.
A free account is required to download data (ERS registration at ers.cr.usgs.gov). Registration requires filling out two forms, each with most fields requiring entry.
Usage Questionnaire: Six questions about your work sector, how remotely sensed data fits in with your work, and how you will use the data.
Contact Information: Name, address, email address, telephone are all required.
To complete the registration, you must respond to a message sent to the email address you provided.
Limitations
No high-resolution global imagery: Only sub-meter resolution (30–60 cm) is NAIP, which is US-only. For international high-res, you need paid services (e.g. Maxar, Planet).
Landsat is 30 m: Too low for vehicle/person-level identification; good for infrastructure only
100-result limit: Maximum 100 records per search; need to narrow by Country/Feature Class to avoid hitting this cap.
OrbView-3 is historical (2003–2007): Not useful for current conflict documentation
Seasonal NAIP (growing season only): Winter photos may not be available.
Sentinel-2 removed: USGS stopped distributing Sentinel-2 data through EarthExplorer as of 19 Nov 2022. Use Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem instead.
No API access: Manual interface only; can't automate bulk queries programmatically.
Ethical Considerations
Specific to EarthExplorer
Upon login to EarthExplorer, note that the USGS warns that:
All agency computer systems may be monitored for all lawful purposes, including but not limited to, ensuring that use is authorized, for management of the system, to facilitate protection against unauthorized access, and to verify security procedures, survivability and operational security.
Further, the USGS states that:
Any information on this computer system may be examined, recorded, copied and used for authorized purposes at any time. All information, including personal information, placed or sent over this system may be monitored, and users of this system are reminded that such monitoring does occur. Therefore, there should be no expectation of privacy with respect to use of this system.
Remote sensing technologies in general
Privacy Concerns: Remote sensing technologies can capture detailed images from space or high altitude, potentially compromising individual privacy. Researchers must balance the public interest with the rights to privacy.
Accuracy and Misinterpretation: Ensuring the accurate representation of data is critical. Misinterpretation of remote sensing data can lead to misinformation, shaping public opinion based on incorrect premises. Each dataset may have different standards for accuracy.
Similar Tools
Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem: Copernicus is centered on Sentinel/Copernicus data rather than USGS archives.
NASA Earthdata Search: Designed around scientific datasets and research workflows, not just browsing imagery archives. Good for finding, filtering, and working with NASA Earth science data at scale.
EOS Data Analytics LandViewer: More of a web viewer/analytics product than a raw archive browser. Useful for quick visualization and analysis.
Commercial Alternatives
Sentinel Hub: Primarily a processing and visualization service for satellite data, not a classic archive browser. Better for using imagery than for browsing archives.
Planet: Commercial high-revisit imagery provider, not a public archive search tool. Paid and license-restricted; not a free public archive portal.
Vantor (formerly Maxar): Commercial high-resolution imagery provider. Paid and license-restricted; not a free public archive portal.
Note that, unlike EarthExplorer and similar remote-sensing portals, many consumer map services expose only rendered tiles and limited attribution/date information, so they usually do not provide the original file, full acquisition metadata, or a strong evidentiary provenance trail.
For investigative work, Google Maps/Bing Maps (for example) are often best treated as reference views unless you can independently document the imagery source and date through the platform’s own metadata or another archive. If you need evidentiary rigor, the stronger approach is to work from datasets that expose scene-level metadata.
Guides
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/earthexplorer-help-index
https://youtu.be/lkbzQunkT_s?si=8rxsZ0I2xPuAxyqN
Tool provider
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), an agency of the United States Department of the Interior.
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Author: Gregg Butensky
August 2026
Last updated
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