Landslide Tracking with PlanetScope Data

This repository provides scripts and processing examples for tracking landslides (or other Earth surface processes) based on optical PlanetScope data using image cross-correlation.

Prerequisites

Linux OS

The scripts in this repository rely on functionalities provided by the Ames Stereo Pipeline. ASP builds are available for Linux and macOS. If you are using Windows, you will need to install a Windows Subsystem for Linux in order to run the ASP tools.

Python

The provided code is written in Python and consists of modules that you can import and use in your own Python scripts.

Planet Account

To search for and access PlanetScope data via the API, you will need to authenticate with your Planet account. You can find more information on how to get started with Planet here. If you are a university student, faculty member or researcher, you may apply to the Planet Education and Research Program.

Installation

Step 1:

Clone the PlanetScope_landslide_tracking repository: git clone https://github.com/UP-RS-ESP/PlanetScope_landslide_tracking.

Step 2:

Enter the cloned repository cd PlanetScope_landslide_tracking and use conda to create a new environment and install all necessary Python packages using the given environment.yml file: conda env create -f environment.yml Then activate the newly created environment: conda activate planet

Step 3:

Install Ames Stereo Pipeline. Download the latest stable release from GitHub and unzip it. Detailed instructions can be found in the ASP Documentation.

Step 4:

Install the Planet SDK for Python: pip install planet (see Documentation)

You will need to authenticate with your Planet account. Open a terminal and enter the following command: planet auth init. Then enter your user name and password. For more information refer to the Planet SDK Documentation.

Step 5 (optional):

Video and GIF generation (timelapse) relies on FFmpeg. On Linux, you can install FFmpeg with the apt package manager:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Processing examples

Detailed instructions on how to use the provided tools are stored in the tutorial folder:

Tutorial 1: Searching for PlanetScope data
Tutorial 2: Offset tracking with L3B data
Tutorial 3: Offset tracking with L1B data
Tutorial 4: DEM building with PlanetScope L1B data and Ames Stereo Pipeline
Tutorial 5: Remapping and timelapse generation

example.py: An exemplary Python script

Citation

Mueting, A. and Bookhagen, B.: Tracking slow-moving landslides with PlanetScope data: new perspectives on the satellite’s perspective, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1698, 2023.