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The difference between analysis ready planet scope and ortho_analytic_8b_sr AND quota usuage control

  • November 14, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 184 views

JINJING
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Currently, I want to use the planet scope data to understand the crop burning issues. I aim to use planet scope data for the following purpose:

  1. manually identify areas that burned 
  2. use planet scope data as inputs for the machine leaning model combined with indices created using sentinel 2 bands.

I am curious about what is the main difference of this two data, and I know the  ortho_analytic_8b_sr are normalised and can be harmonised using the harmonization tool (correct me if I am wrong). In this case, is this still necessary to purchase the analysis ready PS? what is the main advantage using this data?

Another question is when I place order to downland  ortho_analytic_8b_sr scene, my area of interest is around 6, 000 square km, while the quota was used more than 15,000 square km. For the account I used (not this one), it shows the minimum charge per scene is 0.01 square km. why this result super high quota usage? Is there any better way to place the order that only be charged the area size of my interest. I understand that for each tile, there might be multiple scene for the same tile area. How can we optimise the quota usuage?

Best answer by Alden Ackerman

Hi Jin Jing,

Please see the technical differences I have summarized below:

ARPS: Uses a proprietary algorithm to harmonize PlanetScope data with Landsat, Sentinel‑2, MODIS, and VIIRS; radiometrically aligned to Sentinel‑2/Landsat NBAR, tiled on a fixed grid, near‑daily, delivered with QA (cloud mask + provenance) and STAC for time‑series and ML workflows. 

ortho_analytic_8b_sr: Per‑scene, orthorectified, atmospherically corrected to surface reflectance for temporal analysis/monitoring, but not harmonized/tiled into a common grid or cross‑sensor calibrated like ARPS. 

ARPS is machine-learning ready with reduced scene-to-scene noise. 

 

As for your question regarding quota, it is dependent on your account as we have different quota types. For the Education and Research plan that has Preferred quota, each scene will deduct at minimum 100 sq km of usage. The other account you are referencing sounds like it has Premium quota. Please submit a ticket to Planet Support and we can provide more information. 

1 reply

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  • Planeteer 🌎
  • Answer
  • November 18, 2025

Hi Jin Jing,

Please see the technical differences I have summarized below:

ARPS: Uses a proprietary algorithm to harmonize PlanetScope data with Landsat, Sentinel‑2, MODIS, and VIIRS; radiometrically aligned to Sentinel‑2/Landsat NBAR, tiled on a fixed grid, near‑daily, delivered with QA (cloud mask + provenance) and STAC for time‑series and ML workflows. 

ortho_analytic_8b_sr: Per‑scene, orthorectified, atmospherically corrected to surface reflectance for temporal analysis/monitoring, but not harmonized/tiled into a common grid or cross‑sensor calibrated like ARPS. 

ARPS is machine-learning ready with reduced scene-to-scene noise. 

 

As for your question regarding quota, it is dependent on your account as we have different quota types. For the Education and Research plan that has Preferred quota, each scene will deduct at minimum 100 sq km of usage. The other account you are referencing sounds like it has Premium quota. Please submit a ticket to Planet Support and we can provide more information.