In our recent Agile EO webinar, Transform Tasking Workflows With Tasking Credits and Pelican Imagery, we shared how Tasking Credits work, how Pelican can support and enhance your SkySat workflows, and a peek at the Pelican roadmap. Watch the webinar on-demand now to learn more.
Below are answers to questions from the live event and resources to get you started.
Tanager Questions
Question: For Tanager, what do you mean by sensitivity level?
Answer: Tanager has multiple sensitivity modes to allow users to acquire data with varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), depending on their needs. Maximum sensitivity mode has an effective integration time that is four times longer than standard sensitivity mode. There is a tradeoff to consider when selecting sensitivity modes because increased sensitivity comes at the expense of area covered. More information on Tanager’s sensitivity modes is available in the Product Specification.
Question: Does the Tanager-Methane detection price include the captures used for it?
Answer: Yes
Pelican Questions
Question: What spectrum beyond visible, if any, will ultimately be available from Pelican?
Answer: Pelican currently offers red edge, near-infrared wide, and near-infrared narrow imagery that is outside the visible spectrum. Details are available in the Pelican Imagery Product Specifications.
Question: What is the expected systematic geolocational accuracy of the Pelican (at sea level, over flat terrain)?
Answer: The positioning accuracy of Planet imagery is contingent upon the efficacy of our multi-step georectification process. Variations in image characteristics and the availability of geodetic control influence the final geospatial accuracy. Pelican has a geolocation accuracy of < 75 m CE90 before ground processing and < 10 m CE90 after ground processing.
Tasking Credits Questions
Question: Can you define linestring and point in reference to Tasking Credits?
Answer: When ordering a task, you can select a point, linestring, or area geometry type for Pelican and SkySat or a point or area geometry type for Tanager.
For the point geometry type, users specify a single geographic point of interest. The Planet tasking system automatically generates a minimum collection area around this point.
For the linestring geometry type, users can order a long, continuous strip of SkySat or Pelican imagery within the minimum area required. They define a line on the Earth via starting and ending coordinates. The captured imagery is typically 5 km wide and can vary in length depending on user requirements and satellite orbit direction. These captures are well suited for monitoring linear features, such as roads, pipeline, rivers, coastlines, and borders.
For the area geometry type, users can define board areas of interest using a polygon defined by GeoJSON or with tools in the Tasking Dashboard. There are restrictions in place on allowed shapes. Area captures may be fulfilled by imagery captured at different times by different satellites.
Question: In the Tasking Credit usage tables, there was mention of "area" as a variable. Is that in reference to area volume or different areas of the world?
Answer: Area in this context refers to the area size of the tasked order and not different areas of the world. Credit requirements are the same across different areas of the world.
Question: When is it best to use Flexible Tasking and Assured Tasking? For example, I need to acquire Pelican images sometimes during the 2 first weeks of June because of the crop flowering season.
Answer: For your flowering-season example where you want Pelican imagery sometime in the first 2 weeks of June, Flexible Tasking is the better fit.
Use Flexible Tasking when:
- You need imagery sometime within a window, not at an exact pass time. You can accept uncertainty in the exact capture time, and let Planet optimize scheduling and re‑task if quality is not met. For SkySat and Pelican, the TOI must be ≥14 days and ordered ≥24 hours before the start.
Use Assured Tasking when:
- You need an image at a specific time or very narrow window and want a reserved imaging window with priority collection.
Question: How far in advance do I need to put a task into the dashboard?
Answer: Tasking Credits Terms of Service found at https://www.planet.com/licensing-information/ “Table 7 Deadlines - SkySat, Pelican, & Tanager” indicates the following:
| Scheduling Type | Deadline to Submit | Duration of TOI |
| Flexible | ≥24 hours prior to TOI | ≥ 14 calendar days |
| Assured | Between ≤ 7 days and ≥ 6 hours prior to TOI | As set forth in the Imaging Window |
| Assured Express Window | < 6 hours prior to TOI | As set forth in the Imaging Window |
Resources
- Watch the recording on-demand
- Contact our team to discuss pricing based on region, volume, and license type
- Estimate credit usage of our tasking satellites with these helpful tables
- Learn more about the Tasking Dashboard and Tasking API
- Watch past Agile EO webinars
