Somalia is one of the least measured countries on earth
Not the least known — the least measured. Decisions about cropland, water, coastline, settlement and infrastructure are routinely made on estimates, because nobody has a current number. Satellites have been producing those numbers for years; almost nothing has been turning them into answers here. The organisations that need those answers sit in Mogadishu, Nairobi, Rome, Geneva and London, and they are not asking the same question as each other.
We deliver answers, not scenes
Most Earth observation offers stop at delivering imagery, which leaves the recipient holding a very large file and the entire remaining problem.
Define the question
Not “imagery of the Shabelle” but “how much cropland was under water in week 32, and which districts”. The question determines the sensor, the revisit rate and the cost — usually in that order.
Acquire and process
Sourcing from the right constellation, correcting it, and building a series rather than a snapshot. One image tells you what something looked like; a series tells you what is happening.
Deliver something actionable
Figures, maps and change detection in a form a ministry, insurer or programme team can put into a decision — with the data held in country rather than on a foreign platform.
Five buyers. Five different definitions of “accurate enough”.
This is the least uniform thing we sell. A ministry planning a road, an insurer pricing a season and a programme team deciding where trucks go this week are all looking at the same ground and need very different products from it. The question we ask first is what decision the number has to survive.
Ministries & national agencies
- Typical question
- What is actually there — cropland, settlement, coastline, road — as a national figure that can be published and defended
- What matters most
- Methodology that holds up to challenge, and data held under Somali jurisdiction rather than on a foreign platform
- Cadence
- Seasonal or annual baselines, updated against a consistent method
UN agencies, IFIs & donor programmes
- Typical question
- Where is the need, how fast is it moving, and what did the intervention change
- What matters most
- Speed during a response, and an evidence trail afterwards that an evaluation can use
- Cadence
- Days during an event, then a series that supports reporting against the programme
Insurers, lenders & commodity buyers
- Typical question
- Is the season good or bad, by how much, and early enough to act on the exposure
- What matters most
- Consistency between periods, and an index that can be written into a contract
- Honest limit
- Parametric products need a longer historical series than exists for some of these areas. We will say where that is the case
Asset owners & operators
- Typical question
- What has changed around a corridor, a port, a pipeline or a tower since anyone last looked
- What matters most
- Change detection on a schedule, without sending people to places that are expensive or unsafe to reach
- Cadence
- Recurring passes against a fixed baseline, with exceptions flagged rather than scenes delivered
Research institutions & NGOs
- Typical question
- A defensible measurement over a defined area and period, for publication or advocacy
- What matters most
- Transparent method, stated uncertainty, and the ability to reproduce the result
- What we offer
- The processing and the ground segment behind it, rather than a finished narrative
What we are answering today
These are the six where the data is available, the method is established and we can deliver now. Where a question needs something we cannot yet source, we will say so.
Agriculture & Food Security
Cropped area, crop health through the season, and where a harvest is failing while there is still time to respond to it.
- Answers
- How much is planted, how it is doing, and where the shortfall will be
Drought, Flood & Climate Resilience
Flood extent within days rather than months, vegetation stress ahead of a declared drought, and the evidence base afterwards.
- Answers
- Where the water reached, and who it reached
Urban Planning & Land Administration
Settlement growth, unplanned development and building footprints — in cities that have expanded faster than any cadastre has kept up with.
- Answers
- What is actually built, where, and since when
Maritime & Fisheries Observation
Vessel detection independent of transponders, plus activity patterns across a coastline nobody can patrol in full.
- Answers
- What is in the water, including what is not broadcasting
Infrastructure & Asset Monitoring
Road condition, construction progress, encroachment on corridors, and change around installations that are hard to reach safely.
- Answers
- What has changed around an asset since the last look
Coastal & Environmental Change
Shoreline movement, erosion, mangrove and habitat extent, and degradation measured over a series rather than argued from anecdote.
- Answers
- What is changing, how fast, and in which direction
Bring us the question, not the area
The useful conversation starts with what decision the answer has to support and how often you need it. We will come back with what can be measured, how accurately, how quickly, and what it would cost.