Most environmental monitoring today relies on multispectral satellite imagery, capable, but limited to a handful of broad colour bands. HYPERVIEW changes that. Funded under ESA’s LuxImpulse programme, the project integrates open-access hyperspectral data from the EnMAP and PRISMA satellite missions into WEO’s environmental analytics platform, unlocking a new level of spectral detail for urban and ecosystem applications. Where conventional imagery sees “vegetation,” hyperspectral data can distinguish an oak from a birch, or concrete from asphalt, distinctions that matter enormously for biodiversity, climate resilience, and urban planning.
A central technical challenge is resolution: today’s hyperspectral satellites capture imagery at ~30 metres, while many operational workflows require the ~10-metre detail of Sentinel-2. HYPERVIEW addresses this through deep-learning image sharpening, fusing hyperspectral richness with multispectral spatial precision to produce analysis-ready data at actionable scales. The processing pipelines are also designed to be forward-compatible with CHIME, ESA’s next-generation Copernicus hyperspectral mission expected in the coming years.
The project is structured around three applied focus areas. In urban forestry, HYPERVIEW moves beyond broad canopy classifications to map individual tree species, oak, plane, birch, poplar, enabling more targeted biodiversity assessments and early stress detection. In urban surface analysis, it distinguishes between material types such as asphalt, concrete, tiles, and gravel, improving the accuracy of heat island modelling, flood risk mapping, and infrastructure management. Both streams feed into a third objective: enhancing WEO’s core products, TreeMonitor, Urban Heat Tracker, and Flood Risk Analyser, with hyperspectral-derived intelligence validated through real-world user testing.
Spanning 18 months with a multidisciplinary team of EO scientists, machine learning engineers, and platform developers, HYPERVIEW represents WEO’s commitment to pushing the frontier of environmental intelligence. By combining cutting-edge satellite science with practical product integration, the project lays the groundwork for a new generation of precision environmental monitoring tools, built for today’s missions and ready for tomorrow’s.
Funded by the European Space Agency under the LuxImpulse programme.