Australia’s only long-term aircraft storage facility in Alice Springs, is receiving increasing numbers of grounded aircraft. Airport visitor and taxi carparks in Sydney and Brisbane are close to empty, while rental carparks are completely full.
While not a common usage, high resolution imagery can also detect changes in cultural and human behaviour. Restrictions have recently closed beaches in popular areas, notably Sydney’s Northern and Eastern Beaches, to assist with the social distancing recommendations announced in March. During the closures, the message, #StayHome was found using the Airbus Pleiades satellite constellation, written on Tamarama Beach. Famous beaches that were active with life only a month ago, such as Bondi, also appeared to be completely empty. These particular examples illustrate the versatility and usefulness of high-resolution imagery in monitoring a huge array of different types of change and how they might impact or influence us.