Updating the Land Parcel Identification Systems in 2025: The Benefits of Using Satellite Images
- Zuzana Hajkova, Content Marketing Coordinator, EUSI
- 17 March, 2025
Agricultural paying agencies across Europe face increasing challenges in maintaining accurate and up-to-date Land Parcel Identification Systems (LPIS), ensuring compliance with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and supporting sustainable agricultural practices. The rapidly evolving landscape of remote sensing technologies, coupled with new CAP mandates for 2024–2025, underscores the need for agencies to regularly evaluate their data sources in order to remain effective and compliant.
What’s new in 2025?
New solutions have emerged in the last few years, the technology is constantly advancing, and the geopolitics in Europe are changing. What’s new?
Satellite sensors launched in 2024/2025: 15 cm resolution with multiple daily revisits
Maxar, Umbra and Pixxel have all launched new satellites. The most important one for large-scale mapping is the successful launch of Maxar WorldView Legion, which is a constellation of 30 cm resolution satellites with multiple daily revisits. For LPIS, this means:
- Any member state can get a whole-country satellite coverage within the growing season.
- The native resolution of 30 cm can be further enhanced to 15 cm HD, which is comparable to aerial imagery.
Moreover, WorldView Legion sensors have new spectral bands that enable the seamless use of Sentinel-based indices.
Restricted access due to conflict
The geopolitical situation in Europe led to many restrictions, one of them being the difficult access to certain border regions. Some aerial data suppliers are now unable to safely plan and execute their collection plans, which has left a serious gap in the data and a need to fill with comparable imagery sources.
This is another reason why satellites are increasingly helpful – neither GPS jamming nor conflict tensions affect them. Satellite imagery is a safe and reliable way to collect data about areas near conflict zones.
More extreme weather events
In 2024, the unpredictable weather conditions meant that aircraft couldn’t fly according to the scheduled plans, and some mapping agencies therefore had to deal with data gaps. In 2025, we can expect similar circumstances.
Flexibility is more and more important, and the solution is simple. While aircraft are often unable to fly because of wind and turbulence, the intra-day collection opportunities of WorldView Legion satellites allow for flexible collection planning around unexpected weather conditions.
The intra-day collection opportunities of WorldView Legion satellites allow for flexible collection planning around unexpected weather conditions.
The new CAP
The current CAP period, spanning from 2023 to 2027, represents a shift towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious approach to agricultural practices. It is aiming to support farmers, help tackle climate change, and maintain rural landscapes across the EU.
How can satellite images help with this? Very High Resolution (VHR) imagery is a valued data source for the CAP, as it enables the precise mapping of land parcels, crop types, vegetation health, soil moisture and more, allowing for better management of agricultural resources and targeted interventions where needed.
Tip: Read more about using satellite images for the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027.
Multispectral satellite images reveal information about crop type, age, health etc. Satellite image © 2025 Maxar Technologies provided by European Space Imaging
Aerial vs Satellite: Which one is better?
If you’re in charge of a large-scale mapping project, such as updating the LPIS, you should carefully compare aerial and satellite imagery in terms of:
- weather dependence
- resolution
- data homogeneity
- project efficiency
- multispectral and stereo capabilities
- access to restricted areas
- data processing
There is no clear winner, and each project will require a different solution.
Successful mapping projects in Germany
European countries are proving that satellite imagery is a suitable tool for large-scale mapping. Examples from the recent years include three projects from Germany:
In autumn 2024, we finished a mapping project for a land surveying authority in Southern Germany. The authority usually uses aerial imagery for updating the LPIS, but because of the unpredictable weather conditions in 2024, the aircraft was able to fly only part of the planned time. To quickly finish the project before snow cover, they reached out to EUSI to fill in the gaps with Very High Resolution satellite imagery.
At the same time, we delivered a Dynamic Basemap, consisting of four 15 cm satellite images, to an authority from the city-state of Hamburg, Germany. The basemap is a completely cloud-free colour-balanced mosaic with 4 multispectral bands, and was provided to the customer within one week.
For a land surveying authority in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, we collected satellite imagery during vegetation period (April to September). The authority received ortho-ready pansharpened imagery with 4 spectral bands at 50 cm resolution.
Choose a trusted European supplier
Selecting a European data provider ensures alignment with EU standards, data sovereignty, and CAP-specific requirements. We combine technical expertise, local responsiveness, an intimate understanding of European policies, and decades of success with the JRC MARS project.
EUSI is a trusted collaborator with the EU Commission, JRC, ESA, DLR, and multiple national and regional mapping agencies. Will you join them?
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