Satellite Imagery Processing

Satellite imagery processing is the third compute type on Hive. It integrates with Element84 Earth Search (STAC API) for Sentinel-2 L2A scene discovery — free, anonymous, no API key required.

Endpoints

Search scenes

GET /v1/imagery/scenes?cell={h3_cell}&from={date}&to={date}&cloud={max%}&limit={n}

curl "https://gns-browser-production.up.railway.app/v1/imagery/scenes?cell=871e9a0ecffffff"

Returns recent Sentinel-2 scenes with cloud cover, thumbnails, and band URLs.

NDVI calculation

GET /v1/imagery/ndvi?cell={h3_cell}&from={date}&to={date}

curl "https://gns-browser-production.up.railway.app/v1/imagery/ndvi?cell=871e9a0ecffffff"

Response:

{
  "sceneId": "S2A_33TTG_20260406_0_L2A",
  "datetime": "2026-04-06T10:09:32.136000Z",
  "h3Cell": "871e9a0ecffffff",
  "meanNdvi": 0.46,
  "minNdvi": 0.31,
  "maxNdvi": 0.61,
  "healthStatus": "moderate",
  "cloudCover": 13.49,
  "description": "Moderate vegetation health. Some areas may need attention.",
  "processingMs": 336
}

Generic processing

POST /v1/imagery/process

{
  "operation": "ndvi",
  "h3_cell": "871e9a0ecffffff",
  "date_from": "2026-03-01",
  "date_to": "2026-04-08"
}

Operations

Operation	Description	Phase 5a (current)	Phase 5b (future)
ndvi	Vegetation health index	Metadata-based estimate	Pixel-level B04/B08 bands
cloud_mask	Cloud cover assessment	Scene metadata %	SCL band classification
scene_search	Find recent clear scenes	STAC API query	Same + local scene cache
atmospheric_correction	Remove atmospheric effects	L2A pre-corrected	Custom processing

NDVI health classification

NDVI Range	Status	Description
≥ 0.6	Healthy	Dense, healthy vegetation. Strong canopy vigor.
0.4–0.6	Moderate	Moderate health. Some areas may need attention.
0.2–0.4	Stressed	Vegetation stress. Possible water deficit or disease.
< 0.2	Bare	Minimal vegetation. Urban area or bare soil.

Compound jobs with imagery

The most powerful pattern combines satellite data with AI analysis and map visualization:

{
  "steps": [
    {"id": "scan", "type": "image_process", "operation": "ndvi",
     "context": {"h3_cell": "871e9a0ecffffff"}},
    {"id": "analyze", "type": "inference", "depends_on": "scan",
     "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Analyze this NDVI data for olive grove health"}]},
    {"id": "map", "type": "tile_render", "depends_on": "analyze",
     "center_cell": "871e9a0ecffffff", "zoom": 14, "style": "satellite"}
  ]
}

Tested result: 1.9 seconds total, 0.0011 GNS, one cryptographic proof.

Data source

Sentinel-2 L2A scenes via Element84 Earth Search STAC API. Free access, no API key required. Scenes updated every 5 days per location, 10m resolution.