Satellite - Latest

What it shows

Satellite - Latest is recent imagery from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites, drawn on top of whatever basemap you're using. Ordinary satellite maps can be years old. This one shows the ground as it looked days or weeks ago.

Use it to check conditions before a trip:

• How much snow is left on a pass or a north-facing slope
• Whether a lake has thawed or a river has flooded
• Fresh burn scars, landslides and washed-out roads
• Logging and new roads that the map doesn't show yet

Resolution

Sentinel-2 sees the ground at 10 m per pixel. That's plenty for snow, water, fire scars and forest cover, but not sharp enough to make out a single trail or a tent. The overlay appears from zoom 8, and its sharpest imagery is at zoom 14. Zoom in further and the same image is only stretched.

How recent it is

With two Sentinel-2 satellites in orbit, the same place is photographed every 5 days at the equator, and more often toward the poles. Unlike Latest Cloudless, this overlay doesn't skip cloudy images, so sometimes you'll see clouds instead of the ground. For the newest clear view, use Satellite - Latest Cloudless.

Where the data comes from

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by Sentinel Hub. The Sentinel-2 mission is part of the European Union's Copernicus program.

Coverage

All land from 56° S to about 83° N, which is everywhere people hike except Antarctica.

Membership and offline

Satellite - Latest comes with a Goat Maps membership, on the web and on iPhone. It's online only, so it needs a connection.