Ecopia GFX

Ecopia GFX (Ecopia Global Feature Extraction Powered by European Space Imaging) is a vector mapping product from a partnership between European Space Imaging (EUSI) and Ecopia.AI, announced in August 2020. It addresses the time and cost of drawing and updating vector maps by hand: buyers receive ready-made land cover and feature maps "with zero in-house GIS work".

Ecopia's AI-based systems extract features from freshly collected very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery supplied by EUSI. The data sheet ties the product's currency to the more than 3 million km² of imagery the WorldView Constellation collects each day. Up to 13 core features can be extracted: buildings, roads, railways, parking lots, pavement, driveways, swimming pools, sports fields, water, grass, forest, bare land and solar panels. The provider states that millions of km² can be vectorised every month, with the accuracy of a trained GIS professional. The resulting vector maps are delivered as shapefiles. For road mapping, EUSI states that its true 30 cm and 15 cm HD imagery lets road lines and traffic features be identified, and that automated extraction covers streets, driveways, parking lots, railroads and sidewalks.

The provider names two main markets. For autonomous driving, the road layers represent lane models and lane geometry for high-definition (HD) maps. For municipal governments, the maps support property tax assessment, civil engineering planning, road and pavement management, flood mapping, land use analysis and urban sprawl planning. EUSI also presents GFX for detecting rooftop solar panels.