A profound understanding of the temporal change of the relationship between landscape and people under climate and societal changes is urgently required. To historically comprehend the characteristics of temporal change of people’s living and culture for a target landscape, we tried to integrate a folklore approach, which clarifies characteristics of people’s emotion and culture obtained by performing conventional field work, with satellite observation, which clarifies the characteristics of spatio-temporal variability of landscape. Here, we call this challenge “folklore from space”，which follows from the previous idea of “folklore from the sky” published by the distinguished Japanese folklorist Tsuneichi Miyamoto. In this paper, to concretely explain the idea of folklore from space, we evaluated a landscape in northern Fukui, Japan as an example and then discuss the utility and perspective of this approach.

On January 1, 2024, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, causing extensive damage across the Noto Peninsula. Through months of recovery efforts, the extent of the damage required efficient resource allocation for rescue and recovery. Remote sensing via satellites became crucial for comprehensive observation, with private sector efforts proving valuable in such scenarios.

AxelGlobe, a constellation of five microsatellites (GRUS-1 A to E) belonging to the Axelspace Corporation, observes the same location with optical sensors every two days. This high-frequency observation capability allowed Axelspace to capture images the day after the earthquake, surpassing traditional single-satellite systems.

Following the earthquake, Axelspace initiated emergency observation and decided to distribute the data for free. Within two hours, the Noto Peninsula was registered as an Area of Interest (AOI). This rapid response enabled observation on January 2, focusing on areas like Wajima City. The data were processed and made available on a dedicated website.

The observations demonstrated the effectiveness of optical satellite constellations in disaster response and highlighted areas for improvement, such as accepting external observation requests and refining data distribution interfaces. Future efforts will focus on enhancing collaboration with external agencies and improving emergency response capabilities using private satellites.

The advancement of small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite constellations has been driven by significant technological progress and cost reductions. Improvements in satellite capabilities, coupled with decreased manufacturing and launch costs, allow for efficient constellation designs and advanced data processing techniques. These developments enable the provision of economical, extensive, real-time Earth observations. As a result, small SAR satellites meet increasing data demands across various fields, including climate change, urban planning, and disaster monitoring, thereby transforming modern remote sensing applications. Synspective Inc.’s deployment of its small SAR satellite constellation in response to the Noto Peninsula earthquake, highlighting its emergency imaging and free satellite image analysis. Synspective’s swift action provided crucial data for disaster assessment and relief efforts, demonstrating the effectiveness of SAR technology in real-time disaster management. This initiative showcases how advanced remote sensing capabilities can significantly enhance preparedness and response to natural disasters, underlining Synspective’s role in advancing global disaster response strategies through innovative satellite technology.

Coherence obtained from Interferometric SAR (InSAR) analysis, a complex correlation of phase and amplitude over two time periods, serves as an indicator of interferometric properties. It is known that building damage leads to a decrease in interferometric properties.Observations capable of interferometry by the L-band ALOS-2 and the C-band Sentinel-1 satellites were conducted within a week of the disaster. This research utilized three SAR images: two before and one after the disaster, combining the decline interferometric properties by InSAR analysis with the sensitivity differences of the two wavelength SAR satellites to extract building damage.

We developed a system for monitoring illegal dumping in Japan's Hiroshima prefecture. The system uses anomaly detection based on the remote sensing provided synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite. We describe the method of anomaly detection and the system's validation herein. With the use of a time series analysis of SAR backscatter, our validation results provided a significant amount of intelligence/information for anomaly detection. We plan to update the system operation management and anomaly detection.

MELTERRA GeoTrack, a service that uses satellite imagery to extract ground displacement data, is the focus of this paper. MELTERRA GeoTrack provides highly accurate ground displacement data over a wide area and is useful in the fields of land monitoring and disaster prevention, e.g., landslides and subsidence. The important role of satellite data in solving today's global challenges and driving digital transformation across a variety of sectors is described herein, together with data demonstrating that MELTERRA GeoTrack can provide highly accurate results that address the problems encountered by the satellite ALOS-2 and its successor, ALOS-4. The use of MELTERRA GeoTrack will thus contribute to data-driven decision making for a sustainable future.

This paper explores the use of remote sensing technology to support and enhance national infrastructure and economic activities, focusing on “MELTERRA Landscan,” a new technology for classifying land use using satellite images. MELTERRA Landscan provides an efficient way to monitor changes in land use across large areas, offering help in areas such as environmental monitoring in cities and countryside, disaster management, urban planning, and conservation. By showing how satellite data can spot changes in buildings, roads, and agriculture, this study highlights the important role of satellite data in solving today’s challenges and pushing forward digital transformation across different fields. This contributes to data-informed decisions for a sustainable future.

This paper introduces “ArkEdge Insights”, a geospatial information platform currently under development by ArkEdge Space Inc. This platform comprehensively utilizes geospatial information acquired by various satellites and ground-based instruments to address global challenges such as disaster response, climate change, environmental conservation, and sustainable agriculture and land use. Modern geographic information system (GIS) and web technologies have been adopted in the development of this platform, which significantly simplifies the acquisition and analysis of diverse data. The platform is designed to enable general users and small businesses, even those without specialized knowledge, to use these data more easily. We will continue to enhance the platform to make it more powerful and more accessible to many users through various demonstrations, in our effort to contribute to global issue resolution and community development.