Planet Signs Multi-Year Expansion with onX, Enabling Advanced Digital Navigation for Outdoor Recreationalists
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today announced a multi-year expansion with onX, a pioneer in outdoor digital navigation. Through this deal, onX is gaining robust access to Planet’s near-daily satellite data to inform their suite of outdoor recreation apps, including onX Hunt, onX Offroad, onX Backcountry, and onX Fish.
In 2023, onX began ingesting Planet data into their apps to build their novel Recent Imagery feature, which shows satellite-derived map views of recreation areas, updated every two weeks. In this feature, Planet’s bi-weekly mosaic data is draped over onX’s 2D and 3D elevation models allowing app users to pan and zoom around the map, exploring where they plan to recreate. The Recent Imagery product was featured as one of TIME magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023.
“At onX, we leverage Planet Data to create our 'Recent Imagery' layer,” said onX Senior Director of Geospatial, Brian Riordan. “This high-frequency imagery, updated every two weeks, complements our high-resolution satellite basemap, which is updated every few years. By knowing what conditions look like on the ground–whether snow has melted on a high mountain pass, if water sources are available along a trail, or if recent wildfires have impacted a landscape, our users can make more informed and safer decisions before heading out into the field.”
Owning and operating a fleet of hundreds of satellites that capture near-daily imagery of the Earth, Planet delivers high-cadence data of all of Earth’s landmass through their PlanetScope datastream. With this high frequency satellite imagery data, onX can inform their outdoor adventure users about current recreation conditions across the United States. They can see recent snowfall, seasonal changes (such as “ice out” on lakes), or environmental impacts–like recent floods or wildfires. All of this information helps onX users stay safe, achieve their goals, and exercise good stewardship while recreating.
“Planet’s imagery is twice as detailed as other imaging sources,” explained Riordan. “We are able to help our customers make informed planning decisions, be good stewards of the places they visit, and explore the outdoors with a sense of ease. We’re really excited to be continuing to collaborate and innovate with Planet.”
The outdoor recreation market in the United States supports $887 billion in annual consumer spending, which directly supports 7.6 million American jobs and generates $125 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue. Collaborations like this one between onX and Planet work to enable responsible recreation, further supporting this thriving market.