New software for integrated satellite analytics to help planners

BENGALURU: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) firm Esri India Tuesday launched “Bharat ENVI”, a new image processing and analysis software designed to expand access to satellite data analytics for organisations across the country.

The firm, established in 1996 and providing GIS and mapping solutions to govt, private sector, academic, and non-profit customers, said: “Bharat ENVI brings remote-sensing tools used worldwide into the Indo ArcGIS [GIS systems tailored for India] ecosystem. ENVI has been known internationally for extracting information from satellite, drone, LiDAR, SAR, multispectral, and hyperspectral data. With this launch, these capabilities are now available to Indian users directly within the ArcGIS environment.”

According to Esri India, the software is aimed at helping govt agencies, private firms, and research institutions make better use of geospatial data for planning and management.

“The integration with Indo ArcGIS allows users to work with a large library of Indian datasets and AI models available in the Indo ArcGIS Living Atlas. This combined setup supports tasks such as land-use planning, resource assessment, environmental monitoring, and policy implementation,” the firm said.

One of the key features of Bharat ENVI is an intuitive toolset that caters to both experienced analysts and new users. It enables automated extraction of features such as water bodies, mining pits, cropland, and settlements from standard satellite datasets like Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-1. The software can also extract building footprints and detect ships using deep learning methods.

Esri India managing director Agendra Kumar said that the introduction of the new software would strengthen the country’s geospatial technology ecosystem. He noted that the growing reliance on satellite imagery for development and sustainability work makes advanced analytics essential for many organisations.

Esri India estimates that more than 1.2 million ArcGIS users from more than 6,500 organisations will be able to access ENVI tools through this integration. Users will also benefit from localised content and analytics that are suited to Indian conditions.