Three satellites in orbit · six sites on the watchlist
A satellite, paid for by trading fees.
Every trade adds to the meter. When it fills, holders vote on a place and a real satellite takes the picture. Everyone gets to see it.
Working out the next overpass…
Watchlist
Six places the market watches,
seen from orbit this week.
These passes are free: Europe’s Sentinel-2 satellites, ten metres to the pixel, every few days. Drag the handle to see the same ground before.
The meter
Free shows the buildings.
The meter buys the detail.
Next picture
Trading fees on $OVERPASS fill the meter. A full meter is one order to a satellite.
- A picture already in an archive
- from about $25
- A new one, taken on request
- from about $200
Typical public prices for 30 to 50 cm imagery. The meter is filled by the project’s share of trading fees and by nothing else.
How it works
Trade. Vote. Look.
- 01
Trading fills the meter
A share of the fee on every trade of $OVERPASS goes to one place: the price of the next picture.
- 02
Holders vote on the site
When the meter is full, holders choose which site on the watchlist the satellite should look at.
- 03
A satellite takes it
The order goes to a commercial operator. Thirty to fifty centimetres per pixel, sharp enough to count vehicles.
- 04
Everyone gets to see it
The picture is published here with its capture time and what it shows, measured. Then the meter starts again.
Why
Funds have bought satellite pictures of factories and parking lots for over a decade. Research at Berkeley found the edge was real, and that it came at the expense of small investors.
Overpass points the same kind of camera and shows the result to everyone. Read the Berkeley Haas summary ↗
Rules of the watchlist
What the satellite looks at, and what it never does.
| On the list | Plants, construction sites, ports and launch sites tied to listed companies, and public infrastructure. |
| Never on the list | Homes, people, military and government sites. Holders vote among listed sites only. |
| What gets published | The picture, when it was taken, and measurements of what is in it. Never a call to buy or sell. |
| Who is behind the pictures | Free passes are Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. Paid pictures are credited to the operator that took them. |
FAQ
Before you ask.
Where do the free pictures come from?
From Sentinel-2, three Earth-observation satellites run by the European Union’s Copernicus programme. Their data is open to everyone.
How do you know when the next overpass is?
From the satellites’ published orbits. The same calculation reproduces the passes that took the pictures on this page to within a few seconds. Clouds can still hide a site on the day.
Why can’t the free pictures show cars?
One Sentinel-2 pixel covers ten metres of ground. Buildings, yards, ships and earthworks are clear. A single car is smaller than a pixel.
Is this investment advice?
No. A picture shows what was on the ground at one moment. What you make of it is yours to decide.