Free satellite change detection

TerraShift

See how the land changes

Pick a place and two dates. TerraShift finds clear satellite photos from those dates and colours in what changed.

Launch TerraShift or try an example

Free, no account, runs in your browser.

After: Lulu Island, Abu Dhabi, on 29 September 2026, with new earthworks and a planted area — Lulu Island, Abu Dhabi. Drag the line to compare.

Before: Lulu Island, Abu Dhabi, on 6 July 2026 — Lulu Island, Abu Dhabi. Drag the line to compare.

How it works

1
Choose a place

Search for a place, move the map, or click a spot. Then draw the area you want to check.
2
Pick two dates

A before date and an after date. TerraShift finds the clearest Sentinel-2 photo near each one.
3
See what changed

Swipe between the two photos. Coloured squares show where the land changed, with a summary in hectares.

The TerraShift tool on Khalifa City south, Abu Dhabi: before and after photos split by a slider, blue squares on a plot of new white fill, and the results panel on the right — The tool: the map with the before/after slider, and the results panel on the right.

What it can show

Every picture here is a real result from TerraShift.

Khalifa City south, Abu Dhabi: blue squares over a plot newly covered in white fill

New buildings or bare ground

Building sites, new roads, cleared land and fresh fill. Shown in blue.

Khalifa City south, Abu Dhabi, Jul to Sep 2026

Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi: green squares where park lawns and trees grew greener, with a few red squares where plants were lost

Plants gained or lost

New parks and farms, cleared trees, and seasonal greening. Green for gained, red for lost.

Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, Jul to Sep 2026

The Palisades fire, Los Angeles: dark orange squares across the burned hills, and red where plants were lost

Burned land

Ground where plants burned, found with the burn ratio. Shown in dark orange.

Palisades fire, Los Angeles, Dec 2024 to Feb 2025

Jebel Hafeet near Al Ain: a grey hillshade showing the mountain's ridges and valleys

Terrain

Height, slope, which way slopes face, low-lying ground, a hillshade and an elevation profile.

Jebel Hafeet, near Al Ain

Try an example

Each one opens TerraShift with an area and dates already chosen, and starts the search.

Khalifa City: white fill A plot covered in bright new fill Lulu Island: earthworks Land being reshaped on an island Al Mushrif: seasonal greening Parks and gardens changing with the seasons

What it can and can't do

It can

Use free Sentinel-2 photos at 10 m resolution: each square is about the size of a house.
Find changes across an area: a building site, a new park, a burned hillside.
Warn when plant changes may just be the seasons, and check them against a year earlier.
Save the results as a PDF report or as map shapes (GeoJSON).

It can't

See people or vehicles. At 10 m they are far too small.
See small things like a single new shed or a parked car. It shows area-level changes only.
See through clouds. If both dates are cloudy, try other dates.
Replace a survey. It makes mistakes, so check the photos.

It was checked against nine test sites around Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and against the official map of the Palisades fire. See the validation results

Responsible use

TerraShift is for seeing how land changes, such as building sites, farms, parks and fires. Please don't use it to watch people or private property. It uses public 10 m satellite data, so it can't identify anyone, and it can be wrong. A person should check the before and after photos before anyone acts on a result.

Ready to see how a place has changed?

Launch TerraShift