Change Detection in Satellite Imagery: Find New Installations in 2026

Say a 48-property industrial park changes over 12 months: a new warehouse on one parcel, rooftop equipment additions on two existing buildings, a tank beside a workshop, a row of generator enclosures and a cleared parcel. Put each change on a separate property: six sites now deserve another look. A sales route built from last year’s account list gives the rep no reason to stop at any of them.

Asset Search by PorchRocket watches for those changes and returns a reviewed answer for each site, with before-and-after dates and property information. Your team gets a reason to research the account while the physical change is still relevant to its offer.

I would start with one change. If your HVAC department wants more maintenance agreements, watch for added rooftop equipment in the buildings you service; if you run a generator service network, start with the enclosure additions your technicians can qualify.

What is change detection in satellite imagery?

Comparing 2 or more dated views of the same site reveals additions, removals and alterations that a single property image cannot establish.

Use the first clear observation as the baseline, then compare later views against the same question: has a building appeared, has an equipment footprint expanded, or has a previously occupied pad become empty? Write the question first. Otherwise, every changed patch of ground competes for a salesperson’s attention.

Remote-sensing workflows distinguish a candidate change from a reviewed change. The Copernicus Urban Atlas manual describes combining automated processing with visual interpretation to map changes between reference dates. For a territory watch, the business decision comes after that review: which changed properties fit the service you sell?

Keep three dates separate. The earlier capture shows the prior state; the later capture shows the changed state; the delivery date says when your team received the finding. An alert received today can describe a change first visible months ago. Put the capture dates beside the finding so the rep sees the interval immediately.

For example, equipment visible on September 18, after a clear June 11 image without it, supports an addition sometime between those observations. Record that interval. If the June view hid that corner, keep the timing unresolved and find an earlier clear view.

The asset inventory guide explains the starting territory book. Change detection adds a history to that book. Keep each property’s identifier stable as its visible assets change, so a second alert updates an existing account instead of creating a duplicate prospect.

Changes worth pursuing in an industrial territory

Prioritize visible changes that alter a buyer’s service needs, beginning with 1 asset class your team already knows how to qualify and sell.

Before approving the search rules, I would put the sales manager and a field supervisor together and ask which observations justify a conversation, including which details would make the supervisor cancel a visit. Write down the answer. Another reviewer should be able to apply it without calling the owner of the business.

Use this table to write the first territory brief. These are proposed sales actions; the owner conversation establishes the scope.

Observed change	Team that should receive it	First offer to test	Question before estimating
New building footprint	Commercial exterior or facilities service team	Site handover and recurring service review	Who controls maintenance after construction?
Added rooftop equipment	HVAC service department	Equipment inventory and PM agreement discussion	Who owns the units and their current service agreement?
New visible tank	Tank service or fuel sales team	Service responsibility and supply review	What does the tank contain, and who controls it?
New generator enclosure row	Generator service network	Maintenance coverage and service access review	What equipment is installed inside the enclosures?
Added solar array	Solar maintenance or grounds team	Maintenance handover discussion	Who operates the system and buys outside service?
Cleared lot	Sitework, fencing or drainage contractor	Ask about the planned site scope	What work has been authorized and who awards it?
Expanded paved yard	Paving or industrial service team	Maintenance and operating-area review	Which surfaces fall within the owner’s service budget?
Removed equipment	Aftermarket or account-management team	Update the installed base and contact the account	Was it relocated, replaced or permanently removed?

For a generator campaign, agree whether one enclosure qualifies or only an expanded row. The standby generator inventory guide helps define that search. Keep adjacent battery projects in their own queue; the battery storage site guide addresses a different asset question. Do not let a similar-looking enclosure decide the equipment category by itself.

If all you need is the current population of buildings with rooftop equipment, Ground Control offers the standard property filters. A change watch adds the comparison between dates and the custom rules for what counts as a new opportunity.

For public buildings, Bid Control by PorchRocket finds city, county and school opportunities, including early signs before a bid posts. Keep public opportunities tied to the buyer’s published purchasing process as you research a changed site.

How do you find new solar installations and construction?

Use dated views to flag new footprints or panel areas, then check the project stage before assigning 1 property to an installation or maintenance campaign.

A cleared parcel needs a different approach from a finished array, so I would assign plain stage labels that tell the rep where to start: ground cleared, structure visible, equipment visible, and operating status confirmed. Get the confirmation in writing. Record who supplied it and when.

Check the resolution first. NASA documents Landsat 8 imagery at 30-meter multispectral resolution and 15-meter panchromatic resolution. A 30-meter pixel represents 30 x 30 = 900 square meters. My buying rule follows from that scale: require finer evidence before accepting a claim about an individual small rooftop unit. A broad land-change signal can direct attention to a parcel; the equipment identification needs its own evidence.

For solar, split rooftop installations from ground-mounted arrays and carports in the search brief. Match each to the service your team sells. Grounds work around a ground-mounted array requires a different conversation from maintaining equipment on a commercial roof.

Public inventories can help cross-check a site. The U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database covers facilities with capacity of at least 1 megawatt and verifies locations against aerial imagery. Its methods page describes annual updates with a one- to two-year lag. That makes it a reference for qualifying large facilities, while a fresh installation watch needs dated observations beyond an existing database entry.

Visible panels establish a physical observation. DOE’s PV commissioning guidance calls for documentation, array testing and whole-system performance testing. The sales implication is straightforward: ask about commissioning and maintenance responsibility before pitching an operating-service agreement. Keep the answer separate from the image finding.

Choose the monitoring frequency around the decision

Start with monthly review for account development, quarterly editions for territory planning, and faster alerts only when the action window and imagery support them.

Ask for both schedules in the scope. Before approving a weekly delivery, establish when new observations will be available and whether that week’s file will contain changes from fresh captures, older candidates that reviewers have just settled, or both. Each finding needs its own dates.

The USGS acquisition schedule gives a public example: Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 each repeat every 16 days, offset by eight days. Those are acquisition opportunities. Clouds and shadows still affect whether an observation answers the property question. NASA’s image-processing documentation explicitly handles those obstructions.

I would choose a starting cadence this way, then adjust it after the pilot:

Business decision	Starting cadence	What to review at that cadence
Establish the territory’s starting inventory	One-time search	Existing assets, dated baseline and unresolved coverage
Revisit a long-range service territory	Annual edition	Additions and removals since the prior planning cycle
Allocate dealer or branch account coverage	Quarterly edition	Changed sites and ownership research needing reassignment
Build the next month’s prospecting queue	Monthly edition	Reviewed additions tied to a specific service offer
Follow active construction or equipment additions	Weekly review	New evidence and resolved candidates within priority areas
Respond to a short installation or event window	Near-real-time alerts where daily satellite coverage exists	Eligible visible changes as observations arrive and review finishes

Asset Search supports these cadences, with coverage scoped to the territory and asset. Near-real-time monitoring belongs where daily coverage exists and the imagery can resolve the agreed change. Ask what each edition can show.

Set your own response deadline. If the rep reviews alerts only at Friday’s meeting, a faster feed will sit untouched. Give the rep two business days to act. The update should name the next task or explain why the observation was closed.

Track time from image capture to delivery separately from time from delivery to first action. One measures the watch; the other measures your sales operation. Both affect whether the owner hears from you while the new scope is still being organized.

What causes false changes in satellite images?

Clouds, shadows, seasonal cover and mismatched image alignment can mimic added equipment; require a comparable clear view from each date before accepting a change.

NASA’s HLS algorithms account for atmospheric effects, cloud shadows and viewing differences. The Copernicus methodology also handles seasonal variation and reduces the influence of cloud-affected observations. A brighter roof or darker yard is therefore a reason to review the scene, not enough evidence to describe an installation.

Check alignment separately. NASA describes spatial coregistration as putting observations into a consistent geographic reference with resampling. If the candidate appears to have moved, compare it with fixed features around the parcel before accepting the change, especially when the road edge and neighboring roofs seem to have shifted in the same direction.

Use a rejection checklist that your reviewers and sales team can both read:

• Check whether the earlier view clearly shows the candidate’s footprint.
• Look for clouds, shade or seasonal cover over either observation.
• Compare stable nearby features before accepting an apparent movement.
• Check whether the newer view simply has more detail than the baseline.
• Separate temporary objects from the permanent installations in the search rules.
• Request another view or one field confirmation when those checks leave the question open.

The last two checks are purchasing rules I would set with the buyer’s specialist. A trailer parked on a future equipment pad should not enter a permanent generator campaign. When a better photograph reveals an object that the baseline could not resolve, keep the candidate in review until another observation or a field check establishes whether it arrived during the period you care about.

Do not clear the queue by guessing. Assign the next check. If another capture is the right next step, carry forward the earlier evidence instead of resetting the observation history.

A review rule for fits, rejects and unresolved sites

Asset Search returns 3 reviewed outcomes for investigated sites: fits, rejects with reasons, and unresolved with the field check that settles the question.

Apply the written rule. For a new generator-row watch, that might require a visible addition within the selected counties and a site type the service network supports. A changed site outside the service area still belongs in the returned findings, marked rejected for that campaign.

An unresolved record needs a narrow next step. “Needs research” is too broad. “Confirm whether the new enclosure contains a generator” gives the account manager a question to ask. Assign the check before someone spends an afternoon preparing a proposal.

Keep physical evidence and commercial fit as separate fields. Equipment can be newly visible while the property fails your access requirements. Conversely, a property can fit your service territory while the image pair fails to establish whether its equipment changed. Combining those answers into one score hides the reason for the decision.

I would test a pilot against known changes supplied by the buyer and a sample of sites with no reported change, with the field supervisor reviewing both groups before the sales manager accepts the scope. Count the misses too. A pile of convincing alerts says little about the sites the watch failed to flag.

Log gaps in coverage. Before treating a quiet edition as evidence that little happened in the territory, ask how many parcels had a usable comparison and which areas lacked the observations needed to answer the question. Assign those areas a review date.

Revisit older decisions when requirements change. Asset Search can re-answer previously searched sites against a new specification, often using the evidence already held. Preserve the original decision and the revised reason so the service team can follow what changed in the search rules.

What should a new-installation alert contain?

Every alert should identify 1 site, the observed change, both capture dates, a reviewed disposition and the person responsible for the next sales action.

A pin leaves work unfinished. Request a sample row before starting the pilot, open it in the tool the team uses each morning, and ask a rep to identify the changed asset and the person they would contact from that record. Note every missing field.

This is the delivery template I would put in the scope. The last two rows are fields for your team to maintain after import.

Field group	Required content	Why the team needs it
Site identity	Stable site ID, location and parcel reference	Update an account without adding another copy
Change description	Added, removed or altered asset, with the observed facts	Know which service conversation fits
Before evidence	Capture date and dated view of the earlier state	Establish the baseline and its visibility
After evidence	Capture date and dated view of the later state	Explain when the change was first observed
Review result	Fits, rejects or unresolved; reason and field check	Decide who should work the record
Ownership research	Owner information and decision-maker contact where applicable	Begin identifying the buying responsibility
Delivery history	Edition date and links to earlier site findings	Preserve the record across refreshes
Sales assignment	Rep, branch, priority and next-action date	Put the finding in a named person’s queue
Sales outcome	Conversation, survey, proposal, won, lost or deferred	Measure account value against acquisition effort

Choose CSV, Excel, GIS-ready files or an import for your CRM or dealer system when scoping Asset Search. Agree which identifier controls updates. Ask the person who manages the account database to test the pilot import before expanding the territory.

Keep one account owner. When a roof addition and an expanded yard appear on the same parcel, attach both observations to the account so the rep can discuss the relevant work without a second salesperson calling the same owner independently. Keep separate tasks for each service.

Include rejected findings in a reviewable file instead of deleting them. A site rejected for distance might fit a neighboring branch. A removal should update the installed-base record and close an obsolete prospecting task. Agree how corrections reach the next edition so the same mistaken candidate does not keep returning.

From an alert to the first service conversation

Assign each accepted change to 1 relevant offer and confirm buying responsibility before spending estimator time on a new installation.

Lead with the service you offer. I would adapt this suggested script after reviewing the record: “We service commercial rooftop equipment in this area. The dated views show an addition at the property. Who handles the maintenance plan for those units?” Let the contact answer before discussing a visit.

Do not lead with a diagnosis. Ask who owns the equipment and who manages service access. Then ask when the next purchasing decision happens. Record a confirmed date as something the contact supplied. Keep it out of the imagery field.

For new equipment, ask about the existing installer relationship and the scope already covered. A backup-service conversation or a future review date may fit better than an immediate proposal. For removed equipment, start by correcting the account record and asking whether work shifted to another location.

Use a small set of sales dispositions: contact identified, visit agreed, covered by an existing provider, follow-up date set, or outside scope. A rep should be able to finish the update during the conversation. Reserve longer notes for information that changes the estimate.

Group approved visits by geography. Review access instructions before the truck leaves and put the evidence beside the appointment record. The demand-data guide for service businesses connects these property signals to the wider sales plan. Measure which type of change earns a qualified visit before adding more asset classes.

The value of reaching a changed site sooner

At an assumed $8,640 annual service agreement and 38% gross margin, one account contributes $3,283.20 in first-year gross profit before acquisition costs.

Use this planning model for a regional HVAC service department. Each account covers a building with several units; annual service revenue stays flat, delivery costs consume 62% of revenue, and 82% of accounts renew each year. Include service labor, travel, materials and reporting in those delivery costs. Assume each new account pays for its first year, then renews independently at the same annual rate. Use a five-year horizon without discounting, price increases or extra repair sales.

The arithmetic is annual gross profit = $8,640 x 38% = $3,283.20. Expected five-year gross profit = $3,283.20 x (1 + 0.82 + 0.82² + 0.82³ + 0.82⁴) = $11,477.71 per account, rounded to cents. This is customer lifetime value (CLV) over the chosen horizon, measured as gross profit. Call the unrounded result G = $11,477.705260032. Carry G through later calculations and round only the displayed totals.

Hold the hours constant. Allocate 54 sales hours to each approach, allowing 15 minutes per property for research and outreach, 90 minutes per scoped visit including travel, and one hour to prepare a proposal once the visit establishes the work. The outreach allowance includes the buying conversations and follow-up. Budget a blended $43 per sales hour for labor and associated selling expenses, excluding the separately quoted watch. The broad campaign uses an existing property list with no additional purchase cost. The monitoring campaign starts with 120 investigated candidates, of which 96 fit; the other 24 remain rejected or unresolved.

Campaign activity	Broad property prospecting	Reviewed changes that fit
Properties researched and contacted	144	96
Research and outreach time	144 x 15 minutes = 36 hours	96 x 15 minutes = 24 hours
Buying conversations assumed	24	24
Scoped visits	8 x 1.5 hours = 12 hours	12 x 1.5 hours = 18 hours
Proposals prepared	6 x 1 hour = 6 hours	12 x 1 hour = 12 hours
Total sales time	54 hours	54 hours
Accounts signed	1	3
Sales-time cost	54 x $43 = $2,322	54 x $43 = $2,322
Sales-time cost per signed account	$2,322	$774, before monitoring

The targeted column assumes three wins from 12 proposals, a 25% proposal close rate and 3.125% of the 96 properties. The broad column assumes one win from six proposals, about 16.7%. Its conversation rate is 24 / 144, about 16.7%, versus 24 / 96 = 25% for the reviewed changes. Both produce 24 buying conversations; the model assigns more visits and proposals to the better-fit sites. Track those stage rates in the pilot.

The same hours support three accounts instead of one. One wasted 90-minute visit consumes $64.50 of the sales budget before it produces a proposal. Record those visits, including why the property failed qualification, so the next search removes that source of waste.

Use the customer lifetime value calculator with your agreement margin and renewal history. For project work, substitute the gross profit from the specific project and separately budget any repeat work you expect. Do not carry the service renewal assumption into a one-time installation sale.

What should territory monitoring cost your business?

Evaluate the Asset Search quote against incremental gross profit from accounts won sooner or otherwise missed, using the broad campaign’s 1 account as the comparison.

An ongoing territory watch fits a subscription because the deliverable is a continuing sequence of reviewed changes. Asset Search also supports per-investigation, per-accepted-result and success-based arrangements for agreed scopes. For this task, I would start with a small paid pilot credited toward the full order, then scope the subscription around the asset and response window.

Keep the quote as Q in the model, including the monitoring commitment used for this campaign and the pilot cost after its credit. Total acquisition cost for the monitored campaign = Q + $2,322. With three wins, customer acquisition cost (CAC) = (Q + $2,322) / 3. Compare that with the broad campaign’s $2,322 per account before approving the scope. The monitored campaign has lower acquisition cost when Q is less than twice the shared sales budget.

Three accounts generate $34,433.12 in expected five-year gross profit. The CLV:CAC ratio compares account value with acquisition cost: (3 x G) / (Q + $2,322). For cash planning, each retained account contributes $3,283.20 / 12 = $273.60 per service month. CAC payback months = ((Q + $2,322) / 3) / $273.60, assuming revenue and delivery costs occur evenly through the year.

Test a worse outcome. This sensitivity analysis holds account economics and campaign effort constant while changing only the signed accounts from the 96 accepted properties. The comparison campaign still wins one.

Outcome	Low	Base	High
Accounts won from monitoring campaign	1	3	4
Additional accounts over broad campaign	0	2	3
Incremental first-year gross profit	$0	$6,566.40	$9,849.60
Incremental five-year gross profit	$0	$22,955.41	$34,433.12
Decision before counting monitoring cost	No acquisition advantage demonstrated	Compare Q with two additional accounts	Check service capacity before expanding

In the base case, incremental five-year gross profit per accepted property is (2 x G) / 96 = $239.12, rounded to cents. That is the value created by the two additional accounts spread across the worked list. It gives the buyer a way to judge the quote without treating every detected installation as a future customer.

Because the two campaigns use the same sales budget, incremental five-year ROI = ((2 x G) - Q) / Q for a positive Q. Add any extra field checks or sales effort to Q for that comparison. For a first-year gross-profit decision, substitute $6,566.40 for the five-year figure. Compare payment timing separately when approving the cash budget.

I would expand only after the pilot shows enough qualified opportunities to support the base case and the service manager can accept the work. If both approaches win one account, improve the asset rule or the offer before increasing frequency.

How to start a territory watch in 30 days

Build the first watch around 1 service offer, a defined territory and an eight-step launch plan that ends with a decision on the next edition.

1. Days 1 to 3: choose the buying decision. Name the service you want to sell and the physical change that makes a property worth researching. Write the first offer beside the asset definition. Assign one sales owner to the campaign.
2. Days 3 to 5: draw the territory. Specify counties, branch boundaries or parcel groups. Include travel limits and excluded site types. Supply existing account IDs so known customers and new prospects receive the right treatment.
3. Days 5 to 7: scope Asset Search. Use the custom asset search form to state what to find and where. Request a paid pilot with dated before-and-after views, parcel and owner information, all review dispositions, and delivery in your team’s format.
4. Days 7 to 10: agree on evidence. Define the baseline, minimum visibility and changes that qualify. Ask what coverage supports the desired cadence. Set the rule for unresolved candidates and the field question needed to settle each one.
5. Days 10 to 15: test the returned file. Schedule this review around the agreed pilot delivery. Check known sites and a sample of rejected findings with the field supervisor. Test account matching and assignments before loading the wider sales queue.
6. Days 15 to 22: work accepted changes. Research the contact and make the scoped offer. Group approved visits by geography. Record every hour spent, including failed visits and proposals that stall after the survey.
7. Days 22 to 27: compare the economics. Count conversations, visits and proposals from changed properties. Compare cost per qualified opportunity with your existing approach. Replace the model’s rates with pilot evidence as sales outcomes arrive.
8. Days 28 to 30: set the next edition. Choose which asset rules to retain and which areas deserve faster monitoring. Assign unresolved sites a next check. Agree on the reporting cadence and the sales team’s response deadline before expanding.

The dates are your launch schedule; pilot delivery belongs in the agreed scope. Longer sales cycles will leave some opportunities open on day 30. Keep their follow-up dates and judge the early edition on qualified scope and selling effort while the account decisions mature.

When a Ground Control list is enough

Ground Control by PorchRocket is the fastest starting point when you need buildings with existing visible assets and standard filters, priced at $10 to $20 per commercial building. Choose buildings with rooftop HVAC by 2+ or 5+ visible units, business type, size and area, or select properties with storage tanks. Ground Control sends the file within 48 hours after payment, with the reason each property matched. Wrong matches receive a credit back within 30 days. Owner information and decision-maker research are add-ons. These are target properties your team contacts to start a conversation.

Use that option for a first service territory where the immediate question is which buildings fit. An existing five-unit roof can deserve an outreach call even if nothing has changed recently. The standard file gives the rep a defined set of accounts to work.

Choose Asset Search when the question includes before-and-after evidence, a custom asset definition or continuing monitoring. Keep those deliverables explicit. A fresh list of matching buildings and a record of changes between observations answer different sales questions.

Put your territory on an Asset Search watch

Asset Search gives your team reviewed installation changes with dated evidence and property information, scoped from 1 county to the contiguous United States.

Start with the asset definition and the territory. We set search rules with your specialists, cross-reference aerial and satellite observations with records, and have people review candidates before delivery. The search extends beyond existing directories to unlisted and newly built sites. A subscription keeps the territory under review as new imagery becomes available.

For a new-installation watch, your team gets:

• The site location and parcel, with owner information and decision-maker contact where applicable.
• Dated before-and-after views showing the observation behind each reported change.
• The visible facts that determine whether the site meets your agreed search rules.
• Fits, rejected candidates with reasons, and unresolved cases with the field check that settles them.
• A CSV, Excel, GIS-ready file or import arranged for your CRM or dealer system.
• Refresh editions at the scoped cadence, plus re-evaluation of searched sites when your requirements change.

The two-minute form starts the scope and quote. Most buyers begin with a small paid pilot credited toward the full order. Tell us which change your team can act on, and put the next territory review on the calendar.