The Ultimate Guide to Using InSAR
When everything is moving continuously, it is vital that you can separate signal from noise to stay ahead of your geotechnical risk.
Our free-to-download Ultimate Guide to Using InSAR will walk you through the application of this complicated technique and highlight the ‘SkyGeo Difference’.
Reading this Guide will Teach You:
How to get ahead of your geotechnical risk and understand what is important information when everything you manage is moving.
Why being able to separate signal from noise is the key skill when implementing InSAR.
How InSAR works and how it can be used to help make safety and economic decisions.
What the ‘SkyGeo Difference’ is and why it is so important for your maintenance schedules and budgets.
Why ‘doing InSAR’ is an ongoing partnership and simply buying ‘colored dots’, will not give you the insights you need.
Which sensors provide the data that you will need to make the best decisions about the maintenance of your assets.
Why compact and simple-to-access reports are fundamental to sharing the knowledge throughout your organisation.
Why working with a company that has built its own processing platform is a ‘must-have’ when selecting a partner.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The guide explains how to use InSAR responsibly for geotechnical risk: how to separate signal from noise, what common interpretation pitfalls look like, and how to turn time‑series deformation into actionable insight for real asset decisions.
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It’s designed for people who need to act on ground-movement information—engineers, geoscientists, risk practitioners, and asset managers in mining, energy, and civil infrastructure—especially where misinterpretation could lead to unsafe or costly outcomes.
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Satellite monitoring uses repeat observations from space (e.g., radar) to measure surface change and ground motion across wide areas, consistently over time. Traditional surveying and sensors can be very accurate locally, but they typically cover smaller footprints and require access, installation, and maintenance. The practical difference is governance: satellite monitoring gives you systematic coverage and historical context, while ground methods provide targeted, on-the-ground confirmation. The safest approach is to combine both—use satellite monitoring to screen and prioritise where attention is needed, then validate and intervene with engineering judgement and site data.
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There isn’t a single ‘best’ revisit time or resolution—what’s effective depends on the asset, the failure modes you’re trying to manage, and the risk tolerance you set. Some risks require more frequent updates to detect accelerating trends; others benefit more from long time-series consistency and robust interpretation. Spatial resolution also needs to match the scale of the asset and the deformation pattern. The key is not chasing maximum resolution, but selecting an approach that produces decision-grade insight: stable measurements, known uncertainty, and a clear escalation framework when change is detected.