The use of satellite imagery for urban spatial by the Malta Planning Authority

Maltese Planning Authority

The Maltese Planning Authority is the national government agency responsible for land use and spatial planning in Malta. It also serves as the country’s national mapping authority, providing essential cartographic data to support the development permit system and ensure that urban development aligns with planning regulations.

The challenge

For over a decade, the Planning Authority relied on aerial photography to produce maps of the Maltese Islands. However, with rapid and constant urban development — new constructions, extensions, and land-use changes — there was an increasing need to update maps more frequently and monitor change across the entire country.
Aerial imagery, while detailed, posed several obstacles: it required special flight permits, favourable weather conditions, and costly equipment. Drone surveys offered flexibility but covered only urban areas, making them impractical for nationwide mapping. The Planning Authority therefore sought a simpler, faster, and more scalable solution that could provide regular, high-resolution imagery over Malta as a whole.

The satellite solution

To meet these needs, the Planning Authority adopted high-resolution commercial satellite imagery: satellite data provides synoptic coverage — capturing the entire island in a single snapshot — and can be acquired regularly (one to two times per week), with access to a rich archive of past images. This allows them to select cloud-free images for specific time periods and conduct change detection analyses, supporting urban planning policies such as modification of development zones. Although commercial imagery involves a cost, it remains more affordable than aerial photography and offers greater temporal flexibility. Transitioning to satellite-based mapping required a mindset shift and specialised training for the Planning Authority’s geomatics team, enabling staff to interpret and integrate satellite data effectively into existing workflows.

The results

The use of satellite imagery has significantly improved the efficiency and accuracy of urban monitoring in Malta. The Planning Authority now produces value-added datasets, including national land-use maps, derived from satellite analyses. The Authority is also exploring the use of AI-based tools for automatic building detection, further enhancing its capacity to track and analyse urban change. By embracing satellite technology, they have strengthened their ability to plan sustainably, leveraging both current and archived imagery to maintain an up-to-date view of the country’s evolving landscape — a model that could inspire other national mapping agencies across Europe.