2025 was a year of meaningful progress for Collect Earth Online (CEO), shaped by platform evolution, changing imagery landscapes, and ongoing engagement with a global user community applying CEO across research, monitoring, and policy contexts. Throughout 2025, our focus remained consistent: improving how remote sensing data are collected and reviewed while maintaining transparency, scientific rigor, and accessibility.
Early in 2025, we launched redesigned online documentation for Collect Earth Online, making it easier for users to find, navigate, and stay current with platform features.
The documentation is fully searchable, allowing users to quickly locate relevant information. Content is organized into four primary sections, guiding users from getting started through data collection, project creation, and institution management.
This new system also enables faster updates, ensuring documentation stays aligned with feature releases and supporting both workshop-based capacity building and self-directed learning. Users can access materials via the web, by downloading the PDF, or through an offline HTML package that preserves full website functionality.
Together, these improvements make CEO’s documentation more accessible, flexible, and responsive to user needs.
In 2025, Collect Earth Online—along with other platforms—experienced a major imagery change with the conclusion of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) program providing free access to high-resolution Planet imagery. As of April 1, 2025, Planet NICFI imagery is no longer available in CEO for either existing or new projects.
Looking ahead, NICFI is developing a new phase of its satellite data program, which the CEO team will continue to monitor for potential future integration. In the meantime, Planet’s Tropical Forest Observatory (TFO) provides a subscription-based option for continued access to the same high-resolution imagery, with ongoing monthly updates.
Throughout 2025, we introduced a series of feature enhancements aimed at making Collect Earth Online more flexible, efficient, and aligned with real-world project workflows.
Together, these enhancements reflect a focus on flexibility and rigor.
Beyond platform development, 2025 was a year of growing visibility and real-world application for CEO. The platform was featured across multiple conferences, presentations, and videos, highlighting how it is being used in diverse geographic and institutional contexts, including:
These are just a few examples that reflect the role of Collect Earth Online as a shared platform connecting operational monitoring, research, and capacity building across scales.
Listening to users remained a priority throughout the year. The 2025 User Feedback Survey provided valuable insights into how CEO is being used, the most impactful features, and where our users see opportunities for improvement.
More than 100 administrators and interpreters responded to the survey, and reinforced that CEO remains a critical tool for global professionals from a range of sectors spanning climate, environmental monitoring, forestry / agroforestry, and related sectors. Nearly 80% of survey respondents said CEO was important or extremely important to achieving their goals. Overall, users expressed satisfaction with the variety of capabilities CEO offers, including access to high-resolution and near-real-time satellite imagery, the ability to create customized and sophisticated survey questions and sample area designs, and the collaborative, web-based environment that supports teams and community engagement.
Feedback continues to play a central role in shaping development priorities, documentation improvements, and feature design. Alongside affirming CEO’s importance, the 2025 survey highlighted opportunities for growth. Users expressed desire for additional training, improved usability, and efficiencies with project management and data collection. As we explore further advancements for CEO, we are committed to focus on these priorities to strengthen and refine the user experience and integrate advanced technologies.
The work completed in 2025 laid important groundwork for the future. The lessons learned—from imagery transitions to supporting our users—are directly informing upcoming development.
There are more user-focused improvements and new features planned for 2026, with continued emphasis on transparency, data quality, and supporting diverse monitoring and analysis needs.
Collect Earth Online is strengthened by its community. We would like to thank everyone who used the platform, shared feedback, contributed case studies, and collaborated with us throughout the year. Your engagement is what makes this work relevant and impactful.
We look forward to building on this momentum in 2026.
