Can I use satellite imagery tiles in Mapbox? How about the pricing?

Question

I am developing a product using Mapbox, but I've noticed that the satellite imagery provided is quite outdated in some areas, with data being up to four years old. I'm seeking a solution that offers the latest high-quality satellite imagery. Here are my questions:

1. Can I use satellite imagery tiles from Azure Map within Mapbox?
2. How frequently does Azure Maps update its satellite imagery?
3. Does Azure Maps provide a timeline feature, allowing me to view imagery from different dates, such as comparing the imagery from January 1, 2023, with the current imagery for the same area?

Answer 1

1. Yes, you can use Azure Maps imagery within Mapbox.
2. Imagery update varies by location. Some areas are updated nearly every year, while some once every 4 years. One average imagery is updated in urban areas is updated every two years. For example, London UK is nearly always under construction and is constantly changing, so it gets updated more frequently than Paris, France which has a lot less frequent architectural changes. Imagery updates are added to production when they become available (so there isn't a single update a year, but regular updates to any given place in the world throughout the year).
3. Azure Maps does not provide access to historical imagery. However, if lower resolution imagery is sufficient (like city level view), Azure Plaentary computer makes landsat imagery which is updated quarterly, freely available: https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/ Also depending on your area of interest, there are lots of government agencies that make imagery available for free, some with historical data access. Here are a few examples in the USA:

• USGS National Map (US wide imagery coverage): https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/USGSImageryOnly/MapServer You can check this out here
• King County GIS (the GIS department of this county in WA state makes historical imagery available): https://www5.kingcounty.gov/sdc/TOC.aspx?subject=survey You can check these out here