An Edinburgh company that uses satellite data and artificial intelligence to map forests and land, helping people understand and protect nature.
Space Intelligence is an Edinburgh-based company that turns satellite pictures into maps of the natural world. It maps forests, land cover, habitats and the carbon stored in vegetation, and it can show where forests are being cut down or growing back. It uses machine learning, a kind of computer program that learns patterns from large amounts of data, together with expert knowledge from ecologists. It keeps a library of global forest and land-cover data, and says its mapping covers hundreds of millions of hectares across several countries. Its maps are used by people building forest carbon projects, by companies that want to check their supply chains for deforestation, and by organisations preparing for rules such as the EU Deforestation Regulation.
The company is led by Dr Murray Collins, co-founder and chief executive, together with co-founder Professor Ed Mitchard. Between them they bring nearly 40 years of research and field experience in remote sensing, the science of measuring the world from a distance. Dr Collins frames the work around the twin crises of climate and nature loss. He argues that forest conservation and restoration must grow through tools such as carbon markets, and that those involved need accurate, independent data on land and forest cover that they can trust.
In the UK, Space Intelligence is in Edinburgh, part of the city's growing space data community. In April 2021 it published free, high-resolution habitat maps covering the whole of Scotland, funded by the Scottish government, and it has carried out landscape analysis for the UK Government's business and energy department. Its overseas mapping spans Africa, Asia and the Americas, so a UK-based team supports projects around the world. A University of Edinburgh listing covers the company among its space start-ups, but the article we read did not state whether it is a university spin-out, so we have not said so.
A 2025 article said the company employed more than 50 people, including about 20 mapping scientists and ecologists. That mix of scientists, data specialists and software engineers is a good clue to the culture: work that sits between nature science and technology. We found no company statements about working life, values or benefits, so we have not described them. The founders' academic background suggests a research-minded outlook, which is our reading rather than a company claim.
Roles in a company like this include remote-sensing scientists, ecologists, machine-learning and data engineers, software developers, people who work with customers on carbon and supply-chain projects, and operations and business staff. Subjects that lead here include geography, environmental science, ecology, maths, physics and computer science. The company plans to add more countries and new near real-time monitoring products, so its data team is likely to stay central.
Website: www.space-intelligence.com
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