From Sky to Ground: How Reveal is Transforming Construction Insights
January 2026
By Dwarakh V. Nayam, Doren Walker, Colin Shevlin, Hector Ferronato, Lei Peng
For decades, monitoring construction activity has depended on builder surveys, permits, and field inspections. These processes are important but slow, costly, and often outdated by the time reports are released.
At Reveal Global Consulting, we believe there’s a better way.
By combining artificial intelligence (AI) with high-resolution satellite imagery, our Satellite of Construction (SOC) initiative delivers a modern, data-driven approach to construction tracking — one that provides timely, accurate, and scalable insight into how communities are developing in real time.
The Challenge: Outdated Data, Missed Opportunities
Traditional construction monitoring has long struggled with incomplete and delayed data. Builders voluntarily submit monthly reports, but participation varies, leaving gaps that require manual site visits to verify progress.
This manual process is time-intensive, expensive, and inevitably behind the pace of real-world change.
For public agencies, investors, and developers alike, these delays make it difficult to act quickly and confidently. Missing or outdated data can affect everything from housing forecasts to infrastructure investments and creating uncertainty in an industry that thrives on precision.
The Breakthrough: Real-Time Construction Monitoring from Above
The Satellite of Construction initiative changes the game by replacing self-reported data with objective, AI-powered satellite observation.
Using ultra-high-resolution imagery (50 centimeters per pixel), SOC analyzes urban and rural landscapes every month to detect, classify, and track new construction activity.
Here’s how it works:
AI-powered detection: Deep learning models identify where construction is occurring and what stage each site is in from foundation to roofing.
Smart classification: Additional AI models determine the type of structure, distinguishing between single-family homes, multi-family units, and commercial buildings.
By combining these insights, SOC creates a living, continuously updated map of construction activity across entire regions and delivers clarity that traditional reporting methods can’t match.
Turning Data Into Actionable Insight
What makes SOC so powerful isn’t just the technology, it’s the intelligence that comes from integration.
Each image is analyzed, cross-referenced with footprints, road networks, and machine learning models to ensure accuracy and enrich detail. Advanced filtering algorithms remove noise caused by roads, clouds, or shadows, while smart data imputation fills in gaps caused by weather or coverage limitations.
The result: a comprehensive, near-real-time picture of housing and infrastructure development, ready to inform strategic decisions across sectors.
The Strategic Advantage
At Reveal, we view technology as a means to a larger end: helping organizations connect data to decisions.
For developers and investors: SOC provides early visibility into where and when construction is accelerating, enabling smarter investment timing.
For public agencies: It offers up-to-date intelligence for zoning, infrastructure planning, and housing policy.
For industry leaders: It fosters transparency and collaboration, grounding partnerships in verified, shared data.
By uniting these perspectives through objective insight, SOC builds the kind of data confidence that accelerates decision-making and strengthens relationships across the construction ecosystem.
From Complexity to Clarity
AI and satellite analytics take what used to be fragmented, delayed, and labor-intensive and turn it into clear, usable intelligence.
Instead of relying on inconsistent reports, leaders can see what’s happening on the ground as it unfolds, across entire regions. This shift moves construction monitoring from reactive reporting to proactive insight — empowering smarter planning, more responsive policy, and more efficient capital allocation.
Looking Ahead
The fusion of satellite data analytics and AI-driven construction monitoring represents a strategic evolution in how we understand growth.
At Reveal Global Consulting, we help organizations harness this innovation to gain a true competitive edge by integrating emerging technologies with business strategy to unlock new clarity and connection in complex systems.
Let’s start a conversation about how AI, satellite intelligence, and strategic data integration can help you shape the future.
Read our white paper here: New Construction Activity Detection and Classification via Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning