Earth intelligence is emerging as a major growth avenue for technology providers, with the total direct revenue potential projected to hit nearly $20 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Gartner released on Wednesday. The sector is poised to shift from government dominance to becoming a private-sector-driven industry, with annual revenues forecast to rise from $3.8 billion in 2025 to over $4.2 billion in 2030.
Defined by Gartner as the application of artificial intelligence to Earth observation data to generate industry-specific insights, Earth intelligence includes the collection, transformation, and AI-powered analysis of such data to support actionable decision-making.
“The future of Earth intelligence will be won by the vendors that move quickly to develop technologies that make sense of the oceans of raw data they collect,” said Bill Ray, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.
The report highlights how this rapidly evolving domain is unlocking unprecedented use cases. From satellite monitoring of railroad blockages caused by storms to thermal analysis of global metal refineries, and from vehicle traffic pattern tracking to shipping activity assessments, AI applications are helping turn complex Earth observation data into valuable intelligence.
Currently, governments are the primary collectors and users of such data. However, a paradigm shift is underway, with Gartner projecting that private enterprises will account for more than 50% of Earth intelligence spending by 2030, up from just 15% in 2024.
“As private technology and service providers begin to dominate Earth intelligence, they have the opportunity to sell data, models and applications to companies that lack the resources to analyse data for themselves,” Ray added.
This transformation opens the door to new markets, including commercial offerings for datasets, AI models, standalone analytics tools, and embedded applications—making Earth intelligence one of the most promising technology-driven revenue streams of the coming decade.
