This guide was created by the staff of the GIS/Data Center at Rice University and is to be used for individual educational purposes only.

The steps outlined in this guide require access to ArcGIS Pro software and data that is available both online and at Fondren Library.


The following step-by-step instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows 11 operating system with the Windows Classic desktop theme and ArcGIS Pro 3.3 software. If your personal system configuration varies, you may experience minor differences from the instructions and screenshots.


Using EarthCache in ArcGIS Pro

EarthCache is a free extension add-on made by SkyWatch that can be downloaded within ArcGIS Pro which allows users to order high resolution area of interest imagery of an area they want to study or use. Users can get from 10cm to 10m imagery downloads inside ArcGIS Pro with the 10m imagery downloads being free and scales up in price for more high quality resolution up to 10cm. It is useful to have it for projects that requires ortho mapping workspaces or an aerial view of remote locations. 

Acquiring EarthCache through ArcGIS Marketplace

  1. Go to the Esri website (https://www.esri.com/en-us/home) and from the Products dropdown menu underneath the Buy Online column, click on Marketplace
  2. Once you are in the Marketplace, go to the Products tab and type in "EarthCache" in the search bar. It should be the only one that pops up when searching EarthCache. 
  3. Instead of clicking Get it now which requires administrator permission to get the extension, we instead get it directly from the SkyWatch website instead. Scroll down to find the sentence: Download the Satellite Imagery for ArcGIS add-in from the SkyWatch website. Click on the hyperlink or go to the link here: https://skywatch.com/arcgis-pro-add-in-download/?utm_medium=Esri%20Marketplace
  4. Download the most current one (ArcGIS Pro 3.0+).
  5. Click the downloaded file and then install add-in


You are now ready to use EarthCache in ArcGIS Pro

Using EarthCache in ArcGIS Pro

  1. Open ArcGIS Pro and create a new project and name it "EarthCache"
  2. In the ribbon, there is a new tab called Satellite Imagery for ArcGIS or EarthCache on other versions. If you do not see it, close and restart the application. Click the tab.
  3. In the Account panel, create a new account where a pop-up browser will ask for you to fill in your details. Once you have fill in your details, log back in through ArcGIS Pro.
  4. The tab has expanded that allows you to get imagery by ordering and downloading it. Start by clicking the Search Archive within the Request Imagery group.
  5. A new pane as opened up on the right where you can set the parameters for your search. Click the pencil tool next to Select AOI Layer. This will prompt you to draw a polygon shape of the area of interest you want to download.
  6. Zoom onto the Rice University campus in Houston. Draw an enclosed polygon around the Rice University campus and double-click once you are finished with the polygon.
  7. Adjust the Start Date to the be the first day of the year to expand search results within that time frame. Everything else should be fine to run since other resolutions and minimum coverage require extra cost to pay.
  8. Click Run.

The search results loaded results through the past year based on your parameters from satellite imagery. You can check the cost, area of interest covered, cloud percentage, and the resolution for each image produced. Rice is completely within the satellite imagery which is perfect for us to download. 

  1. Scroll down to the end of the results where you see Label and Value. Enter "RiceUniversity_[enter month and year]" in 'Label'.
  2. Click Order and confirm your selection.

What it does is that it sends to your email that you signed up with. It doesn't take that long to download since it is a low resolution image. EarthCache produces four samples of different areas and places around the world but we are only interested in the area of interest.

  1. Go to My Orders within Request Imagery group and check the status of your order. Active means that it is rendering a raster satellite image for you to download. Complete means that the process is finished and sent to your email. Once it changes to complete, you would receive an email confirming your order. 
  2. When it completes, click the Bulk Download checkbox next to the order and click Bulk Download on the bottom. Click yes on the confirmation box.
  3. Once it has been downloaded, go to the Map tab and click 'Add Data' then Browse
  4. Go to the Downloads Folder where it should have the folder name "RiceUniversity_[enter month and year]" EarthCache User AOI 1. Click on the folder
  5. EarthCache sends different types of files to pick from the area of interest. Click on the raster TIF file and confirm.
  6. The final result should be something like this. Save the project on the top of the screen. 


While the image quality isn't as high resolution, it still gets the job done despite are a few parts of the campus that was cut off on the sides near Main. If you decide to buy the higher quality raster, you would just need to pay per square kilometer within ArcGIS Pro which means it can vary from $5 all the way to $1000. Unless you input payment within the Account group, you won't get access to the higher quality images.

Using EarthCache is incredibly helpful in terms of working with satellite imagery on remote places and/or need certain periods of time of an area you would like to study.