EXCLUSIVE: ICEYE Launches Geospatial Analysis Platform ICEYE Flood Insights

Space manufacturer and earth monitoring startup ICEYE has recently introduced ICEYE Insights, a geospatial data platform for insurance companies. The company, which owns the world’s largest synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, collects data points around the world in real-time. The new platform allows insurers to integrate ICEYE’s flood observation data and analysis with their property insurance information, presenting a clearer image of flooding events and how to insure them effectively.

Looking at all aspects of a flooding event, insurers can upload their property portfolio to ICEYE Insights via an API and visualise the potential damage a flood can cause in those areas. The company utilises the EigenPrism® catastrophe risk management tool to routinely update and analyse data from ICEYE’s Flood Insights product.

Real-time, high-resolution flood data

“By launching ICEYE Insights we are expanding access to our high-resolution Flood Insights data to the widest possible spectrum of companies,” said Stephen Lathrope, the Global Head of Insurance at ICEYE. “Our strategy is to enable the insurance market to connect with our technology and data in the form and through the channel that best suits their specific needs.”

The launch of the platform presents a natural evolution from ICEYE’s Flood Insights Product. Insights facilitate the one-two-step integration of flood monitoring data into insurance ecosystems. With this approach, insurers can effectively subscribe to the platform, upload their property data, and receive an overlay of ICEYE’s flood extent and depth measurements almost immediately.

“Companies which operate geospatial tools are currently able to download Flood Insights information directly into their data infrastructure. Those companies without these geospatial capabilities will now be able to access our flood data via the ICEYE Insights platform which offers a user-friendly, plug-and-play solution which is automatically updated with our flood insights. Users can upload their property data to the platform and instantly analyse the impact of a flood event on their portfolio.”

The advantage for insurers

ICEYE has been working extensively with insurers since the 2010s, monitoring and analysing data from weather and climate-related incidences like floods and wildfires. This technology, which provides insurers with an abundance of data points to predict when, where and how badly an event will affect a specific area, has benefited industry titans like Descartes Underwriting and Aon.

The results provided by ICEYE Insights would enable insurers to identify areas where they can make provisional payments or early total loss settlement and estimate the cost of damage to individual properties. This advantage, as well as being able to contact customers most affected and allocate field resources, makes the platform a proactive tool for insurers dealing with catastrophe and flood-related disasters.

“The insurance industry requires faster access to accurate, actionable hazard data in the immediate aftermath of a flood event,” said Stephen Lathrope. “However, currently there is a major flood data shortfall which is driving up costs, hampering responsiveness, degrading service, and creating significant inefficiencies across every aspect of disaster response and claims management.

“We believe that this is a truly transformative capability for the insurance sector that has the potential to greatly advance the ability of the industry to respond to the needs of its customers, and better respond to and manage this growing threat posed by flood.”