1. Learn what normal looks like
When you sign up we pull up to a year of clear photos and about four months of radar passes for your pin and learn its normal picture, then keep adding to it as new passes arrive.
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Open the pin in Google Maps
Your Plot Watch
Before and latest
Each image covers about 480 m. The yellow square is the 40 m area we measure around your pin. Photos can only be taken when there's no cloud; radar works through cloud (bright = rough or hard surfaces like walls and roofs, dark = smooth ground, sand fill or water).
Every pass we've checked
Green dots: how green the plot is compared with the land around it (clear photos). Grey line: radar reflection from the plot compared with the land around it. A sudden, lasting jump away from the usual band is what triggers an alert.
Ask for a close-up satellite image
Commercial satellites can photograph your plot at 30–50 cm, sharp enough to see a foundation or a stack of blocks. We'll check which images of your plot exist and email you a quote before charging anything.
Questions, or want to cancel? Reply to any Plot Watch email or WhatsApp +1 202 427 3118.
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Setting up your Plot Watch
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Idle Plot Watch · $9 a month or $90 a year
Is anyone touching your land while you're away?
Land grabbers clearing your plot, someone sand-filling it or starting to build on land they think nobody is watching. Plot Watch checks your plot on every radar pass (about every 6–12 days, straight through cloud) and every clear satellite photo, and emails you before and after images if something changes.
Real example · not a mock-up
What clearing and sand fill look like from space
A plot in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos (pin 6.4478, 3.9604), as Copernicus Sentinel satellites saw it. The yellow square is the 40 m area Plot Watch measures. Each image is about 600 m across.
Radar sees it even when it's cloudy
The rainy season hides the ground from ordinary satellite photos for weeks. Radar doesn't need daylight or clear skies. Smooth sand fill shows up as a dark patch where there used to be speckled bush.
What Plot Watch would have sent
We replayed two years of real satellite passes for this pin through the same engine that runs Plot Watch, as if an owner had subscribed in January 2024:
- Jan–June 2024: The watch learns the plot's normal picture. No alerts.
- 27 Jun 2024 · "Possible change" email: both radar channels drop sharply at the height of the rains. That can be flooding or clearing, so it's reported as possible and re-checked. It recovers by mid-August: waterlogged ground.
- 28 Sep 2024 · "Possible change" email: the first clear photo after the rains shows the plot has lost most of its green cover.
- 28 Oct 2024 · "Large change" alert: radar and photos now agree: the plot has been cleared and sand-filled. The email includes before and after images and the options below.
- 2025: Once the filled land becomes the new normal picture, the watch goes quiet and would alert on the next change, such as building starting.
The alert the owner would have received
The explanation lines are what the Plot Watch engine produced for this plot's real readings. The AI review is the real, unedited answer Claude (claude-sonnet-4-5) gave when shown this plot's April and October 2024 images and readings. On a live watch it is written fresh for each large alert and can be wrong.
Real readings for the example plot, December 2023 to January 2026. Grey line: radar signal from vegetation on the plot compared with the land around it. Green dots: how green the plot is in clear photos. The short dip in mid-2024 is the rainy season; the sharp, lasting drop from October 2024 is the clearing.
How Plot Watch works
2. Check every pass
Every new radar pass and clear photo is compared with that picture and with the land around the plot, so rain and dry-season browning that affect the whole area don't trigger false alarms.
3. Rule out the weather
We check NASA rainfall records for the week before every radar pass. Waterlogged ground can fool radar, so a radar-only change in a wet week needs more passes, or a clear photo, before we call it large.
4. Email you when something changes
A single odd pass is reported as a "possible change" and re-checked. When the change is confirmed (two passes, or radar and photo agreeing) you get a "large change" alert with before and after images and a plain-English review of what the images most likely show.
5. Monthly "all quiet" report
Once a month we email how many passes we checked and whether anything changed, so you know the watch is running.
If a large change is detected
Satellite pixels are about 10 m across, so the watch tells you that something changed on the plot, not exactly what. Every large-change alert gives you three options:
Book a surveyor visit — $149
A licensed surveyor (SURCON / GhIS / ISK) visits the plot, photographs it and the corner beacons, and checks them against your survey plan. Written report within 5 business days of receiving the plan.
About the surveyor visitAsk for a close-up image — quote first
Commercial satellites photograph at 30–50 cm, sharp enough to see a foundation or a stack of blocks. We check which images of your plot exist and quote you before charging anything.
"This was me"
If you cleared, fenced or started building yourself, mark the change as expected. The watch learns the new normal over the next few weeks and carries on.
What it catches and what it can't
| Usually caught | Usually missed |
|---|---|
| Clearing or burning bush on the plot | A few blocks or a small pile of sand |
| Sand filling and grading | Beacons being moved or removed |
| A larger new building or roof going up | A shed or container smaller than about 10 m |
| A whole estate or road being cut through the area | Someone selling your plot on paper (a lawyer's title search catches that) |
| The plot flooding or staying waterlogged | Changes on very small plots squeezed between buildings |
For things the satellites can't see, a surveyor visit is the answer. Plot Watch tells you when it's worth sending one.
See your plot from space — free
Paste your plot's GPS pin to see the most recent clear satellite photo and radar image we can find for it.
Start Plot Watch
Questions
How often is my plot checked?
We look for new passes every few days. Radar passes come about every 6–12 days depending on where the plot is; clear photos are more frequent in the dry season and rare in the rains.
Will I get false alarms?
Sometimes. Weather, flooding or a parked truck can make a single pass look different. That's why a single odd pass is only reported as a "possible change", and a "large change" alert needs confirmation. We'd rather tell you and be wrong occasionally than miss someone building on your land. Two extra checks cut false alarms: rainfall records for every radar pass, and an automated review of the before and after images. If the images clearly show something harmless, such as standing water after rain, we send a "possible change" instead of a "large change" and keep watching; a change that persists is always reported.
How do I get my plot's pin if I'm abroad?
Ask anyone at the plot (an agent, caretaker, relative or surveyor) to stand in the middle and share their location with you on WhatsApp, then paste the link here. A photo taken on the plot also works if it's sent to you as a file. The "Don't have the pin?" box under the pin field walks you through each way.
Does this replace a surveyor or a lawyer?
No. Plot Watch watches the ground. It can't see title, ownership, or beacons. Use a lawyer for title, and a surveyor visit when the watch shows a change.
Can I watch more than one plot?
Yes, each plot is its own Plot Watch. Message us if you have five or more plots and we'll set them up together.
How do I cancel?
Reply to any Plot Watch email or WhatsApp us and we'll cancel it straight away; no questions asked.