I have given it some thought - there is a steep learning curve as with any new and technical process. Possible in small steps with help from google search and videos. I only scratch the surface of what is possible. The more folks who are willing to put out even small bread crumbs the more complete a picture of a company's exploration drilling.
I have been aware of Sentinel for over 3 years and initially wrote it off as being too low resolution to be of much use. Maybe the resolution got better, or maybe I just found it i useful to keep up with company activity in close on real time.
If DRE hits $1 then I might invest in paid satellite imagery @ thousands of dollars for daily coverage at near CIA 1980s?? resolution. I did try Planet explorer's free trial but wasn't any better than Sentinel for keeping track of site prep and possibly less so for drilling - may not have been the best resolution for the free trial.
Don't know if I introduced Sentinel first to some sites or not but probably early for DEG where there are some very diligent users now.
Check out the thread this post come from..
DEG - one area after around 3 years from initial discovery. Annotating this image accurately is quite a chore IMO but can be done. Hope C1-17 and Y1-99+ [LOL for 17 but perhaps not 99] begin to look like variants of this by the end of next year.
DRE with nearly 10000 square kilometers of tenements is nearly impossible for one person to keep track of all activity - read drilling/site prep with RC/diamond but rarely aircore and not Auger as at Yampi.
Even C1-5 takes a bit of effort so the more folks who are looking and reporting activity the better. I haven't been able to spot any diamond drill activity at Yin with any level of certainty because the RC pads mask any near twin holes. The deeper tier of planned diamond drilling will require site preparation (8 planned) to the east of the core area that should be visible and IMO be fairly imminent.
There is another company's site I keep track of activity where
@Shines2 also checks sentinel and occasionally spots something I have missed. Certainly helps build up a more complete data base of activity.
Use the link to sentinel above. Create an account. Work out how to change dates, image types and how to do time lapse. The latter helps see what changes have occurred over time. There are imagery artefacts and cloud cover to be aware of among other issues. This is just the tip of what is possible.
Points from sentinel imagery can be given latitude and longitude coords and transferred into Google Earth or other GIS software. I have learnt some basics on QGIS this year and the iterations possible with GE, company maps and drill data are mind blowing for me even with the tip of the iceberg I'm using.
Getting data that far helps but then it needs annotating with clarity to begin to be useful for anyone else. At home I use the simple Paint program from Microsoft. DT said quite a bit of thought goes into creating base maps that are created by a specialist and then can be used to modify for presentations rather than creating new ones every time.
On the road (now) with a laptop or phone I miss the 3 screens and more powerful computer with lots of other software. Still possible to follow things but not as convenient.
Most of the above are free or to make a donation if one chooses.
@Polonium210, and others, have access to 3D software packages with resource calculation capacity. Big $s for these.
Not many will have the time, inclination or skills to do what I do. Every little bit can help. If there are other useful programs (preferably free) I wouldn't mind checking them out.
Always a learning process that keeps the grey matter ticking over hopefully staving off old timers....
(20min delay)