Community tools
Two free tools for local organisations, district offices and anyone else who needs a clear answer about their own area. Choose a district from a list and the service reads the satellite archives, does the analysis on our server and returns a short answer in plain English, with the figures, a chart or map, and a note on how far to trust it. No GIS software, specialist or powerful computer is needed, and the answer loads quickly on a slow connection.
Season condition
Is this district's season drier, or its vegetation weaker, than normal?
Compares rainfall over the last one, three or six months with the 1991–2020 average, and vegetation greenness with the 2001–2020 average, for one district. Vegetation is measured on cropland where the district has enough of it.
Usually ready in about one minute. Relevant to SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 13 (climate action).
Flood impact
Where did it flood, and roughly how many people live in the flooded area?
Compares the latest Sentinel-1 radar images of a district with a dry-season reference, removes permanent water, and counts the people living in the newly flooded area, with a range.
Usually ready in one to three minutes. Relevant to SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 13 (climate action).
Two worked examples
The images above are real answers. In Marsabit County, Kenya, rainfall from October to December 2022 was 86 mm, 54% of the 1991–2020 average, and vegetation was weaker than for the same months in any year since 2001. In Feni district, Bangladesh, radar passes on 21 and 28 August 2024 showed about 39 km² of newly flooded land, home to about 4,400 people (range 1,100 to 8,000). Open the Marsabit question or the Feni question to see the full answers, and read the launch article for how they compare with reports from the time.
Coverage
- 200 countries and territories
- 52,236 districts and provinces
- 80 low and lower-middle-income countries
- 90 days each answer is kept, shareable by link
District boundaries come from the open release of geoBoundaries, at the second administrative level (usually the district or county) where it is available and the first (province or region) otherwise. Every country in that release whose boundary licence permits commercial reuse is included. Income groups are the World Bank groups recorded in the geoBoundaries metadata. Boundaries are simplified for the web, so edges are approximate to within a few hundred metres.
Places beyond 60° north or south are not covered, because the rainfall record stops at 60°. Each country's boundary licence is shown with every answer; 58 countries use a share-alike licence, which applies to reuse of the boundary outlines themselves.
| Licence | Countries |
|---|---|
| CC BY 3.0 IGO | 48 |
| ODbL 1.0 | 43 |
| CC BY 4.0 | 40 |
| Public domain | 33 |
| CC BY-SA 2.0 | 9 |
| CC BY 3.0 | 7 |
| CC BY-SA 3.0 | 6 |
| CC0 1.0 | 5 |
| CC BY 2.5 | 3 |
| OGL Canada 2.0 | 1 |
| PDDL 1.0 | 1 |
| Etalab 2.0 | 1 |
| DL-DE-BY-2.0 | 1 |
| Singapore ODL 1.0 | 1 |
| OGL v3.0 | 1 |
Using the answers responsibly
What the tools do
- Answer one question for one district at a time, in plain language, with the numbers behind the answer.
- Say how reliable each answer is and list the limitations that apply.
- Show results for whole districts, or for flooded areas mapped at 20 to 160 m.
- Name every data source and its licence, so the answer can be cited and reused.
What they do not do
- Use or show any household or personal data.
- Replace field assessment, official drought classifications or damage and needs assessments.
- Count people harmed or displaced: the flood tool counts people living where water was seen.
- Claim more accuracy than the method supports. The results are indicative.
Data sources
Every source permits commercial use and redistribution of derived outputs. Each was checked on its provider's own page; last checked 29 October 2026.
| Source | Used for | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| CHIRPS v3 rainfall | Rainfall | CC BY 4.0 |
| MODIS MOD13Q1 v061 vegetation index | Vegetation greenness | NASA open data, no restrictions on use |
| ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover | Cropland mask | CC BY 4.0 |
| Sentinel-1 radiometrically terrain corrected backscatter | Flood detection | CC BY 4.0 |
| JRC Global Surface Water occurrence | Removing usual water | Free of charge, without restriction of use (Copernicus programme) |
| GHSL GHS-POP R2023A population grid (2025) | People in the flooded area | CC BY 4.0 |
| geoBoundaries administrative boundaries | District boundaries | Per country (CC BY, ODbL or open government licence) |
Limits and larger requests
The tools share one modest server with our other services, so questions run one at a time in a queue, and each visitor can ask up to 15 new questions a day, shared with the climate time-series tools. Answers already worked out are returned at once and do not count. For a whole region, a series of dates, other questions or regular updates, contact us about a community or NGO project. Read why we provide these tools.