Lapig - Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento

What Lapig - Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento does

Lapig (Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento) is a university research laboratory founded in 1994 at the Instituto de Estudos Socioambientais (IESA) of the Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) in Goiânia, Brazil. The lab combines remote sensing (satellite imagery from CBERS, Sentinel, and Planet), geoprocessing (GIS), drone/UAV-based aerial surveys, LiDAR technology, machine learning, and deep learning to produce authoritative geospatial datasets on Brazilian biomes, with emphasis on the Cerrado. Its core platforms include Atlas das Pastagens (national pasture mapping), Araticum (Cerrado restoration tracking), Plataforma de Conhecimento do Cerrado (deforestation monitoring), Chave de Interpretação dos Biomas (biome classification), TVI (Temporal Vision Inspection for land-use validation), and CEMPA-Cerrado (meteorological forecasting). Lapig is a founding member of the MapBiomas network, a member of the Global Pasture Watch consortium, Coalizão Brasil, and Rede Araticum, and contributes to international collaborations including MapBiomas Indonesia. The lab serves government agencies (SEMAD GO, Seduc Goiás, Embrapa, municipal governments), the agricultural sector, NGOs, and the education sector through freely accessible platforms and the Geocursos capacity-building program.

Lapig operates on public research funding from Brazilian government agencies including FAPEG, CNPq, and ministry-level research programs, supplemented by project-specific contracts with state bodies such as SEMAD GO via FUNAPE. All platforms and products are provided free of charge to the public, with no commercial pricing tiers or subscription models. The lab does not commercialize its outputs and has no external shareholders, subsidiaries, or venture funding. Distribution occurs through open-access web platforms, direct institutional engagement with government agencies, the Geocursos extension program (since 2010), and the Lapig Connect webinar series. Its customer base spans federal, state, and municipal governments, agricultural and livestock stakeholders, NGOs, academic institutions, and basic education programs. The organization is led by coordinator Profa. Elaine Silva Barbosa with Prof. Manuel Eduardo Ferreira as vice-coordinator, alongside program leads for NEPEF, PPP, Pro-VANT, and MapBiomas Alerta, supported by a multidisciplinary team of approximately 30 core staff plus an extended network of researchers, doctoral candidates, master's students, and undergraduate research fellows.

Name

Lapig - Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento

Legal name

Lapig - Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento

Website

https://lapig.iesa.ufg.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lapig is a 30-year-old university research laboratory at UFG in Brazil that builds free remote sensing and GIS platforms for monitoring deforestation, pasture coverage, and restoration across Brazilian biomes, serving government agencies, the agricultural sector, NGOs, and education programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Geospatial Analytics Software

NAICS

Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360), Testing Laboratories and Services (54138), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Forestry (800)

akta.pro primary industry

Remote Sensing & Earth Observation Analytics (Satellite/UAV/LiDAR, Image Processing) (EUAHAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Satellite Imagery & Monitoring Platforms (AFAAAFAI), Forest Inventory, Mapping & Monitoring (GIS/Remote Sensing/MRV) (IMAMAJAB), Remote Sensing & Geospatial MRV (Satellite, Aerial, LiDAR, SAR) (EUABACAF), Farm Management & Decision Support Software (FMIS, ERP, Recordkeeping) (AFAGALAA)

Keywords

• Remote sensing platforms
• Environmental geospatial analytics
• Pasture mapping software
• Deforestation monitoring tools
• Drone-based survey services

Headquarters

HQ city

Goiânia

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Public Research Funding: Lapig operates as a research laboratory within the Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG). Its activities are funded through public research grants from Brazilian government agencies such as FAPEG, CNPq, and ministry-level research programs. The lab does not commercialize its platforms, which are freely available to the public.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lapig is a university research laboratory at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) that develops and maintains a portfolio of free, publicly accessible geospatial platforms and tools for monitoring Brazilian biomes. Its core offerings include Atlas das Pastagens (national pasture mapping), Araticum (Cerrado restoration tracking), TVI temporal vision inspection, biome classification tools, and weather forecasting for the Centro-Oeste region, all delivered as open-access software platforms backed by remote sensing, GIS, drone/LiDAR and machine learning capabilities.

Product overview

Lapig (Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento) is a research laboratory at the Federal University of Goiás that develops and maintains a portfolio of environmental monitoring platforms and tools. The core offerings include the Atlas das Pastagens for Brazilian pasture mapping, Atlas dos Remanescentes de Vegetação do Estado de Goiás for vegetation cover mapping, Araticum for Cerrado restoration, and various educational platforms under the Lapig Na Escola initiative. The laboratory also operates specialized research units including Pro-VANT (drone technology), NEPEF (fire science), and the Programa de Pesquisa em Pastagens. The products function as an integrated ecosystem of geospatial tools for monitoring Brazilian biomas, with training programs through Geocursos and collaborative networks including MapBiomas and Global Pasture Watch.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lapig na Escola: Environmental education project targeting basic education students and teachers, focusing on geospatial technologies and environmental awareness.
• Geocursos
• Atlas das Pastagens
• CEMPA-Cerrado
• Rede Araticum
• Pro-VANT
• NEPEF
• Lapig Connect

Products and services

• Atlas das Pastagens A web platform that consolidates all data generated by the MapBiomas initiative on Brazilian pastures, providing comprehensive mapping and monitoring of pastureland coverage across Brazil. Used by government agencies, agricultural researchers, and policy makers for sustainable pasture management.
• Atlas dos Remanescentes de Vegetação do Estado de Goiás A project mapping native vegetation remnants in the state of Goiás using high-resolution satellite imagery (CBERS, Sentinel), with joint field validation by Lapig researchers and SEMAD GO agents. Contracted by SEMAD GO via FUNAPE.
• Araticum A platform and network for tracking restoration actions in the Cerrado biome, integrating data on restoration areas and supporting the goal of restoring 2 million hectares of Cerrado by 2030. Targets environmental NGOs, indigenous and traditional communities, and government bodies.
• Chave de Interpretação dos Biomas An interpretation key for classifying and identifying Brazilian biomes, serving as a legacy sustainable tool for environmental analysis and ecosystem type identification. Used by researchers, students, and environmental analysts.
• Plataforma de Conhecimento do Cerrado A research platform developed in partnership with CEPEF, dedicated to monitoring deforestation in the Cerrado biome. Used by environmental researchers and policy makers for evidence-based land management decisions.
• Biomas BR A platform covering all Brazilian biomes, part of the Lapig Na Escola initiative for environmental education using geotechnologies, targeting basic education students and teachers.
• TVI (Temporal Vision Inspection) Platform A platform for inspecting satellite image points across multiple years, presenting event chronologies of land use changes. Capable of inspecting over 85,000 points. Used for detecting pastures, agriculture, and other land use classes in research campaigns. A localized version was developed in Bahasa Indonesian for MapBiomas Indonesia.
• CEMPA-Cerrado Platform A weather forecasting center using numerical modeling and satellite data, providing 5 to 10 day forecasts for the Centro-Oeste region of Brazil, climate scenarios, and agro-climatic production models. Used by agricultural producers, researchers, and government agencies.
• Geocursos Extension Program A free capacity-building program initiated in 2010 that offers short courses in geotechnologies including R programming, Python, Google Earth Engine, and geospatial analysis for university students, public servants, NGOs, and private sector professionals. Certificates provided upon completion.
• PastoLegal A free WhatsApp-based service developed with Solved and iCS that integrates AI and open data to support sustainable livestock farming for smallholder farmers. Targets family farmers and small-scale cattle producers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Atlas das Pastagens was consulted for a Washington Post article on Amazon deforestation
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability1 record

Feature9 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Solved and iCS (Instituto Clima e Sociedade)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Lapig partnered with Solved and iCS to develop PastoLegal, a free service that integrates AI and open data into WhatsApp to support sustainable livestock farming for smallholder farmers. The project was presented in a webinar in February 2026.
• CEMPA-Cerrado (Centro de Monitoramento e Previsão Ambiental)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024CEMPA-Cerrado generates weather forecasting using numerical modeling and satellite data, providing 5 to 10 day forecasts for the Centro-Oeste region, climate scenarios, and agro-climatic models. Two Lapig professors (Laerte Ferreira and Manuel Ferreira) sit on the project's management committee, combining Lapig's remote sensing data with meteorological forecasting.
• Secretaria de Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Goiás (SEMAD GO)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024SEMAD GO contracted Lapig (via FUNAPE) to develop the Atlas dos Remanescentes de Vegetação do Estado de Goiás, a project mapping native vegetation remnants in the state using high-resolution satellite imagery (CBERS, Sentinel). Lapig researchers and SEMAD agents conduct joint field validation of the maps.
• Mesa Brasileira da Pecuária SustentávelminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The Mesa Brasileira da Pecuária Sustentável (Brazilian Table for Sustainable Livestock) conducted a technical visit to Lapig to learn about its research and develop sustainable solutions for Brazilian livestock. The organization seeks to drive sustainability improvements in the cattle sector.
• Global Pasture WatchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023Lapig is a member of the Global Pasture Watch consortium, a global research alliance that brings together specialists in geoespacial monitoring, machine learning, ecology, and livestock science to produce global data on pasture extent, condition, and productivity. The consortium develops annual datasets from 2000 to 2022 covering cultivated and natural pastures, as well as Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) maps.
• Coalizão Brasil - Clima, Florestas e AgriculturacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Since the first half of 2023, Lapig has been a member of the Coalizão Brasil - Clima, Florestas e Agricultura, a movement of NGOs, companies, and research institutions working on environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation. Lapig participates in the carbon market task force and contributes data on deforestation, ecosystem restoration, and environmental monitoring.
• WWF BrazilminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Lapig was cited as a key institution in a WWF-hosted National Technical-Scientific Workshop on vegetation recovery monitoring. The workshop brought together specialists to discuss restoration monitoring methodologies in the context of PLANAVEG and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• UnB (Universidade de Brasília)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Lapig conducted field work in partnership with UnB researchers, using drone overflights to identify exotic plant species in the Cerrado. A Lapig researcher (Pro-VANT) co-authored an article published in the journal Remote Sensing by a UnB doctoral candidate.
• INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022INPE's acting director visited Lapig for the first time to learn about the lab's structure and projects, representing a potential deepening of collaboration between Brazil's leading space research institute and Lapig.
• Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Lapig partnered with Embrapa and other institutions to produce a new map of Cerrado pastures, integrating Lapig's remote sensing expertise with Embrapa's agricultural research capabilities. Lapig data was also used in Embrapa's 2024 book 'Políticas públicas para pastagens: da degradação ao uso sustentável,' which outlines strategies for converting degraded pastures to sustainable production.
• USP and WWF-BrasilmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Lapig developed a platform for pesticide mapping in partnership with the University of São Paulo (USP) and WWF-Brasil. The platform presents simplified information about pesticide use at the national scale, contributing to environmental monitoring in agriculture.
• FGM (Federação Goiana de Municípios)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2021UFG and FGM partnered to deliver training on deforestation monitoring in the Cerrado using the Cerrado DPAT platform for all municipalities in the state of Goiás. The training was conducted online, free of charge, and provided certificates.
• IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Lapig collaborated with IBAMA on a workshop about recovering degraded areas using drones, as part of the NEPEF (Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisa em Ciência do Fogo). Professor Manuel Ferreira presented Lapig's work on fire risk modeling and drone applications.
• Rede AraticumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Lapig coordinates the Rede Araticum, a network of articulators for the restoration of the Cerrado biome. The initiative aims to restore 2 million hectares of Cerrado by 2030 and integrates indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers into the restoration cycle, generating income and employment while promoting environmental recovery.
• MapBiomascoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Lapig is a founding member of the MapBiomas collaborative network, which produces annual land cover and use classification maps for all Brazilian biomes using cloud computing. Lapig contributes expertise in pasture mapping, visual interpretation (TVI platform), and fire science (NEPEF). The network also collaborates on MapBiomas Indonesia and MapBiomas Água.
• CEPEF (Centro de Pesquisa em Florestas)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Lapig partnered with CEPEF to develop the Plataforma de Conhecimento do Cerrado, a research platform for monitoring deforestation in the Cerrado. The platform supports environmental research and public access to Cerrado data.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Ipam (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia): Amazon-focused research institute and co-recognizer of Lapig's Cerrado conservation work; founding partner of MapBiomas. Comparable as a Brazilian applied environmental research organization producing deforestation and land-use data, with strong policy and REDD+ focus.
• Instituto Socioambiental (ISA): Brazilian NGO producing GIS-based socioenvironmental data on indigenous lands and the Amazon. Comparable as a Brazilian non-academic organization producing open geospatial data for environmental and land-use analysis, though with a stronger civil society and policy advocacy lens.

Direct peers

• MapBiomas: Multi-institution collaborative network of which Lapig is a founding member; produces annual land cover and land use maps for all Brazilian biomes. Closest peer as a collaborative network co-producing the same underlying datasets that Lapig curates into platforms like Atlas das Pastagens and MapBiomas Alerta.
• INPE TerraBrasilis: INPE's open-access platform for deforestation and vegetation monitoring in Brazil, integrated with Google Earth Engine. Closely comparable to Lapig's Plataforma de Conhecimento do Cerrado and MapBiomas Alerta in purpose and Brazilian focus, but operating at federal scale.
• MapBiomas Indonesia: Lapig actively supported the launch of MapBiomas Indonesia and developed a localized TVI platform version. Most directly comparable as a peer organization replicating Lapig's methodology and tooling for tropical biome monitoring in a different geography.
• OpenGeoHub: Foundation collaborating with Lapig in the Global Pasture Watch consortium to produce global pasture datasets using open-source geospatial methods. Highly comparable as a research-oriented geospatial analytics organization producing open environmental data products.

Broad incumbents

• Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária): Brazil's federal agricultural research corporation and Lapig's active partner on pasture research. Embodies a comparable model of public-sector agricultural and environmental research, with overlapping scope on pasture management and Cerrado biome monitoring — but with national scale across many commodities.
• Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute): WRI's flagship global deforestation and land monitoring platform, and a co-member with Lapig in the Global Pasture Watch consortium. Directly comparable as a free, open-access remote-sensing-based environmental monitoring platform with global scope — significantly larger user base.
• INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais): Brazil's national space research institute and the operator of CBERS satellites, PRODES, DETER, and Terrabrasilis platforms. Directly comparable to Lapig as a Brazilian public-sector remote sensing and environmental monitoring organization, though operating at much larger federal scale.

Others

• CGIAR / IIASA Earth Observation Team: International research organizations producing global agricultural and environmental datasets; both IIASA and CGIAR-affiliated groups are Global Pasture Watch consortium members with Lapig. Comparable as peer organizations applying remote sensing to global pasture/agricultural monitoring at larger international scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@LAPIGUFG
• Facebookfacebook.com/universidadefederaldegoias
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lapig-ufg
• Instagraminstagram.com/lapigufg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Lapig - Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto e Geoprocessamento