---
id: pystac-ext-sar
version: "1.0.1"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pystac-ext-sar — SAR extension for PySTAC

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 4.0M/mo

## What it is and what it does

pystac-ext-sar is a PySTAC extension package that adds SAR-specific metadata fields to STAC items and collections. It implements the SAR Extension v1.0.0 specification, allowing you to describe Synthetic-Aperture Radar imagery with structured fields for instrument mode, frequency band, polarizations, product type, and observation direction. The package builds on pystac-core and provides validation and helper methods to work with SAR data in STAC catalogs.

This is a specialized extension for projects that catalog or process radar imagery. It's most useful when you're building STAC-based systems that need to organize, search, or analyze SAR data alongside other geospatial information. The package is production-stable, actively maintained, and supports modern Python versions.

Use it for:

- Catalog SAR satellite imagery in a STAC collection with standardized radar-specific metadata fields.
- Validate SAR item metadata against the v1.0.0 extension schema before ingesting into a STAC repository.
- Query and filter SAR data by polarization, frequency band, or instrument mode in a STAC API.
- Build a geospatial data pipeline that processes radar imagery and needs to attach SAR-specific provenance.
- Integrate SAR data with other imagery types in a multi-sensor STAC catalog.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Extends PySTAC with fields and validation for Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) data, enabling description of instrument mode, frequency band, polarizations, product type, and observation direction in STAC catalogs.

Yes. The package is production-stable, actively maintained (release 4 days old), has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and permissive licensing. Install it if you are working with SAR data in a PySTAC-based system and need standardized metadata fields for radar imagery. Skip it if you don't use SAR data or don't work with STAC catalogs.

## Install

pip install pystac-ext-sar
uv add pystac-ext-sar
poetry add pystac-ext-sar

## Installing pystac-ext-sar

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel, single runtime dependency (pystac-core), and actively maintained with a release just 4 days old. Repository shows recent activity and is not archived.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; suitable for most projects that can comply with attribution and derivative work disclosure requirements.

Quickstart:

pip install pystac-ext-sar

import pystac
from pystac.extensions.sar import SarExtension

# Access SAR extension on an item
item = pystac.Item.from_dict({...})
sar = SarExtension.ext(item, add_if_missing=True)

Requires Python 3.10 or later; pystac-core must be installed as a runtime dependency.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the extension fully implements v1.0.0 schema or if there are known gaps in field coverage.
- Performance characteristics when working with large STAC catalogs containing many SAR items.
- Integration patterns with common SAR data sources or processing workflows.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 4.0M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

SAR data STAC extension, synthetic aperture radar metadata, pystac sar extension, radar imagery catalog, STAC SAR fields, radar instrument metadata, pystac extension sar, geospatial, stac-extension, radar-data

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