Issue with Planet Labs API - scenes filtered by area of interest do not intersect AOI

Question

I've obtained a list of item IDs that intersect my AOI using api.filters.geom_filter(aoi) and this list has lots of scenes in it. However, when I attempt to download these scenes clipped to the exact same AOI, I get a returned message saying 'AOI does not intersect with PSScene3Band/20180815_163343_1043.

This error only happens for very few scenes, i.e. 2-5 out of 100 but it prevents me from doing a mass download. I am confused as to how a scene can pass the intersection filter and then fail to have an intersection during the clipping operation.

I am using the V1 API for searching and the V2 API for clipping and downloading. The request that I submit to the V2 API is the following:

{'name': 'farm_clipped', 'products': [{'item_ids': ['20180821_165023_1105', '20180928_165956_1027', ... '20180815_163343_1043'], 'item_type': 'PSScene3Band', 'product_bundle': 'visual'}], 'tools': [{'clip': {'aoi': {'coordinates': [[[-98.44, 46.29], [-98.38, 46.29], [-98.44, 46.25], [-98.38, 46.25], [-98.44, 46.29]]], 'type': 'Polygon'}}}]}

I've abbreviated the list of item IDs, but have left in one of the IDs (20180815_163343_1043)that leads to a failure.

Answer 1

The two geometries (20180815_163343_1043's footprint and your AOI) do not, in fact, intersect as can be seen here:

The reason you are likely running into this issue is that search using Planet's Data API does occasionally return non-intersecting results. This is rare but can happen with complex polygons or in other, less predictable, circumstances. The strict parameter can help filter these false positives out when searching: https://developers.planet.com/docs/api/reference/#operation/QuickSearch.