DigitalGlobe’s purpose is Seeing a better world™, and today we are thrilled to take a big step toward fulfilling that purpose with the commercial introduction of 30 cm satellite imagery. This is yet another first for DigitalGlobe, as we have again pushed the technical boundaries of satellite-derived imagery resolution, whereas only recently the gold standard for resolution was 50 cm.
Even with 20 years of experience in remote sensing, I still have to stretch my imagination to envision that a satellite, flying 380 miles above the earth, can display ground truth to such a fine level of detail and enable the extraction of information and insight that drives better and timelier decisions.
For example, an oil and gas company can identify bore holes that are no larger than foot wide, map trails of ATV’s for environmental compliance, and detect surface pipelines and any potential encroachments. And these analyses can be done without the expense and time it takes for a survey crew to do on-the-ground estimates. Civil governments can use 30 cm imagery to efficiently plan and manage their cities by mapping various city details such as sidewalks, road markings, man holes, right of ways, etc., and cost effectively update this information on a recurring basis without having to secure aerial permits or incur the waiting time for aerial imagery to be processed and delivered.
“Location-Time-Context” has become the organizing principle of our daily lives; in other words, everything happens somewhere, sometime. DigitalGlobe’s 30 cm imagery delivers the highest quality information about features on the ground from space (Location), the circumstances and setting around the features (Context), and the ability to understand how the location is changing (Time). As a result, we are now truly able to say that we are uniquely well positioned to deliver a “living digital inventory of our changing planet.”
To see product samples and learn more about DigitalGlobe’s suite of 30 cm imagery products, please visit: https://www.digitalglobe.com/30cm/Kumar Navulur is DigitalGlobe’s Sr. Director of Strategic Solution Development