GeoEye, a Dulles, Virginia-based provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, recently released samples of the highest-resolution satellite photos available to date for civilian use. The images were captured by the GeoEye-1 satellite, which was launched in September, 2008, and provided its first images in early October, 2008. The high-res images will be used by Google for its mapping products and will be incorporated into a range of GPS-linked location-based services.
The GeoEye-1 satellite is rapidly covering the globe, traveling in a 423-mile-high orbit at 4.5 miles per second, capturing the first-ever civilian-use, half-meter ground resolution images. It will gather high-resolution images for an area approximately the size of New Mexico each day, states GeoEye.
Google is reportedly in an exclusive commercial relationship with GeoEye (the rocket that launched GeoEye-1 sported a Google logo) to use the images in its products. GeoEye will also be providing imaging services to the US Government.
Over time, the images will add a significant amount of accuracy and detail to Google Earth, as well as Google Maps and related location-based services that increasingly link GPS position information to goods, services, and information.
The image of the Kutztown University campus in Kutztown, Pennsylvania accompanying this article was taken by GeoEye-1 on October 7, 2008. In the image, you can clearly see "Kutztown" on the campus football field end zone, yardage numerals on the field, and adjacent tennis courts and their boundary lines.
GeoEye-1 was built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Arizona, and its imaging system was built by ITT in Rochester, New York.
