Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery
Google got a sponsor logo on the side of this rocket, set to launch the GeoEye-1 imaging satellite on September 4.
(Credit: GeoEye)Google has signed a deal under which GeoEye will supply the search giant with imagery from a satellite due to launch in coming days, the companies said.
Under the deal, Google is the exclusive online mapping site that may use the imagery, said Mark Brender, vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Google uses satellite imagery in its Google Maps and Google Earth product.
And as a little icing on the cake, Google's logo is on the side of the rocket set to launch the 4,300-pound satellite in six days from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
GeoEye-1 will orbit 423 miles above Earth, but it will be able to gather imagery with details the size of 41 centimeters, Brender said. Google, though, is permitted to use data only with a resolution of 50cm because of the terms of GeoEye's license with the U.S. government.
Each day, the satellite will be able to gather a high-resolution "pan-sharpened" format surface area equal to that of about New Mexico, the company said.
"The GeoEye-1 satellite has the highest ground resolution color imagery available in the commercial marketplace and will produce high-quality imagery with a very accurate geolocation," said Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz, adding that most commercial satellite imagery has a resolution of 60cm. "It is our goal to display high-resolution imagery for as much of the world as possible, and GeoEye-1 will help further that goal."
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The Google-emblazoned rocket.
(Credit: GeoEye/ULA)ITT built the imaging subsystem, and General Dynamics built the overall satellite, Brender said. GeoEye also contracted with ITT for the imaging in the GeoEye-2 satellite, due to launch in 2011 or 2012, Brender said. According to ITT, that satellite will have a resolution of 25cm, or about 9.75 inches.
Google's current imagery in Google Earth spans a range of resolution, the coarsest being 15 square meters per pixel, which is only good enough to see larger geographic features.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
You left out the most important fact (if it's available). How often will Google refresh it's imagery data base? Relatively frequent replacement with new imagery would make Google's data much more useful.
Anyone reading know how often the sattelite actually passes an area, how long it would take for its orbits to stitch together into a seamless whole?
The width of the sensor swath is about 15km (~9.5mi) so it'll take a while to collect a seamless image map of the globe. A long while. Assuming clouds don't get in the way. Since they do, knock 60% off the acquisition rate for that, and another 50% off the acquisitions rate over time for a particular area unless you're going to pay extra for a custom collect.
Since Google is unlikely to pay the going rate for custom work (but the US government is, in some cases) you'll probably see Google 'filling in the gaps' for areas of interest around the world where airplanes haven't yet, or can't, fly. And leveraging the acquisitions for which others are paying 'full retail'
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A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25 cm, company representatives promised. However, Google's satellite imagery will not likely get more detailed because of the 50-cm regulation.
- by Ed8r April 23, 2009 7:58 AM PDT
- Meanwhile, some of my neighborhood is still over 1 year old . . . and this is not a remote area, either.
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