The Clear30 Program - Edition 2

In eMap's December 09 GeoView, I discussed DigitalGlobe's newly announced nationwide aerial imagery acquisition program called Clear30. By the time you read this, the program, managed by Microsoft Vexcel, should be contracted and underway. It appears that imagery acquisition contracts will be awarded by Microsoft to a small group of major US aerial imaging companies that have experience with Vexcel Imaging's UltraCam digital aerial imaging systems.

Read more here from our CEO, David Nale »

ImageBoost and WorldView-2 - See the Improvement for Yourself

Over the past years, many of our clients have discovered the dramatic improvement that ImageBoost makes to any raster dataset including IKONOS, QuickBird and WorldView-1 satellite imagery. ImageBoost is a proprietary image processing technique developed by eMap which includes image sharpening and color balancing done by a pair of human eyes and hands to reduce the affects of oversaturation and poor automated color balancing. While ImageBoost cannot change the inherent resolution of your data, it can unveil features lost by completely automated processing techniques.

Read more here »

eBOOKS ARE NOW A DELIVERY OPTION FOR PARCEL PRODUCTS - THE TERRAGO GEOPDF

In the past, eMap provided all of our parcel boundary products in a format (i.e. shapefiles) which required specialized software to view and work with the data. While this worked for many of our customers, we recognized there was a need to provide this information in a format that everyone with a PC could use.

Through a partnership with TerraGo Technologies, eMap is pleased to announce that we can now provide our parcel products in eBooks that maintain the location (i.e. latitude-longitude) and attribute information; and are in GeoPDF format so they are viewable with Abode Reader – a program that comes installed on every Windows-based computer. The only requirement to view a GeoPDF is the installation of a completely free Terrago Toolbar (see the link below) that integrates directly with Adobe Reader. Once installed, a user can navigate around the GeoPDF parcel maps with an easy-to-use tile grid and bookmark system. Once zoomed to individual map tiles, users can query parcels for attribute information; create, print and share custom displays (both in Adobe and Google Earth) with labels/notes/etc.; and measure distances.

Read more here »

First American Spatial Solutions' Flood Data Content for the Commercial Marketplace

Demand for data solutions that provide insight into the most pervasive and expansive of all natural perils, flooding, is increasing as organizations realize the value of being able to pinpoint, predict and assess flood hazards. And, whether your organization is interested in planning the location of new infrastructure or assessing areas at risk to natural hazards as part of your enterprise risk management strategy, data accuracy is of paramount importance.

Read more here »

SPOT Image’s Pléiades Mission Countdown - Ground Segment Qualification

The main civil receiving station for the Pleiades system is located in Toulouse, France. This system, which supports data reception, satellite tasking and imaging, will undergo technical qualification tests in February 2010. Acceptance testing of the second civil receiving station in Kiruna, Sweden, will be signed off on in March.

The Pleiades ground segments are being integrated by an industry consortium including CS France, Cap-Gemini, EADS Astrium and Thales Services and are led by the French space agency, CNES. This consortium is responsible for integrating industrial systems at four receiving stations: two military control centers in France and Spain and the two civil receiving stations in Toulouse and Kiruna.

Read more here »

Newly Released High Resolution Satellite and Aerial Orthomosaics

Each month, eMap has access to newly released digital orthomosaics of aerial imagery inside the United States and the European Union; and to orthomosaics of QuickBird satellite imagery in other international areas. This section introduces all of the aerial and QuickBird imagery datasets released in the last month.

To see the aerial and QuickBird markets released this month as well as several sample images, read more here »

Word of the Month - Flaring

For the March Word of the Month, we will tackle the phenomenon of flaring that while unusual can make working with sections of your satellite imagery a challenge. Flaring is a visual distortion in satellite imagery caused by extreme reflectance off the surface of the planet so that a group of pixels around the extreme reflection are oversaturated. These pixels will be extremely bright white, or in some cases a rainbow (see graphics below); and are unfortunately uncorrectable as they represent oversaturation at the pixel value level (i.e. the Digital Number) so that the data in this area is completely destroyed.

Read more about the Word of the Month here »

Geospatial Freebie of the Month - Global Mapper 11.0

High-quality elevation data is an important input for many geospatial projects but locating free sources of this information can be challenging especially when you need resolution that exceeds the 30-meter and 90-meter free SRTM DEM resolutions. For this Freebie of the Month, we have found several sources of elevation data in key oil and gas basins that we would like to share with you.

Read more here »

Free Service - Data Alert

Do you have an area of interest around the world for which you just can't seem to find imagery?

Or do you have a project on the near horizon which will require imagery?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then eMap International is pleased to offer you the perfect free service*, Data Alert. Once you sign up for Data Alert, we will periodically search for the data you need and alert you if and when it has been collected. Signing up is quick and easy so you can sit back and let eMap do the work for you!

How do you sign up for Data Alert?

To sign up for Data Alert, all you have to do is respond to this newsletter with information on your:

1. Geographic location of interest (less than 1,000 sq km; defined by coordinates, KMZ/KML or ESRI shapefile)

2. Acceptable resolution and spectral bands

3. Special timing/seasonal considerations for the data

We will get you set up from there!

*There is no obligation to buy data by eMap. Standard archive pricing and minimum order prices apply.