The war in Iraq has been a vivid reminder of the value of images provided by commercial remote sensing companies. These same satellite images will play a vital role in rebuilding the country.

Remote sensing companies have yet to see a flood of new revenues from the war-related imagery but they are hoping that the high-profile use of their imagery by the military and the media will help build interest in the services. Denver-based Space Imaging’s Geobook geographic information systems (GIS) product recently was tapped for use by State Department in its Future of Iraq project. The intent is to build a better future for the Iraqi people in fields such as local government, repair of infrastructure, economic development, and environmental studies, company officials said.

The products are offered on CDs in stand-alone Windows-based software to simplify use of the imagery. A map-like interface makes Geobook products that are intuitive for users to browse and store information on facilities, pipelines, bridges, roads and other key civilian infrastructures, company officials said.

The infrastructure information is overlaid on Space Imaging’s commercial high-resolution, one-meter color map Ikonos satellite imagery.

Space Imaging’s products would be used by civilian groups involved in the country’s reconstruction. The high-resolution satellite views of selected cities can be used and manipulated using Geobook’s integrated imagery and maps. The imagery and map data also can be edited and augmented to assist civil authorities in the development, administration and, if necessary, the rebuilding of major urban areas, officials explained.

The satellite imagery has also aided the media’s coverage of the war, said Mark Brender, Space Imaging’s executive director for government affairs and corporate communications.

Although some of that imagery is provided at no charge to the media, remote sensing companies gain free advertising from widespread media exposure for their products.

“There are tons of requests coming from across the print media,” Kris Goodfellow of the Redlands, Calif.-based Environmental Research Institute (ESRI), which develops geographic information systems to support the use of imagery.

“The media is a non-traditional market for the imagery companies, but it is a natural one,” Goodfellow said. “Since imagery companies are pulling down data from the sky and they have it in their archives, they can spread it out over a wider audience.”

Goodfellow continued, “the imagery providers are becoming more savvy about how to present their information and provide it over the Web. The more that it becomes an accessible channel of communications, the broader the applications using it will be.”

Realistically, imagery companies will not generate the same volume of revenue from commercial customers as from defense contractors, Goodfellow said. However, the use of imagery in the media is a way to entice other potential users, she added.

“It shows real estate people that this material is out there,” Goodfellow said. Other markets also are taking notice, she added.

Timothy Puckorius, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and sales at Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Imaging (Orbimage), explained that its Orbview 2 satellite provides a regional view for military media and government agencies. Unlike the 1-meter resolution of the Ikonos satellite, Orbview 2 offers 1-kilometer resolution that provides images of areas as wide as 2,800 kilometers. In comparison, the high-resolution satellites offer a swath width of only eight to 12 kilometers.

Although the resolutions are vastly different, both types of images have their uses, Puckorius said. Orbimage is planning the launch of a high-resolution satellite, Orbview 3, next month.

The war has showcased the benefit of Orbview 2’s five-year-old database that offers a wealth of information that could help with rebuilding of Iraq, Puckorius said. For example, imagery before and after the oil well fires set by Saddam Hussein supporters can highlight which regions are most affected by the burning oil, he added.

“We have a long-standing contract” with the U.S. Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Puckorius said. “We think we will receive another five years of use from Orbview 2. The satellite primarily was designed for ocean-monitoring to assist NASA in detecting and measuring plankton and sedimentation levels in the ocean, and assessing the health of land-based vegetation on a global basis.”

For the Navy, Orbview 2 produces daily water clarity measurements that are helpful for operations that include equipment deployments, Puckorius said.

In addition, data from Orbview 2 has gained airtime on CNN and Fox News shows, displaying oil field fires and sand storms in the country, Puckorius said.

The expected launch of the 1-meter resolution Orbview 3 in mid-May should aid Orbimage in joining Space Imaging and similar companies to help the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) obtain data under the Clearview program.

“It is important to realize that Orbimage also is an outsource provider to NIMA that provides high-precision maps that are derived from commercial and classified imagery sources,” Puckorius said.

Orbimage has a $300 million backlog to provide data from the soon-to-be-launched Orbview 3.

“As soon as the launch succeeds, the backlog is expected to grow significantly,” Puckorius said.

Orbimage’s precision mapping capability has been valuable to the U.S. forces in Iraq, Puckorius said. The result can be lives saved and risks reduced for combatants in the field, he added. The imagery has helped the U.S. government and coalition forces achieve their objectives, he added.

–Paul Dykewicz

(Mark Brender, Dennis Jones, Space Imaging, 703/558-0309; Tim Puckorius, Lisa Andrews, Orbimage, 703/480-7500; Kris Goodfellow, Environmental Research Institute, 909/793- 2853)