That means that anything wider than 1 metreââ,¬"for example, shipping pallets, delivery trucks, or cars in a parking lotââ,¬"is discernable. Comparing pictures over time makes it easy to detect changes in business activity. And half-metre imagery will debut within the next few years.
Fees might seem steep, running US$1,000 for 30 square miles of pics. But with 11 companies worldwide poised to enter this US$1 billion-plus market, expect prices to drop drastically. For now, Space Imaging is the only domestic player with a bird in the air, operating a satellite called Ikonos.
"There are a lot of broad applications for this technology," says Brian Soliday, sales vice president for Space Imaging. Telephone companies, energy providers, insurance companies, and environmental groups comprise most of the industry's existing clientele, along with local and state government agencies. By 2003, Soliday says, the U.S. Census Bureau might use Ikonos imagery to locate new residential developments, "allowing them to add features to their database that don't exist today and to create a much more spatially accurate product."
The technology can be surprisingly accessible. Consumers with small budgets can buy prints of archived shots from the likes of TerraServer for as little as US$7.95 per square mile. And farmers can get six custom images of their land for US$570 from EarthScan Network, providing easy access to otherwise unavailable crop-saving intelligence. High-volume businesses on a budget can take advantage of previously shot imagery in resolutions from 1 kilometre down to 25 centimetres for as little as 1 cent per picture with subscription plans from imagery aggregator Globe Xplorer.
This all sounds greatââ,¬"unless those satellites are hovering over your business, not to mention your home. Ann Florini, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who holds a doctorate in political science, says, "You can't see a person at half-metre resolution." Nevertheless, she warns, "What you can do is find out whether your neighbors are putting additions on their houses that are bigger than local zoning allows."
Privacy issues aside, the future is cloudy for U.S. entrants in the satellite marketplace. Unlike foreign counterparts, Space Imaging (and any other American company or citizen launching a satellite) is limited by government shutter controlââ,¬"meaning the feds can turn off the cameras when they see fit. Though officials deny they'd wield this power, Space Imaging CEO John Copple says, "While we're building our credibility, foreign companies are going to use this to their commercial advantage as much as they can."
