DigitalGlobe shows Colorado flood imagery

DigitalGlobe has been very active the past few days.  Earlier this week, in this aside “Why space matters–especially when it’s close to home,” I noted they were collecting images of the floods.  Well, now they’ve posted these images taken during and after the massive floods here in Colorado.  There is a short explanation of what’s being looked at and disseminated.

I’ve asked them more about specifics, such as how are the first-responders using these images?  What kind of feedback are they getting?  And what’s the significance of some of the structures they’re pointing out?  If I get any answers, I’ll post them here for you to read, should you wish to.

On a different subject, DigitalGlobe is elaborating on a request I listed in this article “Satellite operations imagery supplicant requests the government to loosen regulatory leash.”  Sorry about the long title, but I get bored.  Anyway, in this article, posted on the Deep Dive Intelligence site, DigitalGlobe is clarifying the why they wish to have the imagery regulations amended so they can sell images at higher resolutions.

Apparently, airplanes with cameras produce images with a better resolution than what the satellite companies in the US are allowed to sell.  And these airplane images aren’t regulated at all.  At least that seems to be the gist of the argument–and it’s a decent one.  DigitalGlobe’s hands are being tied (yes, they did agree to this–but as we’ve seen with the NSA debacle, how do you really argue with the government?), and cheaper, unrestrained, competitors are beginning to nibble at their lunch.

Eventually, if things don’t change, DigitalGlobe will become irrelevant.  Or worse, they’d be a government only supported program.  And I don’t think DigitalGlobe wants that.