Categories: TECHNOLOGY

Digital Globe and the New Earth Map

Ever seen those amazing satellite images of a cityscape or a mountain vista? Most likely they came from a company called DigitalGlobe. Taking a peep at your house using Google Earth? The images probably came from one of DigitalGlobe’s eyes in the sky.

You might think that DigitalGlobe is a government entity, but it’s actually privately owned. Its customers range from government agencies and nature shows to construction companies and urban planners. Because they aren’t a government entity they can sell the images to whomever they’d like, which is a big headache for governments around the world. Google Earth, you may have noticed, has sections blocked out, mostly at military bases. This is on the request of the government, but it certainly caused more than a few panic attacks when somebody in the military first noticed that satellite imagery of military installations were up on web for everyone to see.

The company was formed back in 1992, when nobody had even considered Google Earth. Here’s the policy on their website when it comes to selling images of U.S. military areas.

How does DigitalGlobe respond to requests for imagery of sensitive areas and areas of concern for national security?

DigitalGlobe adheres to U.S policies, in addition to established company policies, to manage the distribution of sensitive imagery. Since DigitalGlobe is a commercial company with an “open skies” policy of doing business the company makes imagery available to markets that have practical applications. However, DigitalGlobe complies with all U.S. Government regulations or shutter control orders, and restricts access to imagery as required.

Charges that such an open sky policy could aid terrorists have been leveled at the company, particularly since 9/11. Here’s their answer to that:

What prevents image sales to known terrorists?

DigitalGlobe takes the threat of terrorism seriously and has policies to avoid the release of sensitive material. DigitalGlobe checks all new potential customers against a “Denied Parties List” supplied daily by the U.S. Government before selling imagery. DigitalGlobe also restricts distribution of imagery where national security is at risk or where U.S. assets overseas may be placed at risk.

Could DigitalGlobe’s products support terrorist acts?

DigitalGlobe’s belief that its satellite data does not open the door to terrorism is consistent with a study published by the Rand Corp. in 2004, which states that fewer than 1% of publicly available federal web sites and databases contain geospatial information not readily available elsewhere that could help terrorists and other hostile forces mount attacks in the U.S.

They do have to get permission from the government to take certain images, and to be able to sell images at a high resolution. Right now they’ve got satellites capable of capturing images of objects half a meter across.

But that doesn’t mean they can sell images with resolution that high to just anyone in any place. There are laws regarding certain areas such as Israel.

In 1996, the Congress passed the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act. That law says that the U.S. Government may not license an American remote sensing company to collect or disseminate imagery of Israel at a better resolution than what is generally available from remote sensing companies in other countries.–digitalglobe.com

After determining that non-U.S. sources could provide images with resolution of no greater than 2 meters across, the government allowed DigitalGlobe to sell images, though not at their highest resolution. (The logic here is that if they can get the images from anywhere else, DigitalGlobe should be allowed to compete, as long as they don’t provide anyone looking at Isreal with MORE info than they would have available to them on the open market.)

These laws are in place because DigitalGlobe’s imaging far outstrips the competition. They have the world’s highest resolution commercial satellites. There’s no doubt that other, foreign companies are trying to catch up, but these guys are the best in the business.

You’ll find their images on postcards, in National Geographic, on the web, as part of a U.S. military operation and even tacked up in your local city planner’s office. But for a company with such a big impact, it’s not a corporate monster. Just less than 400 employees work for the company.