Chantilly, VA, 23 January 2008 – Students at colleges and universities across the United States will have web access to high-resolution satellite imagery for use in educational and research projects thanks to a new partnership between SPOT Image Corp. and the AmericaViewSM, Inc. Consortium. SPOT has agreed to make SPOT satellite imagery available via the web to AmericaView academic institutions for education and research purposes at discounted rates.
“The SPOT-AmericaView partnership will have a tremendous impact on students nationwide,” said Bruce Ogden, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for SPOT Image. “This program will make high quality, high resolution satellite imagery available to colleges and universities, providing a higher level of practical training to the next generation of remote sensing data users.”
The AmericaView Consortium, administered through the U.S. Geological Survey, is comprised of university-led, state-based consortia working together to build a nationwide network of informed state and local users, and currently boasts a membership of over 150 universities in 31 states. www.americaview.org.
“Our agreement with SPOT Image will bring an exciting new suite of high-resolution imagery to bear on applied research as we focus on helping the university, secondary-education, and public sectors in each state to identify, develop, and distribute the kinds of remote sensing applications the state needs most.” said Rebecca L. Dodge, Interim Executive Director of AmericaView.
As part of the agreement, SPOT Image is creating a web site exclusively for participating AmericaView members that will enable them to search and purchase imagery from a collection of 2.5, 5, 10 & 20 meter resolution archived SPOT satellite data collected over North America, as well as a 10 meter color mosaic of the lower 48 States.
“SPOT believes this partnership will benefit the geospatial community at large by introducing students and faculty to SPOT satellite imagery,” said SPOT’s Ogden. “Our partnership with AmericaView is just one example of how our unique business processes can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the geospatial information services community.”
About SPOT Image Corp. (www.spot.com)
The SPOT constellation of three satellites offers the broadest range of image telemetry, including 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 meter resolutions. SPOT Image provides imagery, data, surveillance and mapping solutions within numerous markets including Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Land Management & Planning, Disaster Recovery, and Oil, Gas & Mining Exploration. The constellation is supplemented by the Taiwanese satellite Formosat-2 for which SPOT has exclusive commercial distribution rights. SPOT will also serve as exclusive commercial distributor for the upcoming very high resolution 2-satellite constellation, Pleiades, and the 2-meter Astroterra (SPOT 6) satellite.
For more than two decades, the Spot Image organization has perfected the ability to harness space- and ground-based systems to meet customers’ needs. Spot Image has also developed a far-reaching global network of commercial offices, receiving stations, partners and distributors. Every first-tier data provider operating today relies on Spot’s commercial network for reaching the global market.