Graz, Austria—August 19, 2010—Microsoft’s photogrammetry division—Vexcel Imaging, GmbH—today reported an impressive 30 sales for its UltraCam digital aerial camera systems during the company’s 2010 fiscal year (July 2009 – June 2010). In addition, 11 camera upgrades were sold. Details of the sales are as follows:
• Large-format cameras—UltraCamX, UltraCamXp and UltraCamXp Wide Angle—totaled 18
• Photogrammetric medium-format cameras—UltraCamL and UltraCamLp—totaled 12
With these 2010 transactions, not factoring in the additional system upgrades, UltraCam worldwide adoption is now at 143 large-format units and 16 photogrammetric medium-format units.
“We are quite pleased to be able to report such a successful year,” said Alexander Wiechert, Business Director of Microsoft and Managing Director for Vexcel Imaging GmbH. “Given the historically tough economic situation worldwide, we are honored that our customers are providing such strong evidence that our products are sound investments.”
The first model of the UltraCam family of digital aerial mapping cameras, the UltraCamD, was introduced in 2004 delivering the largest image footprint of the digital aerial sensors on the market. Since that time, Vexcel Imaging has released the UltraCamX, followed by the UltraCamXp, featuring even larger image formats (the UCXp boasts a footprint of 17,310 pixels across the flight strip), reducing the amount of flight lines necessary for mapping projects, and an enhanced storage system with removable storage units for longer flight missions and minimal ground time. In September 2009, a wide-angle version of the UltraCamXp was introduced; its wide-angle lens with a shorter focal length allows lower-flying airplanes to collect data at the same ground sample distance (GSD) as higher-flying planes carrying the UltraCamXp, while delivering comparable image quality.
Meanwhile, the UtraCamL digital photogrammetric medium format camera, introduced in July 2008, delivers many of the same technical capabilities of the UltraCam large format systems but in a smaller and lighter package designed for use in smaller aircraft. It offers a 64 megapixel image format, a 1:1.8 pan sharpen ratio and collects RGB and NIR in parallel, all with forward motion compensation by TDI, allowing it to deliver brilliant true-color and color-infrared (CIR) image quality with exceptional radiometric range, and making it ideal for smaller large-scale and photogrammetric projects, high-resolution (true) orthophoto production, multi-ray photogrammetry, corridor mapping, and lidar integration. Building on early success of the UltraCamL, Vexcel Imaging upgraded the system to release the UltraCamLp in October 2010. The UltraCamLp improves upon its predecessor by providing data collection at 11,704 pixels across the flight strip. Both models take advantage of a new computing and a new solid state storage subsystem introduced with the UltraCamL.
About Vexcel Imaging, GmbH
Acquired by Microsoft Corporation in May 2006, Vexcel Imaging GmbH brings 20 years of photogrammetry expertise to Microsoft’s Bing Maps business unit and is at the heart of the burgeoning Microsoft Photogrammetry business. The company’s offerings include its series of UltraCam large-and medium-format digital aerial mapping cameras and related software tools such as the UltraMap 2.1 workflow software.