Geoignite 2020 Video: Maxar: Elevation suite – an overview of elevation products
Ryan Hamilton & John Roos from Maxar Technologies presented their earth observation satellites and new advances in photogrammetry. They allow high levels of detail in 3D models that previously only airborne sensors could provide. From telecom to resource mapping, Maxar’s elevation products have opened the door for a new revolution in the remote sensing marketplace. They continue to contribute and lead in this field.
Maxar has been collecting massive amounts of earth observation imagery for the last decade and has over 120 petabytes of data. This is enough data to wrap the earth’s surface in images over 70 times, with over 3 million square kilometres added daily. Starting from early 2021, one new satellite will be joining the fleet of five satellites. It will increase the revisit to 15 times per day and triple the capacity of 30-centimetre imagery. To meet the needs of customers, Maxar provides different ways to collect imageries with their fleet of satellites. It is clear that different technologies have their pros and cons, for example, with a stereo collecting methodology, the end products with only two images sacrifice accuracy with time efficiency. It is a great presentation outlining the various products Maxar Technologies provides. If you are not familiar with how Maxar helps visualize our earth from the space, it is a wonderful crash course.
With such a large archive collection of imagery, Maxar is able to build a terrain model with a certain date upon request from clients. We can travel back in time to find out how a landslide affects the landscape by comparing the model pre-landslide and post-landslide.
Instead of waiting on collections, the archives can now be leveraged to build DEMs on demand for almost any location on earth. This is a major shift from the methodology of the project dictating a collection before any deliverables could be considered. With Maxar’s archive model, the collection is no longer required. This not only shortens timelines but dramatically reduces costs.
GeoIgnite is Canada’s National Geospatial conference hosted by GoGeomatics Canada. GeoIgnite was held online using Zoom between July 22nd to 24th, 2020. This free event showcased Canadian geospatial community and leaders of Canada’s location technology sector. The conference brought together professionals from government and industry for innovative programming and updates on our sector. Every year GeoIgnite is a unique opportunity for the geospatial community in Canada and abroad to learn, share, and engage with one another at our virtual conference.
