I’ve been at the Space Technology and Geo-Informatics 2006 conference and there have been a number of presentations about new earth observation satellites. I’ve seen presentations from Japan, Thailand, Canada and MDA, and Digital Earth. Japan is planning a new satellite ALOS. Thailand is planning THEOS, Canada and MDA are planning Radarsat II, and Digital Earth is planning Worldview I. All of these satellites appear to be scheduled for launch in 2007. ALOS, THEOS, and Worldview I appear to be equipped with panchromatic telescopes and multi-spectral cameras and are targeting a highest resolution of 1-3m. Radarsat II is different technology, radar, which has a tremendous advantage in that it is not affected by cloud cover. Radarsat II is targeting 1-3 m as their best resolution. The last estimate I heard at a previous conference is that we were generating a terabyte of spatial data a day, not all of which is available to civilians, of course, but with these new satellites which seem for the most part to be gathering data for civilian use, beginning in 2007 it appears that there will be an increasing volume of spatial data available. In fact, 2007 is looking very competitive for spatial data, which should bode well for the availability of data at reasonable prices for users spatial data including on-line services such as Google Earth and Virtual Earth.
Geoff Zeiss
Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.
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