MAXAR GeoIgnite 2021 Spotlight: Optimizing and Accelerating the Globe in 3D
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series by Ryan Hamilton, Senior Manager, 3D Products, Maxar Technologies detailing the promise of bringing Maxar and Vricon together as one company. This previous BLOG POST covers the various synergies between Vricon, with its vision of the Globe in 3D, and Maxar, as the indispensable source of information about our changing planet—and how together these efforts enable significant improvements to multiple mapping use cases.
As Maxar and Vricon move forward together, the future of high-performance 3D is limitless. By combining Maxar’s high-resolution satellites and 110-petabyte imagery library with Vricon’s 3D processing engine, we can offer faster, scalable production of True Orthos, Digital Surface Models, Digital Terrain Models, Point Clouds, classification layers, 3D vectors and other 3D-derived information layers with global availability. For example, we can plan collections that both enhance the image coverage of areas where 3D has been difficult and update the imagery for areas of significant importance to 3D users. This brings about an attainment of the Globe in 3D that is faster to market and more relevant to serving our customers’ use cases.
In our October 2020 webinar, Supercharging the Globe in 3D, Isaac Zaworski, Maxar’s Senior Director of Synthetic Environments and Autonomy, and I discussed what makes this powerful part of the GEOINT revolution so meaningful. If you missed the webinar, you can watch it here:
Looking for the CliffsNotes version of our webinar? Here it is:
- We’re building the HIGHEST RESOLUTION AND MOST ACCURATE 3D MAP of the entire face of the planet.
- High-resolution 3D data is integral to high-confidence mapping, PLANNING AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT in use cases spanning risk mitigation, line-of-sight planning, RF modeling, ray tracing, and drone and full-motion video integration.
- High-resolution 3D data accuracy facilitates alignment and fusion with our customers’ business-critical data.
- High-resolution 3D-derived data layers help end users make better decisions, saving time and resources.
- P3DR CAN WORK IN CONCERT WITH ONBOARD SENSORS to enable GPS-denied navigation and GPS spoofing detection.
The optimization and acceleration of our completion of the Globe in 3D gets even more exciting when we include the prospects of WORLDVIEW LEGION, first launching in September 2021. Maxar will double—and in some areas triple—our capacity of 30 cm satellite imagery. WorldView Legion dramatically expands our ability to revisit the most rapidly changing areas on Earth to better inform critical, time-sensitive decisions, with both imagery and 3D data.
The harmonization of Maxar, Vricon and the WorldView Legion constellation brings great potential not only to the geospatial world but to emerging technologies like smart cities, internet of things, autonomous vehicles, simulations and communications—with unlimited possibilities.
