dgi industry satellite imagery founded january 1992 founder walter scott headquarters westminster colorado united states area served worldwide key people jeffrey r. tarr ceo products high resolution satellite imagery and geospatial solutions revenue us 654.6 million 2014 1 operating income us 25.4 million 2014 1 net income us 18.5 million 2014 1 total assets us 3 095.2 million 2014 1 website www.digitalglobe.com digitalglobe is an american commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft . the company went public on the new york stock exchange on 14 may 2009 selling 14.7 million shares at 19.00 each to raise 279 million in capital . the worldview satellites should not be confused with worldview company a division of paragon space development corporation offering flights to near space . contents 1 origins 2 satellites 2.1 earlybird 1 2.2 ikonos 2.3 quickbird 2.4 geoeye 1 2.5 worldview satellites 2.5.1 worldview 1 2.5.2 worldview 2 2.5.3 worldview 3 2.5.4 worldview 4 3 customers 4 see also 5 references 6 external links origins edit worldview imaging corporation was founded in january 1992 in oakland california in anticipation of the 1992 land remote sensing policy act enacted in october 1992 which permitted private companies to enter the satellite imaging business . 2 its founder was dr walter scott who was joined by co founder and ceo doug gerull in late 1992 . in 1993 the company received the first high resolution commercial remote sensing satellite license issued under the 1992 act . 3 the company was initially funded with private financing from silicon valley sources and interested corporations in n. america europe and japan . dr. scott was head of the lawrence livermore laboratories brilliant pebbles and brilliant eyes projects which were part of the strategic defense initiative . doug gerull was the executive in charge of the mapping sciences division at the intergraph corporation . 4 the company s first remote sensing license from the united states department of commerce allowed it to build a commercial remote sensing satellite capable of collecting images with 3 m 9.8 ft resolution . 2 in 1995 the company became earthwatch incorporated merging worldview with ball aerospace & technologies corp. s commercial remote sensing operations . 5 in september 2001 earthwatch became digitalglobe . 6 in 2011 digitalglobe was inducted into the space foundation s space technology hall of fame for its role in advancing commercial earth imaging satellites . 7 in 2013 digitalglobe purchased geoeye . satellites edit earlybird 1 edit earlybird 1 was launched for earth watch inc. on december 24 1997 from the svobodny cosmodrome by a start 1 launch vehicle . 8 it included a panchromatic camera with a 3 m 9.8 ft resolution and a multispectral camera with a 15 m 49 ft resolution . early bird 1 was the first commercial satellite to be launched from the svobodny cosmodrome . ikonos edit main article ikonos ikonos was launched september 24 1999 . it was the world s first high resolution commercial imaging satellite to collect panchromatic black and white images with .80 m resolution and multispectral color imagery with 3.2 meter resolution . 9 on march 31 2015 ikonos was officially decommissioned after more than doubling her mission design life spending 5 680 days in orbit and making 83 131 trips around the earth . 10 quickbird edit main article quickbird quickbird launched on october 18 2001 5 was digitalglobe s primary satellite until early 2015 . it was built by ball aerospace and launched by a boeing delta ii . it is in a 450 km altitude 98 degree inclination sun synchronous orbit . an earlier launch attempt resulted in the loss of quickbird 1 . it included a panchromatic camera with a 60 cm 24 in resolution and a multispectral camera with a 2.4 m 7 ft 10 in resolution . on january 27 2015 quickbird was de orbited exceeding her initial life expectancy by nearly 300 % . 10 geoeye 1 edit main article geoeye 1 the geoeye 1 satellite is equipped with some of the most advanced technology ever used in a commercial remote sensing system . the satellite collects images at .41 meter panchromatic black and white and 1.65 meter multispectral resolution . the satellite can collect up to 350 000 square kilometers of pan sharpened multispectral imagery per day . this capability is ideal for large scale mapping projects . geoeye 1 can revisit any point on earth once every three days or sooner . worldview satellites edit worldview 1 edit main article worldview 1 ball aerospace built worldview 1 . 11 it was launched on september 18 2007 from vandenberg air force base on a delta ii 7920 10c . launch services were provided by united launch alliance . the national geospatial intelligence agency is expected to be a major customer of worldview 1 imagery . 12 it included a panchromatic only camera with a 50 cm 20 in maximum resolution . worldview 2 edit main article worldview 2 ball aerospace built worldview 2 . it was launched on october 8 2009 . digitalglobe partnered with boeing commercial launch services to deliver worldview 2 into a sun synchronous orbit . 13 14 the satellite includes a panchromatic sensor with a 46 cm 18 in maximum resolution and a multispectral sensor of 184 cm 72 in 15 worldview 3 edit main article worldview 3 ball aerospace built worldview 3 . it was launched on august 13 2014 . it has a maximum resolution of 25 cm 9.8 in . worldview 3 operates at an altitude of 617 km 383 mi where it has an average revisit time of less than once per day . over the course of a day it is able to collect imagery of up to 680 000 km2 260 000 sq mi . 16 previously digitalglobe was only licensed to sell images with a resolution below 50 cm 20 in to the us military . 17 however digitalglobe obtained permission in june 2014 from the u.s. department of commerce to allow the company to more widely exploit its highest quality and industry leading commercial satellite imagery . the company was permitted to offer customers the highest resolution imagery available from their constellation . additionally the updated approvals allowed the sale of imagery to customers at up to 25 cm panchromatic and 100 cm 39 in multispectral ground sample distance gsd beginning six months after worldview 3 became operational . worldview 3 was launched aboard a united launch alliance atlas v rocket in the 401 configuration on august 13 2014 at 11 30 local time from slc 3 at vandenberg air force base . 18 worldview 3 is the industry s first multi payload super spectral high resolution commercial satellite . 19 worldview 4 edit main article worldview 4 the worldview 4 satellite is designed to provide panchromatic images at a highest resolution of 0.31 meters per pixel 12.2 in px and multispectral images at 1.24 meters per pixel 48.8 in px . 20 originally named geoeye 2 the spacecraft was designed and built by lockheed martin 21 while the camera payload was provided by itt corporation . 22 following the merger of geoeye and digitalglobe digitalglobe announced that geoeye 2 would be completed as a ground spare to be launched if or when required . 23 24 it was renamed to worldview 4 in july 2014 when the company announced that it would be launched in fall 2016 . 25 26 customers edit digitalglobe s customers range from urban planners to conservation organizations like the amazon conservation team 27 to the u.s. federal agencies including nasa 6 and the united states department of defense s national geospatial intelligence agency nga . 28 much of google earth and google maps high resolution imagery is provided by digitalglobe 29 as is imagery used in terraserver 30 and apple maps . 31 digitalglobe s main competitors were geoeye formerly orbimage and space imaging before their merger with digitalglobe and still spot image . see also edit spaceflight portal photogrammetry remote sensing satellite sentinel project tomnod a digitalglobe project that uses crowdsourcing to identify objects and places in satellite images . references edit a b c d digitalglobe investors annual reports . investor.digitalglobe.com . retrieved 2016 02 25 . a b duman angie . xyht positioning and measurement elevated . eomonline.com . retrieved 2016 02 25 . our company . digitalglobe . 2014 08 21 . retrieved 2016 02 25 . markoff john 1993 02 12 . company news a plan for close up images of earth from space nytimes.com . the new york times . retrieved 2016 02 25 . a b digital globe history . archived from the original on 2006 04 13 . retrieved 2006 04 19 . a b scientific data purchase . nasa . archived from the original on 2006 09 29 . retrieved 2006 04 19 . space foundation rss feed . media . space foundation . retrieved 2016 02 25 . early bird 1 . nasa . retrieved february 25 2016 . ikonos data sheet pdf . dg cms uploads.production.s3.amazonaws.com . retrieved february 25 2016 . a b digitalglobe satellites ikonos and quickbird 2 retire after years of service . blog.tomnod.com . retrieved february 25 2016 . digitalglobe announces ball building worldview 2 satellite . spaceflight now . retrieved february 2 2007 . a satellite s first breath . o reilly media . boeing selected to co develop and launch next digitalglobe imaging satellite . boeing . 2004 . retrieved april 19 2006 . delta ii worldview 2 mission booklet . bls . retrieved february 25 2016 . https web.archive.org web 20081008102814 http www.digitalglobe.com index.php 88 worldview 2 . archived from the original on october 8 2008 . retrieved september 8 2008 . missing or empty title help worldview 3 data sheet pdf . digitalglobe.com . retrieved february 25 2016 . hollingham richard february 11 2014 . future inside the google earth satellite factory . bbc . retrieved february 25 2016 . https web.archive.org web 20140714215709 http media.digitalglobe.com press releases u s department of commerce relaxes resolution restrictions digitalglobe extends nyse dgi 1122861 . archived from the original on july 14 2014 . retrieved june 29 2014 . missing or empty title help worldview 3 data sheet pdf . dg cms uploads.production.s3.amazonaws.com . retrieved february 25 2016 . worldview 4 pdf . digitalglobe . november 2015 . retrieved march 19 2016 . ferster warren march 11 2010 . lockheed martin selected to build geoeye 2 imaging satellite . space news . retrieved april 2 2016 . lockwood irene april 10 2012 . itt exelis delivers imaging system for next generation high resolution geoeye 2 satellite press release . itt exelis . retrieved april 2 2016 . digitalglobe s worldview 3 satellite continues on track for mid 2014 launch press release . digitalglobe . february 4 2013 . archived from the original on february 13 2013 . ray justin february 4 2013 . one commercial earth imager deferred in favor of another . spaceflight now . retrieved march 19 2016 . digitalglobe announces second 30 centimeter satellite to launch in mid 2016 press release . digitalglobe . july 31 2014 . retrieved april 2 2016 . painter kristen leigh july 31 2014 . demand moves digitalglobe to speed launch of high powered satellite . the denver post . retrieved april 2 2016 . amazon conservation team presented with the seeing a better world award . august 8 2015 . national geospatial intelligence agency awards 12 million clearview contract to digitalglobe . march 16 2006 . hafner katie and saritha rai december 20 2005 . governments tremble at google s bird s eye view . the new york times . terraserver.com image providers . archived from the original on 2006 03 17 . retrieved 2006 04 19 . http gspe21.ls.apple.com html attribution 24.html . missing or empty title help external links edit official website retrieved from