|
Through the Looking Glass
The first in a two-part series assessing the state of satellite remote sensing today and in the future.
By Mary Jo Wagner In an EOM editorial published in May 1996, Publisher Roland Mangold wrote: ÒThe industry needs to do the missionary work to raise the level of awareness within society to the benefits of the GeoTechnologies. And as peopleÕs knowledge of the GeoTechnologies increases, they will increasingly become consumers of the technologies.Ó
Although Mangold was addressing the GeoTechnologies industry as a whole, his message has particular significance for the remote sensing industry.
For within that community, the consensus seems to be clear: there is a state of confusion equally among vendors and end users, confusion over data availability, over who has the data and over the applications the data can address. They are hungry for information.
Perhaps no company recognizes this confusion more than EOSAT, the Ògranddaddy of commercial remote sensing.Ó Now, the company has decided it is time to help clear the air and stem this confusion, says Shawana Johnson, director of worldwide sales and marketing at EOSAT. The Situation At Hand
Part of the confusion in the industry stems from changes that have occurred within some of the major companies in the industry worldwide, particularly in Europe where the situation for some companies has become unstable - at least through the end usersÕ eyes.
But ironically, what is causing the most uncertainty and change throughout the industry are the positive implications of new data sets. The addition of Resurs, Radarsat and the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series has brought new companies into the arena, whether as distributors or as value-added providers, and made new applications possible. Companies have begun to shift their focus from the traditional users of remote sensing - oil and gas, geology, mining sectors - to new users such as real estate and banking.
But trying to understand this new imagery, how you can get it and who can provide the services you need, is a lot like trying to keep up with the constant developments of AT&T, MCI and Sprint.
In addition, the excitement and anticipation that has been built up around the new high-resolution generation of satellites will likely only add to the confusion. In fact, there already is confusion.
The end result is the community has become fragmented while the industry develops products and services to mirror the capabilities of these data sets and prepares to embrace EarthWatch, Space Imaging and the rest. The community is looking for the glue that will hold it together.
ÒThe issue for the industry and the challenge for us is how to stabilize the network so when the market seems very volatile, theyÕll understand itÕs really just making another step forward for their good as well as ours,Ó says Dave Edwards, vice president of EOSAT. ÒThey just want us to be very stable.Ó
Probably more than any other time since EOSATÕs inception, the ÒEÓ of Earth Observation Satellite Company, has come to mean Educator; educating distributors, veteran end users and new end users on the new satellites, particularly the Indian data. And theyÕve got a formidable distributor network to spread the word and offer their expertise - all 130 of them worldwide.
What does all this mean to end users far and wide? For veterans, it means they are in for a good deal of change, change in the way they are serviced, change in the way they obtain data and change in the types of products they can purchase. They are also in for a good deal of exciting new technology and advancements. For beginners, it means theyÕre in for an eye-opening experience as they learn about the GeoTechnologies and its benefits, because the industry is prepared to educate them.
It also means that the industry is ready to attack vertical markets head-on, says Donn Walklett, president and CEO of TerraNova in Los Altos, Ca. ÒI think with the transition weÕre seeing now, with satellites that are being paid for by private sources, with data that has a higher resolution, and most importantly, with the computer power available on the desktop, there is the real potential to get to the other 98 percent of the market. ThatÕs where weÕre focused.Ó With the future clearly in mind, letÕs look at where EOSAT and the industry are today. The Indian Program
ItÕs fitting to start with the Indian program as India was one of the first countries to begin receiving Landsat data, and the IRS series of satellites has been credited with causing the industry to be more competitive. Not surprisingly, the community is eager to obtain as much information as possible about the imagery and the applications it can be used for.
Presently, there are five satellites in orbit from the IRS program, the first of eight planned satellites to provide a wide range of imagery over the next 10 years. The first satellite, IRS-1A was launched in 1988, followed by its identical twin IRS-1B in 1991. Both carry two sensors each with four spectral bands very similar to Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM); one sensor acquires data at a resolution of 36.25m and the other sensor at a spatial resolution of 72.5m. Then a second series of satellites, the P series, began in 1994 with the launch of IRS-1P and IRS-P2. The most recent satellite, IRS-1C was launched in December 1995.
EOSAT enjoys the role of exclusive worldwide distributor of IRS data, having signed an agreement in 1994. It formed an alliance with a new company in Germany to receive and distribute 1C and P3 data in Europe: Euromap.
Euromap in all respects is the daughter of GAF, a satellite imagery provider in Munich. Dr. Rupert Haydn, CEO of GAF, formed the company to be the production arm of GAF exclusively for the production of IRS products. In cooperation with the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), Euromap receives IRS data at DLRÕs ground station centrally located in Neustrelitz, which allows them to cover all of Europe. Haydn says that the company will also have its own representative network of value-added companies for IRS products.
The satellite acquires the highest spatial resolution data commercially available today: 5-meter panchromatic data; 25-meter multispectral data; and 180-meter wide-field data with a 774-km swath and 5-day repeat coverage. This kind of resolution opens up a range of doors to new applications for both the traditional and new markets.
EOSATÕs Norman, Okla. station began receiving data in February and DLR began receiving data in April, making data available in South Asia, North America and Europe by direct reception. As the IRS-1C has a tape recorder on board - a technical first for IndiaÕs satellites - worldwide imagery is available. India retains all the data acquired within the country, Euromap takes care of Europe and EOSAT has the rest of the world.
EOSAT will begin delivering system corrected path-oriented products, map-oriented products and terrain ortho-rectified products on October 1st, says Brenda Burroughs, director of U.S. sales at EOSAT. Euromap has been serving its customers since August.
For the industry as a whole, the IRS-1C data couldnÕt have come at a better time, says Edwards. ÒThe IRS data is going to be the centerpiece, the one constellation thatÕs going to definitize what this market really is. And how big it is. This program will be the glue.Ó WhoÕs Doing What
Indeed, the Indian data is playing a major role in companiesÕ ability to tap into new markets, but itÕs also allowing companies to offer something new to the traditional sectors. Because itÕs no longer about just a Landsat TM scene, or an ERS-1 image, itÕs about total solutions, whole products that will solve a clientÕs individual need. ThatÕs what companies are now bringing to the marketplace.
TerraNova for example is focusing on sectors such as real estate and partnering with firms that provide demographic solutions. Providing desktop mapping solutions is common, says Walklett. Depending on the need, customers receive a solution involving between two and 20 different layers of data, of which satellite imagery is usually one layer. A product for a utility company for instance may have maps relevant to the location of power lines, coupled with detailed data such as the demographics of its customer base and where theyÕre located, how wealthy they are, how many children they have and what their spending habits are.
The company integrates GIS, GPS and satellite imagery to create a Òself-explanatoryÓ product for its customers. The time of producing pretty satellite image posters for the wall has long since been gone for his company.
Earth Information Systems Corp., a newcomer to the remote sensing industry in Austin, Texas, has also shifted its focus to newer industries in the six years its been in operation. Two of those areas of activity are in pipeline planning and telecommunications. Dr. Alexandra P. Shultejann, president of EISYS, says the IRS-1C data will be particularly beneficial for the latter activity.
ÒWe find a lot more business in the newer industries than in the sectors we started out with, which was mostly the oil industry,Ó she says. ÒAnd the types of products we did for them were satellite interpretation and creating pictures. Now we do very little of that. We use remote sensing as a base for developing spatial databases for many of these applications.
ÒPeople are finally beginning to understand that GIS, GPS and remote sensing can be integrated very easily and are starting to see how powerful that integration really is,Ó she adds.
In addition to the pipeline planning and telecommunications markets, EISYS has developed a unique mobile computing application for the traditional sectors such as mineral exploration. People can now take with them in the field an entire GIS on a laptop computer. They can perform their own satellite interpretation using an integrated GPS unit and take notes while sampling rocks which will correspond to each geographic area studied on the image. The information can then be downloaded into the main computer. This solution eliminates the need to manually input all the field data as it comes in, which traditionally is a very labor-intensive and expensive task.
Earth Resource Surveys Inc., in North Vancouver, B.C., one of the newest additions to the EOSAT distributor network is also not Òjust selling dataÓ but complete value-added products to their clients, the majority of which fall into the traditional mining and exploration industries. Satellite imagery is still a substantial portion of the product as EOSAT has awarded them the top Canadian seller of Landsat data for the last two years. A significant fact as the company has only been in business for two years.
Instead of just handing clients a map based on satellite imagery, ERSI takes the time to create that Òself-explanatoryÓ product and educate the client when necessary. Also, because Vincent Campbell, president of ERSI, has a 20-year background in geology, he understands what his mining and exploration customers need. That expertise, coupled with the quality solution products they deliver, has enabled ERSI to actually commercialize the traditional sector. More of This to Come
As more and more of EOSATÕs distributors continue on the total solution path, end users will begin to reap the benefits of a matured community of satellite data providers and distributors. Edwards says EOSAT must continue to empower its distributors with the tools and knowledge to deliver what clients need and to allow them to move into vertical markets. And with the advent of the high-resolution generation of satellites just around the corner, the industryÕs missionary role isnÕt likely to end soon. Because the defining role of the industry will come from the Indian program, Earth Watch and Space Imaging.
As the era of high-resolution satellites moves closer, EOSAT is doing its homework and trying to prepare the industry for an incredible amount of change, says Johnson. ÒHigh-resolution data must be provided in application-oriented products, coupled with other types of satellite imagery, to solve our clientsÕ problems,Ó says Johnson. ÒWe are making plans now to meet the demands of the ever-increasing application-driven end user community, which will broaden even further with the advent of higher resolution data.Ó
In the next monthÕs issue, weÕll look at EOSATÕs involvement with EarthWatch and its EarlyBird series of satellites and highlight other companies striving to provide more, better and faster to the end users. About the Author:
Mary Jo Wagner is a freelance writer/editor who writes about GIS, GPS and remote sensing. She may be reached at 415-291-8292.
Back
|
