The Past and Future of Imaging: 
A Conversation with Z/I Imaging's Terry Keating and Paul Garland
Adena Schutzberg

At Geospatial World in Miami, I sat down with Terry Keating and Paul Garland who lead Z/I Imaging as Executive Vice President and Vice President, respectively. While I've always looked at Intergraph from the traditional GIS space, the company has been involved with imagery for some thirty years. Keating walked me through that period explaining that in 1970s with the emergence of LANDSAT, the thought was that images "would be king," that they would be a key source for mapping.

In fact, at that time only the federal government "got it" and the remote sensing industry remained fairly small. There were limitations, of course, in hardware, processing, acquisition, and the imagery had nothing like the resolutions of today. The 1980s therefore, were the heyday of vector GIS. Organizations were building their landbases and learning the ins and outs of GIS. In the 1990s the technologies for scanning grew to meet the demands of imagery, slowly moving it back into GIS and mapping. And, today, in the new century with digital acquisition growing (both on satellites and aerial platforms), processing techniques maturing, hardware and storage both ubiquitous and inexpensive, Keating explained that "images are back." To support that conviction he noted that 24 new imaging satellites are expected to launch internationally in the next 24 months. Some are commercial ventures and many are products of government efforts.

I raised the question, based on comments I've heard in recent months, of why geospatial technology users are not taking full advantage of imagery these days. "Packaging" was Keating's response. Most potential users are not interested in a 500 GB repository in a form that they cannot easily access. Users need files that are not overwhelming in size and that can be put to immediate use in their systems. And, of course, the images must be current.

That, Keating went on, means that imagery companies need to tease out effective business models to offer their wares. He cited Aerials Express' work in packaging its images (captured speculatively) for use in real estate as one example. VARGIS uses a unique partnering methodology to work with states to cut initial costs of capture, and makes money selling the imagery elsewhere.

Garland noted that there is still room for enhanced use of imagery. Most uses of hyper-spectral and multi-spectral imagery are in research and development. And, he noted, most imagery is used "raw," that is with limited enhancement or processing. Both men agreed that work on "mobilizing imagery," that is getting it out into the field, would help drive its use.

As for Intergraph, its goal in the imagery arena is to continue to offer a solution that begins with a sensor for capture (its Digital Mapping Camera) and provides all the tools necessary to bring the data through production and into enterprise and Web distribution.

About the Author
Adena Schutzberg is Editor of the magazine.

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