QUICKBIRD THE WOR LD’S H IGHEST R ESOLUT ION COMMERCI A L SATELL ITE

P r o d u c t s & Se r v i c e s

QuickBird from DigitalGlobe™ is the

highest-resolution commercial remote

sensing satellite now operating, offering

imagery from 60 cm resolution.

Launched October 18, 2001, QuickBird

collects multi-spectral and panchromatic

imagery concurrently, and Pan-

sharpened products in natural or

infrared colours are offered. Strips up

to 250km long can be collected in a

single pass.

QuickBird provides the widest swath,

largest on-board storage, and highest

resolution of any current commercial

satellite. QuickBird is designed to

ef f iciently and accurately image

large areas with industry-leading

geolocational accuracy.

LAUNCH October 18, 2001, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

ORBIT 450 km altitude; 93.5 minute orbit time; 10:30 am equator crossing time (descending); inclination 97.2° sun-synchronous�

NOMINAL SWATH WIDTH 16.5 Km at nadir

ON-BOARD STORAGE 128 Gbit (approximately 57 scenes)

DYNAMIC RANGE 11 bits per pixel

PANCHROMATIC MULTI-SPECTRALRESOLUTION Basic: 0.61 metres at nadir,

0.72 metres at 25° off-nadir nadir

Standard & Orthorectified: resampled to 0.6 /0.7 metre GSD

Basic: 2.44 metres at nadir, 2.88 metres 25° off-nadir

Standard & Orthorectified: resampled to 2.4/ 2.8 metre GSD

SPECTRAL BANDWIDTH 450—900 nanometers Blue: 450—520 nanometersGreen: 520—600 nanometers

Red: 630—690 nanometers

Near-IR: 760—900 nanometers

QuickBird Technical Summary

TM©

QuickBird F.A.Q.

Mission The QuickBird satellite collects both multi-spectral and panchromatic

imagery concurrently, and 60cm Pan-sharpened composite products in

natural or infrared colours are offered. Strips up to 250 km in length

can be collected in a single pass.

DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite provides the largest swath

width, largest on-board storage, and highest resolution of

any currently available commercial satellite. QuickBird is de-

signed to efficiently and accurately image large areas with

industry-leading geolocational accuracy. The QuickBird

spacecraft is capable of acquiring over 75 mill ion km2 of imagery data annually (over three

times the size of North America), allowing the archive to be populated and updated at un-

precedented speed.

Questions index

How much does QB imagery cost? What is the minimum?

How does imagery from MFB-GeoConsulting/EURIMAGE differ from the free satellite

images I can find on the Internet?

What do ‘resolution’ or ‘pixel size’ mean?

What do ‘multi-spectral’, ‘panchromatic’ and ‘pan-sharpened’ mean?

What can QuickBird see?

Why are some objects in my pan-sharpened image duplicated, with the color sepa-

rated?

Can I request an image acquired on a precise day and time?

Can a satellite give me video imagery of a target?

What is the file format? How can I view the imagery I buy?

What do 8-bit, 11-bit. 16-bit mean?

I opened my image in Photoshop and it appears to be completely black…

What are the file sizes of your imagery?

How long will it take to download a QB image via FTP?

What are Basic, Standard, and Standard Ortho-ready imagery?

What does “geolocation accuracy” mean?

What is the revisit interval?

What is “off-nadir angle”?

The image I want is not in the archive - can I order an acquisition?

How can I know if there is imagery available over my area of interest?

How do I define my geographic area of interest?

How do I order imagery?

How long does it take to deliver my order?

Once I have my image, can I do whatever I like with it?

How much does QB imagery cost? What is the minimum?

Ask MFB-GeoConsulting for QuickBird Price List for full details on pricing. The minimum order for a

standard, natural-colour, pan-sharpened (highest resolution) image from the archive is 25 km2, at a cost of

$17/km2, giving a total price of $425.

25 km2 of central London - from St Paul's to the middle of Hyde Park

How does imagery from MFB-GeoConsulting/EURIMAGE differ from the free satellite images I can

find on the Internet?

The web images have usually been processed automatically, which often results in poor colour and contrast

and mosaicing anomalies. They are also heavily compressed, which means a further loss of radiometric and

geometric detail and accuracy. Web images are rarely the most recent available. MFB-GeoConsulting pro-

vides original data from Eurimage, giving you complete control of the final result. You can make you own

choice of acquisition date, or even request an acquisition.

Automatic contrast stretching on free im-

agery

Custom stretching using original data

Some Google Earh Imagery is from aerial photography, however (e.g. Paris), at higher resolutions than are

available from any satellite.

What do ‘resolution’ or ‘pixel size’ mean?

This refers to the area the each pixel covers on the ground. QuickBird multi-spectral imagery has a minimum

pixel size of 2.4 metres; for panchromatic and pan-sharpened imagery the figure is 60 cm.

What do ‘multi-spectral’, ‘panchromatic’ and ‘pan-sharpened’ mean?

QuickBird multi-spectral imagery contains four spectral bands: 3 corresponding approximately to the red,

green and blue of visible light, and the fourth band corresponding to near-infrared. These bands can be com-

bined to give images in either natural-colour or false-colour . Multispectral imagery has a lower resolution

(e.g. 2.4m)

Panchromatic imagery is greyscale imagery covering the same part of the spectrum as the multi-spectral, but

at ¼ the pixel size (e.g. 60cm).

Pan-sharpened imagery combines the resolution of the panchromatic with the colour of the multi-spectral.

QuickBird Pan-sharpened imagery is the highest-resolution colour satellite imagery commercially available.

Multi-spectral, natural colours, 2.4m Multi-spectral, false colours, 2.4m

Panchromatic, 60cm Pan-sharpened, natural colours, 60cm

What can QuickBird see?

See the examples of QuickBird imagery

People (La Defense, Paris) Power pylons and lines, Italy

Count, identify and evaluate health of

trees with false colour

Aircraft and airport markings

Amusement park, Japan Shallow water, Kenya

Submarine and trawlers in dry dock, Iran Parking lot (and balloon), Japan

Note that in certain circumstances the sensor can reveal features much smaller than the pixel size.

QuickBird cannot identify individual people or vehicles, it cannot see in the dark or through walls – your pri-

vacy is not threatened.

Why are some objects in my pan-sharpened image duplicated, with the color separated?

The Panchromatic and Multispectral images are acquired almost simultaneously but there is a delay between

them of 0.2 seconds. For fast moving objects the panchromatic and multispectral image of the object can

appear in slightly different positions – the pan-sharpened product shows both. It is possible therefore to cal-

culate – very roughly – the speed of a fast moving object. For instance a car at 100 km/h will have a shift

between high-resolution Panchromatic and Multispectral images of about 5.5 meters, or 9 pixels.

The aircraft is travelling at approx. 500 km/h

Can I request an image acquired on a precise day and time?

No. You can ask for the image to be acquired within a certain window. But although QuickBird can be ori-

ented to acquire a target, and the coverage is world-wide, the satellite is in a fixed sun-synchronous orbit,

travelling at approximately 7 km/second, and can only acquire areas as they come into view (approximately

once every 3-4 days). The sun-synchronous orbit means that the satellite only acquires images at the same

local time, approximately 10:30 AM. If you absolutely need an acquisition on a specific date we can verify if

there is a potential satellite pass or not, but even if there is one, this acquisition will be very expensive and

you will have no Cloud Cover guarantee (i.e. even if the acquisition is 100% cloudy you will have to pay for

it!)

Can a satellite give me video imagery of a target?

Only in the movies… The QuickBird sensor scans the Earth’s surface - rather like a scanner or fax machine -

producing very large still images.

What is the file format? How can I view the imagery I buy?

The QuickBird products are delivered in GEOTIFF format, handled by most image processing software - such

as Photoshop - or any GIS (Geographic Information System) software. The GeoTIFF 1.0 file format fully

complies with TIFF 6.0 specifications, but has the added ability to store geographic information within file

tags. Software packages - such as Photoshop - that do not read geographic file tags will simply ignore them

and open the file as a regular TIFF. For imagery products which are not geo-referenced, these geographic file

tags are simply not specified. Depending on the area and product you are interested in, your image process-

ing software may need to be able to read very large (more than 1 GB) files, with 16 bits and up to 4-layers.

What do 8-bit, 11-bit. 16-bit mean?

These numbers refer to the number of bits used to specify each colour in an image - the more bits, the more

different gradations of colour can be expressed. QuickBird imagery is acquired with 11-bits, distributed in a

16-bit file. This 11-bit imagery can be processed to reveal information in shadow areas, for example, which

would not otherwise be visible. For most applications, after the data has been processed to give the image

desired it is converted to 8-bits; this reduces the file size and allows the image to be viewed in applications -

such as web browsers - that cannot handle 16-bit data. It is possible to order QuickBird images already

scaled to 8 bit.

I opened my image in Photoshop and it appears to be completely black…

This is a consequence of an 11-bit image in a 16-bit file. Please see this Eurimage Guide to using Photo-

shop with QuickBird imagery.

What are the file sizes of your imagery?

This depends on several factors such as the product type, spectral options, pixel size, and bit depth. For ex-

ample, a 25 km2 3 band Standard Image, with 60 cm pixel size and 16 bit data would be approximately 450

MB. Full scene products can be 2 GB or more just for the Panchromatic band. Not all image processing soft-

ware (or operating systems) can handle such large files. This table gives approximate file sizes for various

kinds of imagery.

Approximate file-sizes in MB/km2

Product Pan MS Pan-sharpened

3 bands Pan-sharpened

4 bands

Resolution 60 cm 70 cm 2.4 m 2.8 m 60 cm 70 cm 60 cm 60 cm

8 bits 3 2.2 0.75 0.55 8.5 6.3 11.3 8.4

16 bits 6 4.4 1.5 1.1. 17 12.6 22.6 16.8

Note that the area (km2) to be considered is the Minimum Bounding Rectangle around your order polygon.

Example of Minimum Bounding Rectangle

How long will it take to download a QB image via FTP?

QuickBird images can be very large, so it is important to know the quality of your internet connection

(download speed and reliability), before ordering electronic delivery via FTP. For example, a QuickBird image

of 1 GB (e.g. 120 Km2 of Natural Colors Pans-harpened at 8 bit and 60 cm GSD) can be downloaded in little

more than 1 hour if you have a 2 MB/sec connection, or in more than 40 hours if you have a 56 KB modem.

What are Basic, Standard, and Standard Ortho-ready imagery?

Basic is the least-processed QuickBird imagery, it is provided with the QuickBird sensor model and is in-

tended for expert users with the resources to carry out sophisticated processing. Basic imagery is available

only as one or more full scenes. A Basic Imagery QuickBird scene is approximately 16.5 km by 16.5 km at

nadir, or 272 km2. Note that the minimum price for a Basic scene is $16 / km2 x 272 = $4,352.

Standard Imagery is a geo-referenced product, mapped to a cartographic projection, with a geolocation

accuracy of +/- 23 m. Standard Imagery is provided with image metadata and is intended for a wide variety

of applications. It is an area-based product, defined by your area of interest without reference to scenes. Th

minimum order is 25 km

e

c-

2.

Standard Ortho-ready imagery is similar to Standard but can be further processed to give a geolocation a

curacy close to that available starting from Basic Imagery.

What does “geolocation accuracy” mean?

It means the accuracy of the positional coordinates of the depicted objects compared to other data such as

maps (which themselves can be more or less accurate). When we say that a QuickBird Standard image has a

geolocation accuracy of 23 m CE90%, we say that statistically 90% of the image has a position error of less

than 23 meters compared to the real world. This error can be larger if the image is located in hilly/mountain

areas or if it is acquired with high off-nadir angles, as additional errors are induced. To improve geolocation

accuracy, a process called orthorectification uses suitable image processing software and ancillary data such

as DEMs (Digital Elevation Models – 3D models of the ground) and Ground Control Points (very accurate co-

ordinates for specific objects). Orthorectification can be done starting from a Basic product (better results,

but more expensive and difficult work) or a Standard Ortho-Ready product.

What is the revisit interval?

Depending on the requested off-nadir viewing angle and the latitude of the target, the QuickBird satellite has

a certain revisit, which means the number of days after which the satellite can see the same target again.

See the table showing the average values. (in allegato) Example: Paris (48.87 N, 2.33 E) with a 0-25°

viewing angle has approximately a 5 days revisit, which means 6 accesses/month.

Revisit times in days

Latitude 0o - 15o 0o - 25o 0o - 45o

0 11 6 3

10 11 6 3

20 9 5 3

30 9 5 2

40 8 5 2

50 7 4 2

60 7 4 1

70 5 3 1

80 3 2 1

What is “off-nadir angle”?

Nadir is when the satellite is looking straight down. QuickBird can also be rotated to see targets to either side

and ahead or behind. High off-nadir angles can mean lower quality in terms of geolocation accuracy and

resolution, while tall objects can conceal targets. For new acquisitions the customer can define the off-nadir

range preferred. 0-10° is the minimum (better quality but very long acquisition windows due to low revisit);

0-25°, gives agood balance between quality and revisit time.

San Francisco, 45o off-nadir - an extreme example

The image I want is not in the archive - can I order an acquisition?

Yes – ask for Price List for Tasking options. Prices for Tasking start at $22 / km2 (Natural Colours at 60 cm

resolution) with a minimum of 64km2.

How can I know if there is imagery available over my area of interest?

We can check for you one of the on-line catalogues or you can also look in GoogleEarth, as it can display

DigitalGlobe coverage (the last option in the Layers menu at the bottom left of the window), but remember

that this system is not fully current, so the most recent acquisitions may be missing.

How do I define my geographic area of interest?

You need to give the coordinates (latitude-longitude) of your area of interest. You can start your searches

with a very general location (e.g. Paris), but later you will need to refine this with precise coordinates, oth-

erwise you risk paying for areas that you do not need. GoogleEarth is a good tool for finding coordinates, as

the bottom bar shows the coordinates of your mouse pointer on the image.

How do I order imagery?

Please contact MFB-GeoConsulting (031-765 5062 or lanini@mfb-geo.com)

How long does it take to deliver my order?

For Basic and Standard Imagery, approximate processing times, after image acquisition, are 5 business days

for Priority Tasking and Image Library orders, 10 business days for Standard Tasking, and 60 hours for Rush

Tasking. Pan-sharpened products require an additional 6 business days of processing time. Products are usu-

ally delivered on hard media (e.g. DVD) by courier or electronically via ftp to our office in Messen.

Once I have my image, can I do whatever I like with it?

Not quite. QuickBird imagery is licensed, not sold outright. There are restrictions on how it may be used.

Please refer to the Eurimage Standard Terms & Conditions and the QuickBird Terms for de-

tails (delivered by MFB-GeoConsulting together with your data).

QuickBird F.A.Q.MissionDigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite provides the lQuestions index

Approximate file-sizes in MB/km2What is the revisit interval?

Revisit times in days