Rapid satellite imagery service on way

A rapid-response satellite imagery service for crisis situations could be available as early as this spring from two U.S. companies. The service from Virginia's Esri, a geographic information software company, and GeoEye, another Virginia company, will enable more timely crisis response to disaster response. "We're extremely pleased that Esri chose GeoEye as their imagery partner for this important work," said Chris Tully, GeoEye's senior vice president of sales. "Geospatial technology plays a critical role in determining where resources should be deployed most effectively after a crisis. "We feel confident that Esri users will see immediate benefits when they leverage timely GeoEye event imagery and Esri support through this service." The two companies last year offered a joint product -- GeoEye Image Pack -- which enabled Esri customers with a programmatic Enterprise License Agreement to procure high-resolution data from GeoEye's extensive imagery archive. The new service will allow ArcGIS users to better and more quickly utilize GeoEye's map imagery and Esri software tools. "Imagery plays a vital role during events," said Russ Johnson, Esri's director of Public Safety and Homeland Security. "It allows us to rapidly visualize impacts, analyze change and empower field teams conducting mobile operations. "GeoEye and Esri share the same vision for supporting global incidents, and we are excited about what this means for users worldwide."