From: dmarble@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (Duane F Marble)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis
Subject: New High Res Space Data Available (repost)
Date: 19 Nov 92 12:45:05 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

THE FOLLOWING WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED TO THE "RISKS" FORUM. I HAVE
REPOSTED IT HERE BECAUSE OF OUR GENERAL INTEREST IN DATA SOURCES
FOR THE GIS. BRIEF RISK COMMENTS (ON PRIVACY MOSTLY) DELETED.
Duane Marble
*******************************************************************
The following material is from "Space Digest" v15 #425,
distributed as "Space@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu"

4- RUSSIAN MILITARY SPACE OBSERVATION DATA ON THE MARKET

   [Ran across a couple of interesting notes, with interesting ramifications.]

   Central Trading Systems in Arlington, Texas has a new product.  Digitized,
very high resolution Russian "Earth Observations" data.  This data showed up
about a month ago when some demonstration data was circulated within the
industry to see if there was some interest in buying it.  Folks who've analyzed
the data say it's in the 1.5-2 meter resolution range.

   At that resolution, you can pick out the Christmas tree in front of the
White House, or pick out individual cars in the Pentagon parking lot on the
demo tapes data.  Some rumors circulating in the industry claim the data could
have even a higher resolution quality, but the data has been poorly digitized
from photos.  This data is obvious from a former "strategic asset" of the
Soviet Union.

   Central Trading systems, can't identify what satellite generated the photo
data, but that the Russians call it a "DD5" system, for Digital Data 5.  As a
representative of the data seller Central Trading Systems is offering global
coverage with an extensive data archive of digital images.  If the scenes are
in the archive, customers can have the images on data tapes within 2 weeks,
delivered by Federal Express.  If new scenes are required, they can be
delivered with 45 days, weather permitting. Central Trading Systems thinks the
data is delivered digitally in Russian, transferred to photos, and then
re-digitized.  His offers the possibility that resolution can improve as more
advanced digitizing and image processing systems are applied.

   Cost for the data is $3180 (including shipping and handling) for a 13 x 13
Km, 8-bit scene, of 40 mps at 1600 bpi.  Demand is reportedly high.

   As a side note, on 2 October, a top Russian space commander stated the
Russian military space program will only survive by sharing its expertise and
hardware.  Col General Vladimir Ivanov was quoted in a Krasnaya Zvezda
interview as recommending Russian military space systems be used for commercial
and civilian purposes.  In particular, he was reported to have stated
"Reconnaissance satellites can be successfully used for long-distance probing
of the Earth's surface and for ecological monitoring without impairing their
main task."

   [Commentary: New competition in the Earth Resources market area.  There are
reportedly warehouses of high-resolution Earth observation data on both sides
of the ex-Iron curtain.  Different organizations have been selling ex-Soviet
observation data in the 10-meter resolution class, but the data availability
and market response has been poor, partially because the data was only
available sporadically or only in photographic form.  (For obvious reasons, the
preference is for data in digital format.)

    But if true, a marketable archive of global 2 meter or better data could be
a market gold mine. And the Krasnaya Zveda quote could indicate regular
availability to high-resolution data from Russian military systems could become
official policy and routine.

   SPOT and Landsat data is about an order of magnitude more coarse, with some
gaps in the digital data coverage available.  The Russian data prices are also
very competitive. I expect if the initial expectations are proven for this
Russian data, then it will capture a large share of the market within a few
years.

   Again, there can be a substantial commercial market pact from an ex-Soviet
system.  Due to policy considerations, the US government has been reticent to
release high-resolution Earth Observation data, and has encouraged the use of
100-meter resolution Landsat Data for commercial or non-critical government
needs.  It was only last month the US Department of Defense even officially
revealed the existence of the office which controlled such space assets.

   Similarly, SPOT, which has a very large ownership share by the French
government, has not striven to achieve the maximum resolution in its system.  A
higher resolution has been expected in the French military HELIOS observation
system under development.

   Perhaps the sale of high-resolution Russian data will encourage the release
of high resolution data by Western governments.  But this will also decimate
the existing SPOT or Landsat/EOSAT data markets, when they still have not
reached a critical mass for full commercial viability.  The best result would
be the encouragement of the construction of commercial Western systems with
equivalent capability, which is well within the capability of the industry.

   As it stands now, there are still significant unknowns in the future of
commercial Earth observations data.  This new source of data, if it is proven
as reliable and accurate, could substantially change some of the market
assumptions for Earth resources data.]


--
Duane F. Marble            E-mail: dmarble@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Dept. of Geography
The Ohio State University  Telephone:  (614) 292-2250
Columbus, OH 43220         Fax:  (614) 292-6213