This one-meter resolution color image of the commercial areas of downtown San Diego, California was collected April 4 by Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite. Photo: spaceimaging.com

Space Imaging has announced the availability of one-meter resolution color satellite imagery for the real estate industry. This high-quality satellite-based information has never before been available to the commercial marketplace and will revolutionize the way the real estate community does business and makes decisions.

"Ikonos color imagery of the Earth gives our real estate customers access to a brand-new visual information source for conducting business," said Brian Soliday, vice president of Space Imaging North American sales and marketing. "This imagery provides significantly more detail and information about the land and the communities which the real estate industry is working to develop and manage. Compared to traditional line maps, this imagery provides up-to-date, content-rich information about our ever-changing landscape."

The highly detailed digital images show features such as trees, lawns, houses, schools, roads, rivers and parks. Images can be overlain with geographic data such as street names, zip codes, zoning data, park names and other information to help developers determine which areas are suitable for development, evaluate existing infrastructure and determine property values. Real estate customers can use the digital images for:

• Prospecting and planning new properties or development opportunities;
• Showing potential homebuyers the location of new properties for sale;
• Showing areas suitable for development to companies interested in expansion or relocation;
• Monitoring new construction such as office parks;
• Evaluating commercial zoning projects; and
• Monitoring and measuring urban sprawl.

"Our unique technology allows us to convert high-resolution Ikonos satellite images into 3D environments that can be explored over the Internet via the free TerraExplorer viewer (available from Space Imaging under the CARTERRA3D brand)," said Shimon Sharon, president and chief executive officer of Skyline Software Systems, Inc.

This one-meter resolution color image of residential areas of Sydney, Australia was collected December 1, 1999 by Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite. Photo: spaceimaging.com

"This incredibly detailed view of the world can shorten the time it takes to purchase real estate and it connects real estate buyers with advertising content from local businesses or franchise outlets."

Ikonos image products are sold under the CARTERRA brand name. Prices range from $30-$45/sq.mi ($12-$17/sq.km) for North America (with a minimum order of $1000) or $75-$112/sq.mi ($29-$44/sq.km) for regions outside of North America (with a minimum order of $2000). CARTERRA products are immediately available and can be ordered through Space Imaging's Customer Service Center at 301-552-0537 or 800-232-9037.