Internet users can now view detailed satellite images of the globe and then download them for as little as $7.95 via a Web interface. In addition, viewers can also order high quality Kodak prints starting at $12.95. When they visit Microsoft TerraServer consumers will, for the first time, have access to new detailed satellite photos that will allow them to view their neighborhoods, vacation spots and other locations from space at a resolution never before available. In the imagery a viewer can distinguish objects as small as two meters across-detailed enough to see a truck or a car, or to spot a house in a photo taken from space.

Microsoft TerraServer consumers are free to browse the entire archive of satellite images on the World Wide Web. Using their browser, users can search for a photograph based on a city name or region or using latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Users can then pan or zoom within the digital picture by "pointing and clicking." When a purchase is made, the image will be downloaded directly to a customer's PC and printed pictures can be delivered via mail direct to a consumer's home.

"The opening of Microsoft TerraServer represents many firsts for the World Wide Web," said John Hoffman president and CEO of Aerial Images. "For the first time, consumers can get highly-detailed satellite pictures of the Earth-delivered right to their door. For the first time an American company, Aerial Images, Inc., has teamed up with the Russian Space Agency to image the world. Most significantly, this is the beginning of a "new geography" in which the world is not broken into abstract lines and colors on a map, but visible as it really is. Now consumers can surf the world!"

Not only can Internet users view their favorite vacation spot directly on their own PC, but Kodak Earth Imaging is also providing Microsoft TerraServer customers with digital photographic print services. Kodak Earth Imaging will quickly print and deliver to the customer's doorstep photographic prints of purchased digital images, up to 20" x 26" poster size. Introductory pricing will make prints available for between $12.95 and $39.95, depending on the size.

The most recent SPIN-2 imagery on the Microsoft TerraServer was collected during a satellite mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in February and recovered in April. On this mission, Aerial Images focused on gathering satellite photos of the southeastern United Sates and major cities around the world. Aerial Images and SOVINFORMSPUTNIK have planned two additional satellite missions during each of the next two years to complete the imaging of the United States and major population centers around the globe. When the images from the recent mission are transferred onto the site, it will contain 1.2 terabytes of SPIN-2 data, the equivalent of more than a trillion bytes of data, and will cover more than 2 million square kilometers of the Earth's surface. To put that into perspective, all the "html" pages on the World Wide Web combined do not equal one terabyte.

Technology Behind TerraServer

Microsoft TerraServer is made possible through a unique collaboration. Each company in the TerraServer project has played a key role in the development and implementation of Microsoft TerraServer. The site is a joint project of Aerial Images, Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Kodak, Microsoft Corp., SOVINFORMSPUTNIK and USGS.

Microsoft has provided the technology and database expertise to manage the massive amount of digital information on Microsoft TerraServer. Running on Microsoft SQL Server, Enterprise Edition 7.0 and Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition, the site demonstrates the tremendous scalability of these products that can support more than a terabyte of data. To meet the demand of TerraServer users around the world, Microsoft has selected the AlphaServer and StorageWorks from Compaq as the site server system. This system enables Microsoft TerraServer to provide consumers with rapid access to the enormous library of geographic information.

"Microsoft TerraServer is unique for its technology and its partners," continued John Hoffman. "The system Microsoft and Compaq have created to store and process terabytes of information represents the largest database on the World Wide Web. Even in tests, the site was handling more than 2 million hits a day. Furthermore, Kodak brings a unique new service to the Web by supplying high quality prints to TerraServer consumers. This site is truly a showcase for the companies' state-of-the-art technologies."

In a related release today, Microsoft announced "Microsoft, Partners Announce Microsoft TerraServer, Global Atlas is World's Largest Database on the Web."

About Aerial Images, Inc.

Aerial Images, Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, was founded in 1988 to use advanced digital imagery to lead the way to the new geography. Aerial Images, Inc., www.aerial-images.com, is a pioneer in marketing high resolution data, CAD (computer aided dispatch) and developing GIS systems in support of enhanced 9-1-1 emergency response systems. Spin-2 Marketing, a division of Aerial Images, Inc., located in Washington, D.C. is dedicated to the sale and marketing of 2-meter resolution, geo-referenced, ortho-rectified imagery and digital elevation models to the commercial marketplace.

About SOVINFORMSPUTNIK

SOVINFORMSPUTNIK was founded by the Russian Space Agency, and is responsible for development, manufacturing and operation of modern remote sensing systems. The strategic direction of SOVINFORMSPUTNIK's activity is to conduct satellite mapping surveys, execute the commercial distribution of remote sensing data and create exceptional products, including digital topographic and thematic maps. As a part of its charter, SOVINFORMSPUTNIK works with the various Russian agencies to organize satellite launches and in-orbit imaging in order to support the international commercial value-added community and additional applications of space information.