The images are sold to commercial and government customers as part of Space Imaging's Carterra(TM) product line, and complement the company's current array of Carterra satellite-derived image products.

The new sensor, which was custom built for Space Imaging, collects digital, true multispectral (color) imagery with half-meter to two-meter ground resolution.

The Carterra imagery from DAIS-1 provides distinct visualization of objects as small as one-half meter in size and is ideally suited for projects ranging from transportation and utility network mapping, urban development, and agricultural monitoring to environmental assessment, disaster assessment and real estate evaluation.

Because of the superior detail and accuracy of the imagery from DAIS-1, it is an excellent tool for both small-area and linear feature activities, such as assessing utility right-of-ways, conducting wetlands studies and performing detailed landcover analysis.

"Space Imaging realized a need for an aerial capability to complement our satellite imaging technologies," said John Copple, Space Imaging's chief executive officer.

"Our Carterra imagery products are a cost-effective and efficient way of mapping and monitoring the Earth, and the addition of this new capability provides our customers with a unique product to help solve their information needs," he added.

The DAIS-1 sensor was designed to enable Space Imaging to collect highly detailed, sensor-calibrated imagery of a specific area and quickly deliver the products to customers.

Many aerial surveying firms collect analog film imagery, which has to be processed and digitized before being delivered to customers -- this is often a time-consuming and costly process. The digital nature of the imagery from DAIS-1 will enable detailed, quantitative analysis to be performed almost immediately after the imagery is collected.

The DAIS-1 sensor is mounted aboard a Cessna 421C airplane that was specially modified to meet Space Imaging's technical requirements. Space Imaging can deploy the DAIS-1 sensor and aircraft from Denver and reach anywhere in the Continental U.S., Northern Mexico or Southern Canada within a day. Most areas within the rest of North America can typically be reached within two days.

The multispectral qualities of Carterra imagery from DAIS-1 make it uniquely positioned to respond to a variety of customer requirements. The imagery offers four true multispectral bands: blue, green, red and near-infrared.

Near-infrared images are optimal for highlighting variations in vegetation and other landcover types. The imagery's unique 12-bit dynamic range enables the distinction of 4,096 shades of color, offering 16 times more radiometric detail than the 256 shades available in today's 8-bit imagery.

This advanced capability means that even in areas that are heavily shadowed due to cloud-cover or hilly terrain, the image offers superior interpretability.

Imagery from DAIS-1 can be geo-referenced to produce Carterra products meeting 1:50,000 accuracy. If ground control points and digital elevation models are available, DAIS-1 imagery can be terrain corrected, enabling greater absolute positional accuracy for more precise mapping projects.

There are three standard collection scenarios or options for customers: Corridor Collections (0.5-meter resolution) are linear areas that are typically imaged in a single flight line, such as roads, transmission corridors, pipelines, railroads, rivers and coastlines.

Rectangular Collections (1.0-meter resolution) are defined as single blocks of areas imaged in multiple flight lines, such as oil and gas fields, mines and forestry holdings. Spot Collections (1.5-meter resolution) are small, distinct areas of interest that are imaged in a single flight line, such as agricultural fields, real estate properties, and ecological areas such as dispersed wetlands.

Pricing for imagery from DAIS-1 starts at $105 per square or linear mile for volume collections. For standard collections, price per square mile varies depending on the collection region. All prices include aircraft mobilization fees. Products are delivered on 8mm tape or CD-ROM. Production and processing equipment resides on the aircraft itself, enabling Space Imaging to deliver this Carterra product to customers in as little as 24 hours.

Through its unique Mapping Alliance Program (MAP), Space Imaging has been collecting and delivering aerial imagery since 1996. Space Imaging will continue to partner with the MAP firms to deliver these high-quality, high-resolution products to its customers. The addition of DAIS-1 to Space Imaging's existing Earth imaging capabilities expands the Carterra product solution for customers' diverse information needs.