Tuesday, January 20. 2009

GeoEye Snaps Inaugural Crowds from Space

GeoEye-1 passed over the Capitol Building at 11:19 a.m. on January 20th to capture the throngs of onlookers awaiting the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Slightly overcast skies filtered the imagery which was resampled to .5 meter resolution due to U.S. licensing restrictions, according to a press release issued by GeoEye. GeoEye-1 can capture images a .41 meter resolution. The images below are courtesy of GeoEye (click each for a larger image):

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DigitalGlobe, AEgis Release Images Prepared for Inauguration

DigitalGlobe and AEgis Technologies recently issued a press release regarding their partnership to develop ImageScape, a 3D imagery solution that generates virtual models of any location in the world. I covered this relationship in an article written on how these companies were creating images for NBC during the Olympics. For the inauguration, the two companies released sample ImageScape images available of the D.C. area, including the White House, and the Washington Monument. Images courtesy of DigitalGlobe and AEgis Technologies. See below (click each below for a larger image:

White House Updates: Just Give E-mail and ZIP Code

Here's confirmation that the new administration believes geography matters: when you sign up for updates from the site (upper right hand corner) you are asked for a ZIP Code. I'm guessing they'll target messages/news appropriately. We'll see!

- via Twitter

Estimating Crowds at Inauguration by Balloon

GeoEye will be taking pictures from GeoEye-1 but a balloon with a high res camera will be there to take pictures of the crowds for evaluation by an Arizona State journalism professor to estimate the crowds. Alas, the balloon must be down before 10 am so it'll be a bit before the bulk of crowds appear.

- Tuscon Citizen

LBS "Story" Product Company Navitell Gains Funding

Belgium-based Navitell announced €2 million (or about $2,635,000) from FPIM, a federal investment fund. The company's StoryTeller software suite, is a platform for mobile content for use on mobile devices, where user profiles and location determine what data is shared when.

- TechCrunch

How to Lose Two Cars in One Night - with GPS

The story goes: Man drives to NY restaurant. Gives Mercedes to valet. Keys are stolen from valet stand. Thief sees Porsche (typo corrected) keys in stolen car. Uses in-car GPS to determine owner's home address. Steals second car from driveway. Entirely possible scenario I guess.

InfoWeek blogger Eric Zeman goes on after telling that story and how the cars have not yet been found:
"For the victim's sake, I hope the police are able to use the GPS information in the Mercedes to find it before it is completely stripped by the thieves."