When high off-nadir imagery works out, it is some of the coolest data we have; but when it doesn’t work out it is a disaster as you will see this month, sorry! These three 30-cm WorldView-3 images of Buenos Aires, Argentina were collected on August 26, 2018 which is the first ‘problem’ with the data. August in Argentina is winter which means the Sun is low in the sky and thus colors will be muted – you can see this issue in the samples here. The second issue is much harder to predict upfront, they are called flares and they literally cover nearly every block of this WV3 imagery. Flares are the pinkish-white discolored areas you see – they are caused by extremely reflective surfaces. When photons are reflected off these surfaces to the satellite, the reflection is so intense that it over saturates a group of pixels, eliminating any normal optical signal. Flares destroy the optical signature of the features in the area and are impossible to reverse. These WorldView-3 images have been resampled and enhanced by Apollo Mapping for improved colors, clarity and perspective. (Images Courtesy: Maxar)Every time we look at WorldView-3 and WorldView-4 (WV3/4) imagery, we are blown away. And we hope you are equally impressed with the data! Last month we checked out an exhilarating high-off nadir image of a local Colorado mountain, so we got a bit greedy with this 30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month hoping to feature stunning high-off nadir imagery of Buenos Aires, Argentina, but in the end we learned a lesson that everyone can benefit from!
PLEASE NOTE: Effective May 2016, WorldView-3/4 prices dropped again! Are you interested in finding out more about these price drops? If so, send us an email at sales@apollomapping.com.
WorldView-3 launched in late 2014 and WorldView-4 launched in late 2016; taken together they are the most advanced satellite constellation the commercial marketplace has ever had access to. Here are a few of the features that really set these satellites apart from the competition:
- Improved Resolution
- Higher resolution means you can see more detail in WV3/4 imagery.
- Data collected at nadir will have 31-centimeter (cm) panchromatic, 1.24-meter (m) visible and near infrared, 3.7-m SWIR (WV3 only) and 30-m CAVIS (WV3 only) bands.
- At 20 degrees off-nadir, the resolution is 34-cm panchromatic, 1.38-m visible and near infrared and 4.1-m shortwave infrared.
- Additional Spectral Bands
- If spectral analysis is part of your project, then no other satellite can match WV3 with its: 8 bands of visible and near-infrared data; and 8 shortwave infrared bands which are crucial for geological studies.
- Better Positional Accuracy
- With accuracies of 3.5-m CE90% or better (without ground control even!), WV3/4 has no rivals for its enhanced positional accuracy.
- Daily Revisits
- At 40 degrees latitude, WV3 is able to image every location daily with 1-meter or better resolution and then every 4.5 days at 34-cm resolution or better.
- WV4 is no longer collecting new imagery.
- Increased Collection Capacity
- WV3/4 feature 13.1-km swath widths (at nadir) with the ability to collect up to 680,000 square kilometer (sq km) of high-resolution data per day per satellite (though WV4 is dead now).
- Improved control movement gyros translate into larger maximum contiguous collection areas per pass, with up to ~7,500 sq km of mono imagery and ~3,000 sq km of stereo possible.
If you are interested in WorldView-3 and/or WorldView-4 imagery for your next project, please let us know by phone, 303-993-3863, or by email, sales@apollomapping.com.
You can also find more WV3 samples and technical information on our website here and then WV4 samples and information can be found here.
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