30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month – Hong Kong Island - Apollo Mapping
Posted on January 7th, 2020

30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month – Hong Kong Island




Hong Kong Island is located on the southern side of the Chinese special administrative district, Hong Kong, and was home to just 3,000 villagers when the British arrived in the 1800’s. Today, the island is home to more than 1.3 million residents with an astounding population density exceeding 42,000 people per square mile! In the four images featured here, you can see a few of the architecturally unique skyscrapers on the island, as well as a bit of color. These 30-cm WorldView-3 images were collected on October 4, 2018 and have been enhanced by Apollo Mapping for improved colors and clarity. (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! For December we featured a high off-nadir image of Buenos Aires which admittedly was far less than ideal, and so for this 30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month we hope to get back on track with imagery of an urban jungle, i.e. Hong Kong Island.

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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