This month’s 30-cm WorldView-3/4 image features the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park, New York. At first glance, the building is the perfect setting for a horror movie. In fact, once abandoned, the building became a favorite haunt for paranormal hunters. Known by locals as The Psych Center, the former state-run psychiatric hospital operated from 1885 to 1996 when the facility closed. It originally was called Kings County Asylum and functioned as a farm colony where patients engaged in farm-related activities like feeding animals and raising crops. After control was passed on to the state from the county, it was renamed Kings Park State Hospital and it became a self-sufficient community that generated its own heat and electricity. After World War II, patient populations at Kings Park and the other Long Island asylums increased drastically. In 1954, the patient census at Kings Park topped 9,303, but would begin a steady decline thereafter. Therapy treatment tied to the farm was abandoned, and doctors rolled out Frankenstein-like treatments such as pre-frontal lobotomies and electroshock therapy. By the early 1990s, the now named Kings Park Psychiatric Center saw many of its buildings shut down. At one time, the hospital campus boasted more than 100 buildings. Within those winding hallways could be found not just patient housing, but also a medical-surgical area as well as sections for geriatric patients, physically ill patients, a long-term adult patient care center, a maximum security violent ward, a veterans building and an isolation ward. On the property was built halfway houses, a maintenance shop, power plant, electric and plumbing shop, an auditorium and theater, a fire station, laundry area, physician housing and a kitchen/dining area. Vandalism, asbestos and extensive graffiti became a problem at the abandoned property. By 2017, many buildings had been demolished. Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, which accepted the remaining patients from Kings Park when it closed, runs two group homes on the grounds. This 30-cm WorldView-3 image of Kings Park Psychiatric Center was captured on September 4, 2016 before many buildings were demolished on the property; and has been processed by Apollo Mapping for improved perspective, clarity and colors. (Satellite Imagery © 2024 Maxar Technologies)
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! In July, we couldn’t pull our eyes away from a 30-cm image of Alcatraz Island. For this edition of the 30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month, we visit the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center in New York.
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.
This entry was posted in The Geospatial Times and tagged 30-cm, New York City, The Geospatial Times, WorldView-3, WorldView-4 Bookmark the permalink.
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved - 
Leave a Reply