In this monthly article, we travel the world to check out unique, fun and sometimes a bit weird 30-centimeter (cm) color imagery samples from the WorldView constellation. In December, we gazed at ruins in Kayakoy, Turkey. For this edition of the 30-cm Color WorldView Image of the Month, we feature images of Chalet Zermatt Peak in Switzerland.
A privately owned luxury ski chalet nestled in the Switzerland village of Zermatt, Chalet Zermatt Peak boasts six floors with five deluxe, double bedrooms, ceiling to floor windows, sky observatory roofing and an indoor/outdoor jacuzzi. There’s also a wraparound balcony overlooking the beauty below and the Matterhorn. Guests who choose to spend time at the tranquil chalet can enjoy an entire floor dedicated to a wellness center with a private gymnasium, spa and in-house massage therapist. There’s also a gourmet chef on staff and a curated wine cellar. The ski chalet was named the “World’s Best Ski Chalet 2023” for the fourth year running by the World’s Ski Awards 2023. So of course, every room is equipped with boot warmers. Each room features a contemporary alpine design with marble from across the border in Italy, traditional wooden beams and natural lighting. In fact, the top room offers a vaulted glass roof for stargazing. The chalet is so private that it can only be accessed by a steep winding footpath leading upward from the village center or by lift access provided by the neighboring hotel. The 30-cm WorldView-3 image featured here was collected on February 12, 2015, and has custom processing and color balance applied by Apollo Mapping. (Satellite Imagery © 2025 Maxar Technologies)30-cm WorldView-3 (WV3) launched in late 2014, WorldView-4 (WV4) launched in late 2016 and then the first WorldView Legion satellites launched in 2024. Taken together, this is 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 WorldView 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.
- Additional Spectral Bands
- If spectral analysis is part of your project, then no other satellite can match WorldView-3 and WorldView Legion with their 8 bands of visible and near-infrared data; and then 8 shortwave infrared bands (WV3 only) which are crucial for geological studies.
- Better Positional Accuracy
- With accuracies of 3.5-m CE90% or better (without ground control even!), the 30-cm WorldView constellation has no rivals for its enhanced positional accuracy.
- Daily Revisits
- With multiple WorldView-3 and WorldView Legion satellites orbiting our planet, daily revisits are available for most locations.
- 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 kilometers (sq km) of high-resolution data per day per satellite (though WV4 is dead now).
- When fully launched, WorldView Legion will feature six 30-cm satellites, significantly boosting the collection capacity of this leading high-resolution constellation.
If you are interested in WorldView-3, WorldView-4 and/or WorldView Legion 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; WV4 samples and information can be found here; and then finally here is more information about WorldView Legion.
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