From last month’s continued focus on Super Bowl 50 here in the USA, we travel around the world to Taiwan’s National Stadium for this Pléiades 1 Stadium of the Month.

A 50-cm color image of National Stadium, Taiwan collected on November 2, 2014 by Pléiades 1B. To see this stadium in SPOT 6/7 1.5-meter resolution (and even collected on the same day!), check out this month’s feature on SPOTMaps. This image has custom processing and color balancing applied by Apollo Mapping. © CNES 2016, Distribution Airbus Defense and Space / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved.

Name & Its Origin: Formerly known as the World Games Stadium as it was built for the 2009 World Games hosted by Taiwan, the structure is now called National Stadium. And while this is an assumption, it would seem its new name is based on the national importance of the stadium and that it is the largest venue in Taiwan.

Location: National Stadium is located in south-western Taiwan in the economic-powerhouse of Kaohsiung. Just 2 or so miles from the South China Sea, the stadium is about 60-feet above sea level.

Stadium Capacity/Size, Architect & Build Date: Construction began on National Stadium during September 2006 and was completed January 2009, in time for the 2009 World Games held during July. The structure was designed by Japanese architect, Toyo Ito, with seating for 55,000 fans. The sources we could find online suggest a final buildout cost of $150 million to $221.6 million, but that seems quite low given the size of the stadium and its technological innovations.

Type of Field Surface: It would appear from the significant wear and tear that is visible in top-down photos of the stadium, that the playing field is natural grass. We could not find a reference however to the specific grass variety used.

Key Sports Teams: It does not appear that any teams, be those professional or national sports teams, call National Stadium home, very odd for a 55,000 seat stadium!

Most Popular Yearly Event: It appears that National Stadium is not often used as only a few references to rugby, track and field, national soccer team matches and some Mayday concerts could be found online.

Fun Factoids: (1) National Stadium was designed to look like a dragon from overhead – though it takes a bit of imagination to picture that. (2) This is the first stadium to be 100% powered by solar energy. The roof of the structure is lined with 8,844 solar panels that are meant to look like the scales of a dragon. National Stadium generates 1.14 million KWh per year with a large percentage sold to the surrounding neighborhood when not in use – this excess power will meet about 80% of the neighboring community’s requirements. (3) 17 of the stadium’s 47 acres are designated as green spaces, bike/walking trails, ponds and parks.

The Pléiades 1 High-Resolution Satellite Constellation

The Pléiades 1 constellation (or at least part of it!) has been in orbit since December 2011 and if you have not had a chance to check out any sample imagery, take a few moments and have a look at the gallery on our website. If you work with high resolution imagery, you should consider Pléiades 1 for your next geospatial project.

A variety of Pléiades 1 products are available from both a growing archive and as a new collection, including 50-centimeter (cm) pansharpened imagery and 50-cm panchromatic – 2-meter (m) 4-band multispectral bundles. We are happy to discuss the technical specifications, pricing and tasking options available with this satellite constellation.

Working with Pléiades 1 since the launch of the first twin satellite, P1A, we have noticed that:

• Airbus Defense and Space is able to deliver on their tasking feasibilities.

The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about the high resolution satellite constellation, Pléiades 1. We can be reached anytime at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.

More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1A and 1B can be found on our website here.