In April, we explored perhaps the oldest ‘formal’ stadium in the world and this month we jump back to the USA for a look at one of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) iconic cathedrals, Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland.

A 50-cm color image of Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, USA collected on June 27, 2016 by Pléiades 1B. To see this stadium in SPOT 6/7 1.5-meter resolution, check out this month’s feature on SPOTMaps. This image has custom processing and color balancing applied by Apollo Mapping. © CNES 2017, Distribution Airbus Defense and Space / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved.

Name & Its Origin: The stadium’s name, Orioles Park at Camden Yards, was a compromise reached between the team’s owner at the time, Eli Jacobs, and the former Governor of Maryland, William Donald Schaefer. Jacobs obviously wanted the park to be named after its tenant, the Baltimore Orioles; while the Governor hoped to maintain the historic name of the site, Camden Yards – hence the compromise of Orioles Park at Camden Yards was reached! Full disclosure here, I grew up in Baltimore and so I am a HUGE fan of the Orioles. I prefer to call the stadium, Camden Yards, and will do so from here on out.

Location: Camden Yards is located in the heart of downtown Baltimore, Maryland right next door to M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the NFL team, the Ravens. The stadium is about 30-feet (9-meters) above sea level and is just a half mile (0.8 kilometers) from the popular tourist destination, the Inner Harbor.

Stadium Capacity/Size, Architect & Build Date: The current home of the Baltimore Orioles broke ground on June 28, 1989; and then opened its doors on April 6, 1992 to host its first game versus the Cleveland Indians. The $110 million stadium is owned by the Maryland Stadium Authority and was built and designed by HOK Sport Venue Event (now called Populous). Camden Yards has a stated capacity of 48,187 fans when standing room is added in. In its 25 years of service, the stadium has seen a number of improvements, most of them minor other than the 2011-2012 offseason changes.

Type of Field Surface: With abundant sun and warmer winters, Camden Yards features a Kentucky Bluegrass playing field that was replaced in late 2016 – apparently with turf grown on Tuckahoe Turf Farms in Hammonton, New Jersey.

Key Sports Teams: Camden Yards was built for the Baltimore Orioles and it is still their home today, man do I miss going to see baseball games there!

Most Popular Yearly Event: Other than Opening Day and any playoff games the Orioles might find themselves in during the Postseason, Camden Yards has extensive facilities to host local events, weddings and even concerts such as Fast Eddie & The Slowpokes, a local blues band.

Fun Factoids: (1) In my eyes, what makes Camden Yards special is the old warehouse maintained some 439 feet from home plate, B&O Warehouse. Built from 1898 to 1905, the building is still the longest on the East Coast at 1016 feet but is only 51 feet wide! (2) Now the tenth oldest park in the league, Camden Yards started the throwback craze you see in the designs of Denver’s, Pittsburgh’s and San Francisco’s MLB stadiums to name a few. And at 25 years old, Camden Yards is still regarded as one of the league’s best and most influential stadiums. (3) As of now, Ken Griffey Jr. is the only baseball player to hit B&O Warehouse which happened during the 1993 Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game.

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.