Last month we celebrated the start of the MLB season with a look at Brock’s favorite “hometown” stadium in Baltimore, and in May, we check out Fletcher’s favorite stadium, the truly iconic Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois – Go Cubs!

Name & Its Origin: Originally called Weeghman Park, in 1920 the name was changed to Cubs Park when the Wrigley family bought the stadium – and then by 1926, the park was renamed Wrigley Field in honor of the owner, William Wrigley, Jr.

Location: Wrigley Field is located on the north-side of Chicago, about 5 miles (9 kilometers) from downtown, in the appropriately named neighborhood of Wrigleyville. The ballpark is just under 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) from the shores of Lake Michigan at about 600 feet (183 meters) above sea level.

Stadium Capacity/Size, Architect & Build Date: Designed by Zachary Davis, Wrigley Field was built in just six weeks starting on March 4, 1914 and then finished by MLB’s Opening Day on April 23^rd – holy wow!! The original seating capacity of then Weeghman Park was just 14,000 and since 1914 the stadium has seen round after round of upgrades (here is a nice summary of the upgrades), with a very significant upgrade started in 2014 and expected to be completed this year. The current seating capacity of Wrigley is just over 41,000 die-hard Cubs fans.

Type of Field Surface: Wrigley’s dark green Merion Bluegrass/Clover real grass field is the perfect complement to the well-known ivy that covers the outfield fence.

A 50-cm color image of Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA collected on May 1, 2015 by Pléiades 1A. 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.

Key Sports Teams: Not sure we even need to answer this question but if you are unsure, Wrigley Field is the ‘cathedral’ of the Chicago Cubs who are in Major League Baseball’s (MLB) National League Central division.

Most Popular Yearly Event: And again, it is ALL about the Cubbies at Wrigley, I mean did you watch the 2016 World Series?! So epic! Anyhow, they do use Wrigley Field for an array of local events, including a concert series which features James Taylor and Dead and Company in 2017.

Fun Factoids: (1) As of March 2014, no baseball had ever hit the manually-operated scoreboard in centerfield. (2) The highest scoring baseball game ever was played on August 25, 1922 at Cubs Park when the Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 26 to 23. (3) Wrigley Field is the second oldest ballpark in MLB – second only to historic Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (4) Weeghman Park only cost $250,000 to build and required about 160,000 bricks. (5) Did you know the outfield ivy was planted by the former owner of the Chicago White Sox, Bill Veeck, in 1937?

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.