In August, we travel from Europe back to the United States with a look at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri during the height of the baseball season for this stop on the Pléiades 1 Stadium of the Month.
Name & Its Origin: On February 20, 1953, the sale of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team to the Anheuser-Busch, Inc. corporation was announced. And following the 1953 season, Sportsman’s Park was renamed Busch Stadium. The current Busch Stadium (sometimes called New Busch Stadium) is actually the third version of the ballpark; with the first one played in through the 1965 season, and the second version through the 2005 season.
Location: Busch Stadium is one of downtown St. Louis’ most iconic structures, located less than a half mile from The Gateway Arch. The stadium is located just feet from the west bank of the Mississippi River at about 440 feet above sea level.
Stadium Capacity/Size, Architect & Build Date: The Hunt Construction Group and its affiliates began excavation on Busch Stadium’s site on September 27, 2003, and its doors officially opened on Monday, April 10, 2006 for the Cardinal’s first home game of the season. Some 2,800 workers poured 2.2 million hours into the project, constructing one of baseball’s iconic stadiums with a capacity for 46,844 screaming ‘Cards’ fans when opened. In 2014, Ballpark Village was added with 300 more rooftop seats 500-feet away from left-center field. For more mind-numbing facts about Busch Stadium, check out this website.
Type of Field Surface: There is 140,314 square feet of playing field at Busch Stadium. It is covered with lush green Kentucky Bluegrass from a sod farm located in Fort Morgan, Colorado and owned by Graff’s Turf.
Key Sports Teams: Busch Stadium is all about baseball as it is owned by the only sports team who plays in the venue, the St. Louis Cardinals.
Most Popular Yearly Event: From what I can tell, the new Busch Stadium has been used exclusively for baseball games. The older Busch Stadiums hosted several concerts and even football games so who is to say if the current edition will never follow suit. Either way, the Cardinals remain one of baseball’s most popular (and successful) teams, with an average attendance over 43,000 (or 98% of capacity) through the 2015 season so far.
Fun Factoids: (1) In one season of baseball games, there are 540,000 hot dogs, 181,000 pounds of nachos and 32,000 gallons of nacho cheese sold at Busch Stadium. (2) And during that same season, some 7,315,200 feet of paper towels and 15,373,800 feet of toilet paper is used. (3) Since Busch Stadium opened in 2006, the Cardinals have reduced energy use by 20% and waste by 10%. Further, the “A Greener Game Program” has recycled more than 2,500 tons of solid, yard and organic waste since 2008. (4) Having statistics on the amount of building material used in Busch Stadium is just awesome, as 620,000 bricks were laid by hand; 520,000 pounds of HVAC sheet metal was installed; 85,000 feet of pipes were fitted; 29,787 gallons of paint was applied; and 914 doors were hung during its construction.
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.
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