Lifting restrictions on satellite imagery means even closer close-ups from space
June 21, 2014 - 8:30AM
Michael Koziol
Closer and closer: Image from a DigitalGlobe satellite showing low, medium and high resolution images. Photo: DigtialGlobe
You've got mail. We know because we can see your letterbox from space.
In a major shake-up for satellite imagery, the US government has lifted restrictions on the level of detail that commercial satellites can capture, sell and publish.
Previously, features smaller than 50cm had to be pixelated or not used at all. The removal of that caveat means images showing close-up detail of streets, homes and persons can be publicly traded.
The high-resolution images have myriad commercial applications encompassing mining and oil, disaster management, economics and urban planning.
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It may also mean more close-ups on consumer mapping services such as Google Maps and Bing Maps which currently rely on aerial photography for much of their lower altitude imagery.
The shift is a result of a push by commercial satellite firm DigitalGlobe, which reportedly has been lobbying US Congress. DigitalGlobe and other commercial operators are understood to already possess technology capable of showing objects below the 50cm threshold but were unable to legally sell the images.
The company is due to launch a new satellite, dubbed Worldview-3, in August, and says its images will display features as small as 31cm.
As the Reuters news agency reported, that will mean users will go from being able to identify a car to being able to identify its make.
The decision has implications for other big players in the commercial satellite game, such as Google. The tech giant this month spent $US500 million to purchase a company called Skybox Imaging, a startup which launched its first satellite last year.
Skybox has plans for a massive expansion by 2018 that could include up to 24 satellites. According to a Wired.com profile: "Even with six small satellites orbiting Earth, Skybox could provide practically real-time images of the same spot twice a day at a fraction of the current cost."
The consequence, according to technology website ZDNet, could be a complete overhaul of the level of detail and accuracy we're used to seeing in Google Maps.
More than a thousand satellites currently orbit the Earth at any one time, but only 12 send back high-resolution images, and just nine sell those pictures commercially.
Until recently, US satellites were classed as munitions for regulatory purposes, and fell under the purview of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Most satellites, including their components, now fall under the Department of Commerce's Commerce Control List, which is less stringently regulated but still subject to rules.
Sensitive areas pertaining to military facilities and strategic assets are still blocked or blurred on satellite maps.
Dr John Blaxland, senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said the US decision will open a Pandora's Box of security considerations.
"While the US government might try to pixellate certain sites, you can be pretty darn confident the major powers are quite capable of zooming in and getting pretty high resolution pictures of whatever they want," he told Fairfax Media.
But Dr Blaxland said individual concerns over privacy need to be weighed against the likely applications of the technology, which would include GPS tracking and rescue operations.
“Yes there are potential risks and complications, but there are very exciting opportunities.”
Multiple satellites taking high-resolution images at twice-daily intervals could have had a very profound impact on the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, he said.
SOURCE: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/lifting-restrictions-on-satellite-imagery-means-even-closer-closeups-from-space-20140620-zsdh1.html
MOTM
They could probably document my entire day from space if they wanted to. All the places I go, all the stuff I do. Or they just watch me not come out of my house for hours. 
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