October 11th, 2012
DigitalGlobe’s Change Indicator Pilot Program at GeoInt Symposium

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In conjunction with showcasing current products and services DigitalGlobe are previewing a pilot program called Change Indicator at The GEOINT 2012 Symposium. Change Indicator is a customized solution for identifying the location and nature of changes occurring every day around the globe. Change intensity maps provide a signal or cue for changes allowing customers to manage map updates, account for urban growth, assess accurate taxes and monitor areas critical to national security. Change Indicator is a bundle of configurable change layers in multiple formats that can be easily integrated in a workflow. Change intensity maps, historical and current image products, shapefiles, KML reports, and HTML reports can all be bundled to provide the most up-to-date information about our changing world.

What does this mean?

It means users will get up-to-date information on changes and will cue them in order to keep maps current. It will also provide information about where the greatest changes have occurred. Custom analysis is also available, which allows the user to select meaningful change categories such as construction or deforestation or conversion of agricultural lands to urban land and eliminates seasonal/impermanent changes that are a distraction (i.e. parked cars.)

Below are a few snapshots.

In the first figure, we demonstrate the Change Indicator results in the Google Earth environment.

In the second figure, we show a quick overview of tiles (yellow pins) that have changes in a large area of interest in Kokura, Japan. This provides a cue for users to update their maps in those areas.

In the third figure, Change Indicator is used for maritime surveillance, monitoring ships coming and going from port.

Who Benefits?

• For government or enterprise mapping organizations that are responsible for keeping maps up-to-date, Change Indicator allows for the prioritization of map updates by the areas that have changed the most.
• For local government organizations, Change Indicator eliminates losses due to outdated records by providing recent developments to Tax Assessors.
• For defense organizations monitoring changes to facilities or areas posing security risks, Change Indicator provides a fast and easy way to prioritize image analysis allowing for timely response.

To create this pilot program we’ve partnered with Terra 4D Systems – Terra 4D Systems utilizes a patented change detection system called GeoCDX that enables the rapid processing and exploitation of multi-sensor, multi-resolution high resolution satellite imagery. Our partnership leverages the 2.5 billion sq km of DigitalGlobe archive along with 2.5 million sq km collection capacity of DigitalGlobe constellation, to identify changes of interest to the end user and provides the output in user friendly formats.