DigitalGlobe to Present at the J.P. Morgan TMT Conference

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions, today announced that its management will be presenting at the J.P. Morgan TMT Conference in Boston on Monday, May 19, 2014 at 8:20 a.m. ET.

Live and archived audio webcasts of DigitalGlobe's presentation will be available on the investor relations portion of DigitalGlobe's website at www.digitalglobe.com.

About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world's leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers' most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.

DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.

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DigitalGlobe 8-Band Imagery Research Results

Winners of the Inaugural DigitalGlobe 8-Band Research Challenge have formally presented their research findings, further demonstrating the benefits of high-resolution 8-Band Imagery from DigitalGlobe for remote sensing based analysis.

The studies, presented at the recent Geospatial World Forum in Hyderabad, India, also described how 8-Band Imagery will lead to practical applications in areas such as coral reef conservation, precision agriculture and forestry management. Some of the most notable studies found that with 8-Band Imagery, these researchers could:

* Create accurate bathymetry maps (+/-77 cm) over near-shore coral reefs in Florida, and support more comprehensive coral reef conservation programs;
* Map invasive alien plant species at a 95% accuracy rate, enabling more efficient monitoring and eradication programs in Swaziland;
* Create highly accurate clutter maps with only a +/-0.5% error rate to support more effective wireless network infrastructure planning in South Africa;
* Delineate 10 commercial tree species within a heterogeneous forest with 90% accuracy, information that is vital for forest conservation management and forestry-related biodiversity research;
* Extract key vegetation parameters (leaf angle, chlorophyll, brown pigments) which support precision agriculture, by providing indications of plant health, growth rates and the impacts of disease or drought.

"It is very exciting to see the sophisticated research that has been accomplished through this challenge," said DigitalGlobe CTO Walter Scott. "The results speak clearly to the value of 8-Band Imagery and how it will enable us to deliver greater information and insight to our customers."

The 8-Band Research Challenge encourages researchers to investigate how 8-Band Imagery, available exclusively from DigitalGlobe, can enhance analysis and classification research and enable the development of next generation geospatial applications. A summary of all the research findings is available on the website www.8bandchallenge.com, along with the 15 recognized papers.

List of the 8-Band Challenge Winners:

* James F. Bramante – National University of Singapore, Tropical Marine Science Institute
Derivation of Bathymetry from Multispectral Imagery in the Highly Turbid Waters of Singapore’s South Islands
* Jeremy M. Kerr – Nova Southeastern University, National Coral Reef Institute
WorldView-2 Offers New Capabilities for the Monitoring of Threatened Coral Reefs
* Christoph C. Borel – Air Force Institute of Technology
Vegetative Canopy Parameter Retrieval Using 8-Band Data
* Hamdan Omar – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
Commercial Timber Tree Species Identification Using Multispectral WorldView-2 Data
* Antonio Wolf – Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Using WorldView-2 Vis-NIR MSI Imagery to Support Land Mapping and Feature Extraction Using Normalized Difference Index Ratios

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DigitalGlobe Announces Judges for 8-Band Research Challenge

DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, today announced it has finalized the judging panel for its inaugural 8-Band Research Challenge. The judges, respected scientists from around the world, will be responsible for reviewing final submissions and selecting the 15 papers that best exemplify sound science and innovative applications of 8-band, high-resolution imagery. Winners will be announced on December 16 and invited to present their findings at the Geospatial World Forum in Hyderabad, India in January.

The DigitalGlobe 8-Band Research Challenge encourages researchers to investigate how 8-band, high-resolution imagery can enhance image analysis and classification research. Commercial 8-band high-resolution imagery is exclusive to DigitalGlobe and delivered via the company’s WorldView-2 commercial satellite. WorldView-2’s 8 spectral sensors are narrowly focused and provide complete coverage of the visual spectrum, along with 2 near-infrared bands. Together the bands are designed to improve the segmentation and classification of land and aquatic features beyond any other space-based remote sensing platform. Ultimately they give scientists a more detailed view of the earth and the ability to analyze information in completely new ways.

The judging panel includes top remote sensing scientists from Europe, the Asia Pacific region and the United States:

* Dr. Ing. Anko Börner - Head of the Department of Information Processing of Optical Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany;
* Dr. Stuart R. Phinn – Director of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (Australia), and Director of the Centre for Spatial Environmental Research, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Australia;
* Dr. Hrishikesh Samant - Associate Professor of Geology, St. Xavier's College, India and Senior Associate Editor at GIS Development;
* Dr. Walter Scott - Founder and CTO, DigitalGlobe, United States.

“We are honored that such esteemed researchers share our excitement about the potential for 8-band technology, and are eager to help marshall in the next great evolution for geospatial imaging,” said Walter Scott, CTO of DigitalGlobe.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe’s 8-Band multispectral imagery, including detailed datasheets and whitepapers, visit this.

For more information about the DigitalGlobe 8-Band Research Challenge, visit www.8BandChallenge.com.

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DigitalGlobe Imagery Collection for Advanced Ortho Aerial Program

DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, today announced the collection of the first imagery from the company's Advanced Ortho Aerial Program. Through a special agreement with Microsoft announced in October 2009, the Advanced Ortho Aerial Program will provide wall-to-wall 30 cm aerial coverage of the contiguous United States and Western Europe that DigitalGlobe has the exclusive rights to distribute beyond Bing Maps. The program's first orthophoto mosaics are of Augusta, GA, San Diego, CA and Tampa, FL, and can be viewed on DigitalGlobe's website.

"The Advanced Ortho Aerial Program enhances our ability to provide comprehensive coverage with unmatched accuracy, quality and aesthetics. With these areas available off-the-shelf through our Ortho Vision Premium -- Precision product, we offer high-quality, highly accurate imagery faster than ever," said John Oechsle, vice president of strategy and product at DigitalGlobe. "The locations we've captured today are just the beginning. We will continue to enhance our offerings to deliver comprehensive imagery solutions to our customers and strengthen our commitment to increasing the value and availability of high-resolution digital imagery."

To collect the first-ever multicontinental aerial imagery from 30 cm, DigitalGlobe and Microsoft Corp. use the UltraCamG, a large format digital aerial camera manufactured by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, which is based on Vexcel's UltraCam large format camera systems, the top-selling large format aerial sensors internationally.

Imagery collected through the Advanced Ortho Aerial Program will provide content for the Advanced Ortho Vision Premium -- Precision product, the highest quality product from DigitalGlobe's Advanced Ortho Series, also announced today and available for customers in Q3 2010. For more information, please visit DigitalGlobe's website.

The Advanced Ortho Aerial Program further expands DigitalGlobe's industry-leading ImageLibrary and, combined with DigitalGlobe's high-resolution satellite constellation, provides customers with more than 500 million square kilometers annually of highly current, accurate imagery that can reveal revolutionary information and insight.

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DigitalGlobe Image Library

DigitalGlobe announced that its content library now contains more than one billion square kilometres of earth imagery, 33 percent of which is less than one year old. Jill Smith, CEO of DigitalGlobe, said, “The power of our industry-leading constellation enables us to persistently break new ground for the industry and we strive to offer our customers the largest collection of accurate, current satellite imagery available.”

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1, QuickBird and recently launched WorldView-2 satellites combine to form the industry’s largest satellite constellation. These three satellites, together with DigitalGlobe’s aerial network, enable the company to offer the highest collection capacity of high-resolution earth imagery to customers around the world, adding roughly 1.5 million square kilometres of imagery every day or three times the Earth’s landmass annually. The result is DigitalGlobe’s highly complete ImageLibrary, containing imagery used to inform critical decisions across a range of industries.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe and its ImageLibrary, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

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Satellite Elevation Data - Verified Accurate

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution world-imagery products and services for defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial customers, today announced that the elevation data gathered from its latest high-resolution satellite, WorldView-2, has been verified as accurate within 30 centimeters by PhotoSat based on data collected by MWH Geo-Surveys.

To conduct the test, PhotoSat constructed an elevation grid using automatic geophysical processing of 50-centimeter ground resolution stereo satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite. The resulting elevations were then referenced against more than 20,000 gravity survey stations which had previously been established as being accurate to better than two centimeters.

"As one of the most technologically advanced high-resolution commercial satellites in orbit, WorldView-2 continues to hit all of our planned milestones, and we are thrilled with the assessments made by PhotoSat," said Walter Scott, Founder and CTO of DigitalGlobe. "For our customers, the quality of the image is only half the story. Equally important is the data the image represents. Having WorldView-2's elevation data verified as accurate to this degree enables our customers to make decisions more confidently than ever before."

"We are delighted with the quality of the imagery from this new satellite and are amazed by its massive collection capacity. WorldView-2 will enable PhotoSat to provide timely elevation mapping to our resource customers everywhere in the world," said Gerry Mitchell, President of PhotoSat.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe's advanced constellation of sub-meter satellites and aerial network, please visit digitalglobe.com.

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Free Haiti Images Pre- and Post-earthquake

Free access to Haiti satellite images pre- and post-earthquake!

In an effort to help the humanitarian efforts underway in Haiti, DigitalGlobe's Crisis Event Service is offering free access to both pre- and post-earthquake imagery until January 28, 2010 with their ImageConnect plug-in for GIS software.

The website has earthquake image gallery and damage analysis available.

Sign up for your free access now and get Haiti earthquake satellite images for free.

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WorldView-2 in Full Operational Capability

Imagery from DigitalGlobe's Newest High-Resolution Satellite Now Available!

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution world imagery products and services for defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial customers, announced today that its latest high-resolution satellite, WorldView-2, has achieved full operational capability. Imagery from the satellite is now available to global resellers, partners, and customers.

Launched on October 8, 2009, WorldView-2 joins DigitalGlobe’s existing sub-meter satellites, QuickBird and WorldView-1, on orbit. WorldView-2 significantly expands the constellation’s collection capacity, enabling an annual imaging capacity equivalent to three times the area of earth’s land mass, and allows for intraday revisit, providing customers with the most timely, relevant imagery available in the commercial market. WorldView-2 is also the industry’s first commercial high-resolution satellite to offer eight multispectral bands, which provide more spectral information and allow for greater analysis capabilities, including improved feature identification and change detection.

“Today’s achievement is an exciting milestone for both DigitalGlobe and the satellite imagery industry as a whole,” said Jill Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “Our three satellite constellation, together with our comprehensive ImageLibrary, will enable us to provide our customers with more comprehensive high-resolution imagery coverage of the world faster than ever before. The innovation offered by WorldView-2, including industry leading agility and the unique eight multispectral bands, will bring new value to the earth imaging industry and imagery’s every day users.”

To learn more about DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation of sub-meter satellites, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

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Latest WorldView-2 Images Coming in January 2010

DigitalGlobe announced that the latest high-resolution satellite, WorldView-2, is expected to achieve full operational capability on January 4, 2010. The satellite is expected to complete its commissioning process by January 4, enabling DigitalGlobe to begin taking orders today for WorldView-2 imagery from its global resellers, partners and customers.

Jill Smith, Chairman and CEO of DigitalGlobe said, “Timeliness is becoming important to our customers. The combination of WorldView-2’s collection capacity and daily revisit capabilities, coupled with the ready availability of the current and complete coverage of the globe provided by our ImageLibrary, enables DigitalGlobe to deliver imagery faster to our customers. In addition, WorldView-2’s eight-band multispectral capabilities will offer industry-leading image quality providing for new and enhanced applications and services such as feature identification and change detection.”

WorldView-2 joins DigitalGlobe’s existing sub-meter satellites on orbit, QuickBird and WorldView-1, to enable an annual imaging capacity equivalent to three times the earth’s land mass. WorldView-2 collects multispectral imagery at 1.8 meter resolution and panchromatic imagery at 0.46 meters. The additional multispectral band capability provides more spectral information, supporting improved levels of analysis. In addition, WorldView-2 is capable of direct tasking and direct downlink to support broader base of customers demanding rapid dissemination of satellite imagery.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation of sub-meter satellites, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

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DigitalGlobe and Microsoft for High-Resolution Aerial Imagery

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution world-imagery products and services for defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial customers, today announced it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to launch the Clear30 program, an initiative to distribute high-resolution, 30-cm aerial imagery of contiguous landscapes, initially in the U.S. and Western Europe. These orthophoto mosaics will be available through Bing Maps and through DigitalGlobe channels.

The Clear30 initiative is a new agreement that expands the current relationship between Microsoft and DigitalGlobe and reflects a commitment to increase accessibility and use of high-resolution digital imagery. To collect the first ever multicontinental aerial imagery from 30 cm, the companies will use the UltraCamG, a large format digital aerial camera manufactured by Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, which is based on Vexcel’s UltraCam large format camera systems, the top selling large format aerial sensors internationally.

“We’re excited about the launch of the Clear30 program and our continued relationship with DigitalGlobe,” said Steve Stanzel, general manager of Bing Maps at Microsoft Corp. “By providing DigitalGlobe exclusive access to our advanced UltraCamG imagery, we can provide our mutual customers easy access and integration of high-resolution digital aerial orthophotos for vast landscapes around the world.”

“We are very pleased to be expanding our relationship with Microsoft and look forward to introducing the UltraCamG imagery into our world imagery solutions,” said Jill Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “The addition of large quantities of very high-resolution digital aerial imagery, collected quickly and published on a consistent update schedule, will further enhance our ability to distribute a comprehensive digitized globe to our customers.”

The companies did not provide financial details concerning the agreement.

Imagery from the UltraCamG will further expand DigitalGlobe’s industry leading ImageLibrary and will complement the satellite imagery products available from the DigitalGlobe high-resolution satellite constellation, including the recently launched WorldView-2 satellite. Current collection areas for the UltraCamG program include the 48 contiguous United States and Western Europe.

To learn more about advanced DigitalGlobe’s constellation of sub-meter satellites, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

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DigitalGlobe WorldView-2 Satellite

DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution, world-imagery products and services for commercial, defense, and intelligence clients, today announced that the WorldView-2 remote-sensing satellite has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in anticipation of its launch on October 6, 2009.

As one of the next generation of WorldView-class satellites, WorldView-2 features advanced agility and accuracy, industry-leading collection capacity, and eight-band multispectral imagery, The company’s sophisticated constellation enhances DigitalGlobe’s ability to rapidly collect and maintain up-to-date imagery of the areas of greatest interest to its defense, intelligence, government, and commercial clients. Furthermore, it accelerates the speed by which its leading ImageLibrary is refreshed and expands the ways in which the ImageLibrary can be used.

“With the addition of WorldView-2, an impressive third component of our constellation, DigitalGlobe will have increased capacity, which is expected to improve the speed with which we deliver our imagery products to our customers and provide more frequent refresh of our ImageLibrary to support a range of monitoring, analysis, and decision-making services,” said Jill Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “The combination of rapid, comprehensive imagery collection; an industry-leading ImageLibrary; and fast and flexible worldwide content delivery allow DigitalGlobe products to integrate seamlessly into any mapping or enterprise solution, including hosting services, Web services, and mobile applications.”

The launch of WorldView-2 will make DigitalGlobe the only commercial world-imagery provider with high-resolution, eight-band multispectral capability. The new bands support greater levels of feature identification and extraction, more accurate change detection, and a truer reflection of the world’s natural colors. With additional capacity and more frequent revisit rates, DigitalGlobe can provide the most accurate depiction of the world from space, supporting client initiatives that include digital map-making and location-based business decisions.

DigitalGlobe expects images and products from WorldView-2 to be available within 90 days of launch. The satellite was built by Ball Aerospace and the imaging sensor was provided by ITT Corporation’s Space Systems Division.

To learn more about DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation of sub-meter satellites, please visit www.digitalglobe.com.

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Quickbird satellite images: Discounted price

Geoimage, a pivately owned Australian company specialising in satellite imagery, image processing and geospatial services is currently offering a discounted rate on orders placed for Quickbird satellite imagery placed before September 30th this year. The discounts are 50% off Quickbird archive imagery and Select Plus tasking and 25% off the standard Select Tasking.

Geoimage is a processor of imagery obtained via QuickBird - a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001. QuickBird uses Ball Aerospace's Global Imaging System 2000 and collects the second highest resolution commercial imagery of Earth after WorldView-1, and boasts the largest image size and the greatest on-board storage capacity of any satellite. The satellite collects panchromatic (black & white) imagery at 60-70 centimetre resolution and multispectral imagery at 2.4- and 2.8-metre resolutions.

At this resolution, detail such as buildings and other infrastructure are easily visible. The imagery can be imported into remote sensing image processing software, as well as into GIS packages for analysis.

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DigitalGlobe: Pre and post event satellite images

Crisis Event Service is a new web service providing timely and accurate pre- and post-event satellite imagery to aid in emergency planning, response and recovery announced DigitalGlobe.

The new online service is designed to provide a comprehensive picture for global crisis including at least three high-resolution imagery versions of each affected area: the most current pre-event imagery from DigitalGlobe’s extensive ImageLibrary archive, imagery during or just after the event, and a follow-up image within 30 days following the event. Crisis Service images will be available online within one to three days of any given event through DigitalGlobe’s online platform. DigitalGlobe will determine events included in the Service based on definitions set by the International Charter of Space and Major Disasters.

DigitalGlobe’s Crisis Event Service supports emergency preparedness risk and planning analysis for local, civil and federal governments, defense and homeland security, insurance and reinsurance agencies, and multinational and humanitarian agencies. Satellite imagery is a useful decision support tool when on-ground accessibility is difficult or dangerous.

Imagery for the Crisis Event Service is collected from DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird and WorldView-1 satellites. Imagery from DigitalGlobe’s 8-band multi-spectral satellite, WorldView-2, will be added to the service upon successful launch and product availability.

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DigitalGlobe Announces Extension of NextView Service Level Agreement

DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution world imagery solutions, today announced that it has signed a contract to extend DigitalGlobe’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) with NGA for $12.5 million per month. The SLA extension provides NGA with continued access to the WorldView-1 satellite. NGA has agreed to extend the SLA through March 31, 2010 for a total of $100 million during the extension period, with an option for NGA to extend the contract for an additional nine months on the same terms, from April 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010.

“This new contract extension is an important milestone in our continuing support of NGA and the U.S. Government. I am very pleased with the DigitalGlobe team’s performance in providing service to NGA,” said Jill Smith, DigitalGlobe’s chairman, chief executive officer and president.

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3D imagery solution from DigitalGlobe, AEgis

DigitalGlobe, high resolution satellite data provider, and The AEgis Technologies Group, a provider of expert modeling and simulation services, announced the availability of ImageScape, a rapid 3D imagery solution that will provide governments, enterprises and developers with the capability to create rich simulations of any location in the world. ImageScape can generate 3D virtual terrain models of the world’s land mass by integrating high-precision, accurate satellite and aerial imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) with a flexible, lightweight viewer which creates media-broadcast quality terrain models.

Using 3D wireframe terrain topologies and high-resolution commercial imagery from DigitalGlobe’s ImageLibrary and satellite constellation, ImageScape users will be able to fly through virtual representations of desired locations at a full 1:1 resolution. ImageScape provides a highly interactive and easy-to-use environment for all levels of users, including robust mapping and measurements tools to enhance the 3D experience, celestial models for day/night effects, environment options for snow, smog and rain, together with simple integration and output to broadcast media video and geospatial products.

ImageScape is a superior geospatial 3D solution in terms of the speed at which models are created, performance, file size and cost effectiveness. The models are available within days, and, using the free lightweight viewer, output rendering is four times faster than other 3D modeling and simulation products. The final file size is up to 1/10 of the normal size of geo-tiff delivered imagery and frame outputs at 60 frames per second instead of the normal 20-24 per second. The result is an extremely flexible and lightweight simulation environment with both 3D and 2D views delivering fast modeling and analysis results. Its lightweight feature enables its use on personal navigation and mobile devices for more realistic depictions of major cities and remote rural areas.

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Satellite Imagery to Help “TODAY” Show Anchors Explore the “Ends of the Earth”

DigitalGlobe, a leading provider of high-resolution world imagery content, today announced that it has provided NBC’s “TODAY” show with access to its extensive library of advanced satellite imagery and to its 3D ImageScape product for the second edition of the "Today Goes to the Ends of the Earth" project. Launched last year as part of NBC Universal’s “Green is Universal” initiative, “Ends of the Earth” will use ImageScape, a 3D image product created as a result of DigitalGlobe and AEgis Technologies partnership to transport “TODAY” show viewers to this season’s identified locations: Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, the capital city closest to the Arctic Circle, Reykjavik, Iceland, the longest coral reef in the Western Hemisphere off the coast of Belize, and the draught occurring in Australia. The project, which first aired on Monday, November 17, was created in an effort to raise awareness about environmental issues and climate changes across the globe.

NBC’s use of DigitalGlobe’s collection of current and historical sub-meter earth imagery signifies the increasing demand for high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, and the expansion of this technology into industries beyond location-based services, such as television entertainment, broadcast media, online Web portals, and social networking.

“I am pleased that our satellite imagery is playing a role in helping NBC raise awareness about environmental issues and how it affects people on every corner of the earth,” said Jill Smith, chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “This technology will provide “TODAY” show viewers with a unique experience with these remote locations through the power of satellite imagery.”

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National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency purchases full CitySphere 2.0

DigitalGlobe today announced that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has purchased the entire CitySphere 2.0 product, the recently launched, enhanced version of DigitalGlobe's extensive library of on-demand digital satellite and aerial imagery of the most populated global cities.

CitySphere 2.0, with the addition of never-before-available views of cities such as Dubai, Seoul and Jakarta, will enable the NGA to provide timely and relevant geospatial intelligence of new areas in support of worldwide mapping requirements to clients such as the U.S. State Department and other intelligence community agencies. The CitySphere platform can meet the geospatial content needs associated with a myriad of planning, security and transportation requirements.

CitySphere 2.0 is an expansion of the popular on-demand worldwide city coverage program. DigitalGlobe is growing the CitySphere offering from 200 cities to 300 and expands global urban coverage from 165,000 to 735,000 square kilometers and now also includes aerial imagery data of over 100 cities at 30 cm (1 ft) resolution.

Cities are refreshed dynamically from every year to every 4 years, providing users the most up-to-date imagery available. Available in the traditional offline formats or online via WMS, CitySphere 2.0 provides flexibility to allow customers access to imagery in the format and access solution they require.

The NGA purchased the original CitySphere product in 2006, and has been using it ever since.

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DigitalGlobe and Microsoft's Virtual Earth, partnership

DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution world imagery solutions, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. for a multi-year contract under which DigitalGlobe will provide Microsoft's Virtual Earth with its premium, high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will have access to DigitalGlobe's vast ImageLibrary, which contains over 460 million square kilometers of premium earth imagery, as well as new images being collected every day by its growing constellation of satellites.

"DigitalGlobe's strategic approach to collecting earth imagery allows us to provide our customers with the high-resolution content they need," said Erik Jorgensen, corporate vice president of Virtual Earth at Microsoft. "With its growing constellation of satellites, large network of aerial partners and a proven track record for delivering a large volume of new earth imagery, DigitalGlobe will be a key content partner for the Virtual Earth Platform."

DigitalGlobe has been the pioneer in making earth imagery available worldwide for web portals and mobile mapping applications. Its high-resolution satellite constellation and aerial program collect nearly 1 million square kilometers of earth imagery each day, with much of this imagery available via its online services.

"We are proud to partner with one of the world's great technology companies," said Marc Tremblay, senior vice president and general manager of DigitalGlobe's Commercial Business Unit. "We look forward to working with the Virtual Earth team in the years to come as they continue to expand this powerful geospatial platform."

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Visit DigitalGlobe for more info.

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DigitalGlobe Applauds Colorado Leadership

DigitalGlobe, a leading provider of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information products, today applauded this week’s introduction of legislation designed to boost the U.S. Government’s commercial space advocacy activities. H.R.6935 and S.3504 were submitted simultaneously by Colorado Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO) and Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), respectively. Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) also co-sponsored the legislation.

H.R.6935 and S.3504 would reauthorize the Office of Space Commercialization (OSC), and focus its role on advocacy for a robust and internationally competitive U.S. commercial space industry.

They also propose to rename the agency “The Office of Space Commerce” to better reflect the office’s lead role in implementing U.S. space commerce policies.

“The Office of Space Commercialization is an important voice for companies such as DigitalGlobe in working with the U.S. Government both as a regulator and as a customer,” said Jill Smith, chairman and CEO of DigitalGlobe.

“I commend the leadership of Colorado’s Senator Salazar and Congressman Udall and their foresight in recognizing the need to reauthorize this important office and bolster its responsibilities. Having a single office serve as the lead agent for space commerce activities within the Department of Commerce will help ensure implementation of the recent series of commercial space and remote sensing policies and speed the removal of institutional impediments to future market growth.”

The legislation will update the Office’s functions to implement U.S. national space policies supporting space commerce. It also will recognize the office’s expanding role in promoting geospatial technologies such as space-based commercial remote sensing imagery provided by DigitalGlobe.

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ImageAtlas 4.0 from DigitalGlobe

DigitalGlobe , a leading provider of high resolution satellite world imagery products and services, today unveiled ImageAtlas 4.0, the newest version of its online store for high-resolution digital earth imagery. ImageAtlas 4.0 enables companies in real estate, civil engineering, government, insurance, GIS and public safety to easily and affordably access on-demand satellite and aerial images of specific locations, properties and neighborhoods. The principal new feature of ImageAtlas 4.0 is the inclusion of georeferencing files with all downloaded images that allow easy integration into other mapping applications such as GIS programs and Google Earth(TM).

ImageAtlas coverage includes the most populous areas of the world including in-depth coverage of 300 metropolitan cities across 127 countries.

"ImageAtlas 4.0 is the latest example of how DigitalGlobe is meeting the increased demand for downloadable aerial and satellite images fueled by the growth of online portals, mapping programs and consumer navigation applications," said Marc Tremblay, senior vice president and general manager for DigitalGlobe's commercial business unit. "As the foremost resource for businesses relying on global digital imagery to stay competitive, DigitalGlobe is passionate about providing wide accessibility through its comprehensive, high precision world imagery solutions. ImageAtlas is a simple and cost effective way for business users to quickly incorporate premium imagery into their projects and presentations."

Building on the strength of previous versions, ImageAtlas 4.0 allows anyone to explore and use the world's sharpest and most current archive of premier high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery collected from DigitalGlobe's sub-meter satellite constellation and aerial network.

ImageAtlas 4.0 provides a number of advantages over other online imagery sources through its historical archive selection and change detection capabilities, distance and area measuring tools, and off-line professional print delivery. With greater selection and control over the imagery type, date and scale as well as integration into mapping software, users are able to gain the best fit for their individual needs.

"Satellite images are an increasingly critical business planning tool in real estate," said Dave Meyer, president of eNeighborhoods, the nation's premier compiler of home and neighborhood knowledge.

"Today's challenging real estate environment necessitates using creative assets like DigitalGlobe's image applications to enhance, streamline and bring peace-of-mind to the real estate transaction process for buyers and sellers."

ImageAtlas 4.0 is the largest and most accessible online library of images from around the world. Pricing options for ImageAtlas 4.0 include individual downloads as well as monthly and yearly subscriptions.

Access ImageAtlas 4.0 at http://www.digitalglobe.com/.

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