Ramona Adams
DigitalGlobe and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates have entered an agreement to make data from MDA’s RADARSAT-2 satellite available via DigitalGlobe’s GBDX geospatial big data platform.
The partnership intends to make new GBDX uses possible through the integration of optical and radar satellite data, DigitalGlobe said Monday.
The RADARSAT-2 satellite works to collect synthetic aperture radar data to help users see Earth imagery during day and night in various weather conditions.
David Belton, MDA vice president of geospatial services said the agreement will open new markets and revenue sources for MDA and boost analytics needed in areas such as supply chain monitoring, disaster response and persistent monitoring.
Shay Har-Noy, vice president and general manager of DigitalGlobe’s platform business unit, said the addition of SAR data builds on DigitalGlobe’s existing 100-petabyte optical imagery library.
GBDX initially adopted a tool that is based on MDA’s radar-based change detection offering, which is designed to detect changes that result from human activities or natural occurrences.
The joint offering can support efforts to monitor illegal logging on a country-wide level and identify new military structures and activities, among other applications.
DigitalGlobe created features to aid third-party content processing and management as part of efforts to add SAR data to GBDX.
