DigitalGlobe

Tabbed

Overview

DigitalGlobe is the primary commercial provider of very high-resolution (VHR) geospatial images and data for all world regions,from satellite and aerial capture. DigitalGlobe Basemap is a subscription service that provides access to customized collections of data sets from the DigitalGlobe repository tailored to the needs of individual client libraries.

Provider:

DigitalGlobe, Inc. [1]

Posted:

Dec 1, 2015 1:19pm

Updated:

Dec 13, 2016 3:37pm

Source

CRL reviews are based on independent research. Information is researched by CRL staff and other specialists at CRL libraries. See CRL Review for additional source notes.

Details

Collection Content

Subject Areas:

Science, Engineering and Technology

Social Sciences

Resource Types:

Big data

Digital images

Geospatial data

Maps

Tools

- Denotes data sourced directly from publisher

Terms and Provider Details

Provider:

DigitalGlobe, Inc. [1]

Website:

http://www.digitalglobe.com [2]

Main Address:

1300 W. 120th Ave

Westminster, CO 80234

United States

CRL Review

Collection Content:

The database contains very high-resolution (VHR) geospatial images and data for all world regions,from satellite and aerial capture. As of December 2015 DigitalGlobe reported having an image library of "over 4 billion square kilometers of Earth-imagery," sourced from its network of Earth-orbit satellites.

Other sources of medium resolution imagery exist, some of them open access sources such as Landsat/Sentinel-2. Other providers are listed at http://vterrain.org/Imagery/commercial.html. [3]

Delivery:

DigitalGlobe content is accessed through My DigitalGlobe, a web-based application for viewing, analyzing, and downloading DigitalGlobe data. The content available through the DigitalGlobe interface varies according to the user's subscription. The application can also provide access to custom sources of geospatial data, and the platform is interoperable with ESRI's ArcGIS online application.

Terms:

In November 2015 it was reported on a Liblicense post that the DigitalGlobe license contains terms that were unusually intrusive and objectionable for an academic license: making the client library responsible for all user actions; requiring the library to indemnify the vendor of DigitalGlobe; and granting the vendor the right to perform on-site audits and charge additional fees for non-compliance.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

As of January 2014 DigitalGlobe was the only American company selling earth imagery in the medium-to-high range.

Services and products are heavily tailored to the needs of its national intelligence, defense, and financial clients.

Sources

Sources for this review include information publicly posted or obtained directly from the publisher; data collected by CRL staff and specialists at CRL libraries; and examination of the digital collection when possible. Other sources are noted where cited. CRL continues to gather additional information on this resource and to solicit critical assessment.

Endnotes:

Robinson Meyer, "Silicon Valley's New Spy Satellites" [4] The Atlantic, January 7, 2014.

Robinson Meyer, "A New Kind of Landscape Photography" [5] The Atlantic, December 18, 2015

CRL Offers & Status

Status	Current	Description
CRL Flagged	no	Potential interest to CRL community
Offer Pending	no	Currently a candidate for CRL offer
Active Offer	no	Currently offered for purchase or new subscription
Trial Access	no	Available for trial
Renewal Offer	no	Currently offered for renewal
Expired Offer	no	Past offers
Inactive / Declined	no	No longer under consideration by CRL
Reviewed by CRL	yes	Evaluation available by CRL and community
Special Access	no	Member-only access available for a limited time

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