International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII Part 7C2. UNISPACE III, Vienna, 1999 
135 
UNIS PACE III- IS PRS/NASA Seminar on 
“Environment and Remote Sensing for Sustainable Development” 
9:00 am -12:00 pm, 23 July 1999, VIC Room A 
Vienna, Austria 
UN-PSA should replace “Space”, with “Information” and 
form a UN-PIA. Space, and remote sensing, become a means 
to a far more critical end - to solve economic, national 
sustainability, environmental, and security problems. As the 
information age advances, the UN needs to sponsor, promote, 
and develop a global program in Information Science and 
Technology oriented toward ensuring access to information, 
not data, and training people to apply the information to 
solving local and regional problems. 
The above events and the parallel development and 
operations of national remote sensing programs set the stage 
for the entrance of commercial systems (e.g. IKONOS. 
Figure 1). To help form a basis of meaningful dialog on this 
changing “Landscape” it is necessary to define the 
“Landscape”, how it is changing, and what direction the 
Earth information (a.k.a. remote sensing) industry is moving. 
Such understanding better frames the reasons commercial 
endeavors have emerged in the nineties. 
REMOTE SENSING “SPATIAL SPECTRUM” 
DEFINITION 
Before proceeding, let’s define a critical parameter of remote 
sensing systems- resolution-in the context of many different 
systems. In order to help “standardize” our thinking and 
discussion about the diverse remote sensing systems, it would 
be useful to adopt a standard reference system similar to the 
electromagnetic spectrum used by the ITU on a global basis. 
Table I is a notional offering of one such possible “spatial - 
spectrum” that will be used in the paper. The table, 
fashioned after the frequency spectrum, is nominally 
partitioned in “octaves”, factors of two (2), and grouped in 
2X bands as shown The banding occurs naturally as systems 
designed for servicing one band is sub-optimized for another 
band. Single “camera” systems cannot be cost effectively 
optimized across a 10X resolution range. 
Historically, reconnaissance and aerial imaging systems have 
operated in Bands 1, 2 & 3. Civil observation/remote sensing 
systems operate in Bands 5 and 6. Atmospheric and 
meteorological systems operate in the Band 7 regime. With 
the entrance of SPOT and IRS Band 4 is now being 
operationally filled. The new' commercial systems plan to 
operate in Band 3. The commercial systems are. almost by 
definition, designed to operate at the human scale where the 
highest economic value is found. Band 3, nominally 1 meter, 
represents the spatial “content” domain where human feature 
detection, identification, and change analysis more optimally 
occurs. 
Table I: SPATIAL RESOLUTION “SPECTRUM” 
BAND 
RESOLUTION 
IN METERS 
DESIGNATOR 
DEFINITION 
SOURCE/USES 
1 
.1 - .5 
EHR 
Extremely High 
Resolution 
Reconnaissance, 
Aerial 
2 
.5 - 1.0 
VHR 
Very High 
Resolution 
Reconnaissance, 
Aerial 
3 
1.0 - 4.0 
HR 
High Resolution 
Reconnaissance, 
Commercial 
4 
4-12 
MR 
Medium Resolution 
Commercial 
Civil 
5 
12-50 
LR 
Low Resolution 
Civil 
6 
50 - 250 
VLR 
Very Low Resolution 
Civil 
7 
>250 
ELR 
Extremely Low 
Resolution 
Civil, Meteorological 
COMMERCIAL REMOTE SENSINGAND SPACE 
IMAGING - WHERE DID IT COME FROM AND 
WHY NOW? 
The business development of Space Imaging started in 1989 
- 1990. The down turn in the defense spending post Cold 
War Aerospace raised business diversification questions as to 
how to leverage available technology into economically 
attractive commercial markets. At the same time, activities 
and events around the world made clearer the need for better 
Earth information sources and products. 
Digital imaging space technology was operationally 
developed for diversification, however, both the political 
environment and economic viability were unclear as noted in