A company building a mosaic of satellite images said Sept. 12 that it has completed a cloud-free, 10-meter resolution, true-color digital image of the continental U.S.
SPOT USA, Chantilly, Va., sells images of places ranging in size from 30 miles on a side to full states. States are priced by size and land-use intensity. Costs range from $2,300 for Delaware to $52,500 for Texas. Some customers, such as the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, subscribe for regular updates and higher resolution images as they become available.
PennDEP buys both geo-referenced and photographic images. "Its opening up a new way of looking at the Pennsylvania environment," says the agencys deputy secretary, Ken Giffhorn.