Three-way satellite picture

DigitalGlobe Inc., Space Imaging Inc. and OrbImage Inc. each won part of a $15 million U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contract for high-resolution commercial satellite imagery.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract provides USGS and its partner agencies with coordinated access to the remote-sensing industry's products and services. USGS officials will access new data acquisitions as well as DigitalGlobe's QuickBird ImageLibrary, which contains hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of the highest-resolution commercial satellite imagery data.

Officials expect the library to help federal, state and local agencies leverage this USGS contract for mapping land. Officials also expect the work done through the contract to address natural hazard and disaster response, homeland security, land and resource management, infrastructure planning and management, policy-making, and scientific study.

"The USGS' decision to be a central conduit to commercial remote sensing data for all levels of government