Forestal Arauco S.A., a leading forest products companies in South America is using LIDAR and imagery and realizing significant benefits to their operations. It has contracted Digimapas Chile to acquire, process and map 7,500,000 hectares of aerial LIDAR and ortho photo data of forested areas in Chile. On a weekly basis, Digimapas is delivering DTM, DSM; LIDAR intensity images; true ortho images in RGB and CIR; and LIDAR wave form data. It is being used for updating general forest inventory.

Dubaisat-1, the UAE’s first research satellite, is expected to be used for civilian purposes and contribute to scientific research for local, regional and international entities. Accoridng to officials at Emirates Institute for Advanced Science and Technology [EIAST], the satellite could be used for commercial purposes in the future, adding that more information about the services it will offer will be made at a later stage. “Dubaisat-1 will also help manage natural disasters and promote research and development, space science and other scientific disciplines The satellite project consists of three phases over a three-year period.

GeoEye has secured approximately USD 270m of launch and first-year on-orbit insurance for GeoEye-1. The launch is slated for late first quarter or early second quarter of 2008. http://geoeye.mediaroom.com

DM Solutions Group will resell DigitalGlobe data and web services through a partnership agreement. It will be sold to DMSG’s existing customers and users of MapServer, MapGuide, and OpenLayers technologies. www.dmsolutions.ca

DigitalGlobe announced the successful launch and deployment of WorldView-1 satellite. It also marks 75 consecutive successful launches of a Delta II rocket and the second successful commercial launch for Boeing Launch Services in 2007. http://media.digitalglobe.com, http://www.boeing.com

PCI Geomatics, announced that it will support image products from the THEOS satellite (Thailand Earth Observation System), to be launched in November 2007. It will develop support for data import, precision orthorectification models, image mosaics, and advanced data fusion techniques such as panchromatic sharpening.