The Sky's No Limit

This is not a dream, says Jim Flowers, vice-president of North American sales for Orbimage; it's "coming soon" to a planning agency near you. While commercially available for nearly two decades, satellite images have not been eagerly embraced by planning agencies in this country. Based on interviews with more than two dozen agencies - most of them local planning agencies - it seems safe to say that aerial photography remains the image of choice for most departments. But, with Space Imaging's launch last September of the first commercial satellite capable of taking one-meter high-resolution images, planners may find it worthwhile to take another look at this technology.Karen Finucan is a freelance writer in Bethesda, Maryland.This article summary is provided as a service to the urban planning community. However, this article is not available online. For subscription or ordering information, visit Planning Magazine at: http://www.planning.org/pubs/planning.html