Wednesday, June 2, 2010

High Resolution Imagery to Support Events

This is a carry over from several tweets coming out of Understanding Risk Conference (#ur2010) at the World Bank.

So the brief conversation on twitter was in regards to imagery resolution used when responding to an event (hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake, fire, oil spill/pour). I agree 3 inch resolution gives more detail and may lead to better decisions. I also agree satellite or airborne sensors may be more appropriate depending on various elements (resolution, area of coverage, orbit, licensing, privacy, general specifications).

My real question comes down to the ROI for higher resolution in terms of bandwidth and general IT infrastructure. Given that this data is usually needed in various platforms and passed around via networks and hard-drives; What is the resolution that allows for good decision support and balances that with file size?

This may seem like an easy question. May be the answer is get the best you can, but I am curious as to if any thought has been given to this question.

I would also add larger companies likely have the infrastructure to support any file size, but I am thinking from a local prospective.

About Me

Little Rock, Arkansas, United States