A Conversation with Dr. Walter Scott of DigitalGlobe

by Joshua-Michéle Ross | @jmichele | comments: 0

Dr Walter Scott founded Digital Globe - a company you are likely not familiar with though you probably interact with their satellite imagery on a regular basis via Google Maps, Bing and others.


It is only recently that mapping technology and production has been driven by mainly commercial interests especially in the area of satellite imagery. With this commercialization corporations and media have access to information that was once considered closely guarded state property.

The potential for social good - from assessing and responding to natural disasters, to exposing political issues such as prisoner camps, to finding out where Richard Serra is keeping his massive sculptures… is enormous. In this discussion we cover DigitalGlobe's business, the state of commercial satellite imagery and the advantage of commercial vs. government ownership of GIS data.

Dr Scott will be delivering a HighOrder Bit at the upcoming Web 2.0 Summit.