[January 13, 2015]

NGA, DigitalGlobe Application a Boon to Raster Data Storage, Processing

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) recently released an application that will allow the public to benefit from the agency's collaboration with DigitalGlobe (News - Alert) on a project that simplifies and economizes the storage and processing of large-scale raster data, reducing the time it takes analysts to search, download, preprocess and format data for analysis.

MapReduce Geo, or MrGeo, is a geospatial toolkit designed to provide raster-based geospatial capabilities performable at scale by leveraging the power and functionality of cloud-based architecture.

"The project demonstrates how public-private partnerships can create innovative solutions," said Tony Frazier, senior vice president of DigitalGlobe U.S. Government Solutions.

"Available to the public through NGA's GitHub account, the software can be useful in many situations," said Chris Rasmussen, NGA's public software development lead. "Sharing it with the public gives users at all levels another tool to help solve geospatial problems. For example, first responders could use it to plan the best ways in and out of dangerous areas taking into account terrain, land use, and changes in weather."

Releasing MrGeo helps further the agency's goal of increasing and streamlining co-creation efforts in software and unclassified data, said Rasmussen. Sharing the application with the open source community helps accelerate its potential to become the standard for storing, enriching and analyzing massive amounts of raster data in a distributed cloud environment.

"DigitalGlobe feels the open source community can drive innovation that helps us better mine our imagery and derived information layers to support emerging defense and intelligence mission requirements," said Frazier.

About DigitalGlobe

DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI) is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world's leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers' most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.

DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.

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