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MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has signed a US$17 million, 12 month contract with the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide apparent changes in land-cover anywhere around the globe.
MDA will deliver changes for more than 100 million square kilometers of the Earth’s land surface. The contract includes two option years, valued at US$4 million each.
Images from orbiting satellites taken on different dates will be used. MDA’s sophisticated software will overlay the images and identify changes in land-cover that persist regardless of seasonal changes or weather effects. Changes caused by human activities will be identified.
Knowing where these changes occur allows the customer to focus on the areas of change when updating their global data base of maps. This allows map updating to be done more frequently in rapidly changing areas and less frequently elsewhere, significantly improving the customer’s efficiency.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offers a variety of critical geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) products in support of U.S. national security objectives and natural disasters.
