The first agreement more than doubles the volume of high-resolution imagery DigitalGlobe delivers to Microsoft for use in its Bing Maps service. The imagery, delivered on a quarterly basis, will provide refreshed content covering millions of square kilometers of the earth’s surface, including up-to-date imagery for the world’s highest-density urban areas.
“We’ve chosen to expand the use of DigitalGlobe satellite imagery to provide broader global coverage in Bing Maps,” said Steve Stanzel, general manager at Microsoft. “With this increase and our continued work with DigitalGlobe for the collection of high-definition aerial imagery, we are improving our maps worldwide to offer a more comprehensive, consistent and functional mapping experience.”
The second agreement enabled Microsoft Studios to extensively feature DigitalGlobe imagery in the recently launched Forza Motorsport 4 racing game for the Xbox 360. The Forza Motorsport series is one of the world’s most realistic and successful racing franchises. The latest installment, Forza Motorsport 4, features the first-ever combination of DigitalGlobe satellite and Microsoft aerial imagery into a seamless gaming experience, resulting in unprecedented, true-to-life detail.
Forza 4 game designers selected many high altitude and low altitude images for each track region featured in the game and combined them into a seamless animation sequence, using advanced memory management techniques. The result gives players the experience of travelling across the globe in Forza Motorsport 4’s World Tour mode.
Both agreements took effect in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“We are proud to know that DigitalGlobe content plays a valuable role in helping Microsoft achieve its business objectives and deliver a superior, photo-realistic experience for its end-users,” said Rafay Kahn, senior vice president at DigitalGlobe. “We look forward to a successful, ongoing relationship with Microsoft in order to support the millions who use their products and services every day for insight, understanding and entertainment.”
About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. Sourced from our own advanced satellite constellation, our imagery solutions support a wide variety of uses within defense and intelligence, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, Internet portals and navigation technology. With our collection sources and comprehensive ImageLibrary (containing more than two billion square kilometers of earth imagery and imagery products) we offer a range of on- and off-line products and services designed to enable customers to easily access and integrate our imagery into their business operations and applications.
(source: DigitalGlobe)