Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are among the most rapidly developing IT divisions. The progress that has been made in this field over the last couple of years means that Geographic Information Systems have set forth modern standards for colleting, using, and availing of information oriented in geographical space. In the meantime, there has been observed a growing demand for spatial data characterised by a high degree of timeliness and accuracy. Taking into consideration the lengthy and costly production cycle of traditional cartographic materials, the most rapid and the cheapest current way of acquiring reliable information about land is presented by satellite images.

 

Techmex S.A. is the biggest Polish company to have invested in the development of top solutions in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Set up in the early 2004, as part of the Techmex Group, the Satellite Centre for Regional Operations (SCOR) is a licensed operator of the American satellite Ikonos, which makes photographs of the Earth’s surface with an 82-centimetre resolution. The satellite centre has at its disposal the technology of smooth processing of the acquired satellite images into the so-called orthophotomap, which constitutes a digital equivalent of maps in the scale 1: 2400 (NMAS)*. The construction of the Centre has lasted half a year and it has consumed nearly PLN 75 million.

The Polish Satellite Centre for Regional Operations is the second centre of a kind in Europe and one of 14 centres, which come together to form the global network of satellite stations authorized by the owner of the Ikonos satellite, Space Imaging Inc. Despite the fact that it takes barely 2 minutes for Ikonos to fly over Poland, the total surface of the photographed terrain of Poland during just one journey may be estimated at nearly 1 million hectares. The Ikonos satellite is one of the most advanced technical objects in the world. Weighing 800 kg, it flies at a height of 681 km; with a speed of 7 km/sec. A direct access to this technology is an unquestioned break-through in the field of geoinformatics in Poland, as well as, an opportunity for our Country to assume a leading role, over the next couple of years, in this field in Europe.

Thanks to the possibility of direct programming of satellite, SCOR provides an opportunity for a rapid, practically overnight supply of high-resolution photographs of a selected region. The recording capacity of the Ikonos satellite provides for an opportunity to make satellite orthophotomaps for a one third of the surface area of Poland in one year. This means, that every fragment of our Country shall be photographed no less frequent than once in every 3 years. The up-to-date cycle of revising the country’s cartographic materials by using the traditional method is several times longer. The country’s orthophotomap, as is currently produced, is characterized by an 8-year-long period being required to make aerial photographs (1998-2005 as per the State Authority for Geodesy and Cartography - GUGiK - data), whereas the European Union requirements relating to, for instance, the IACS system, impose an obligation to observe a 5-year mode for the revising of a country’s orthophotomap.

By bringing the Satellite Centre for Regional Operations into life, the company Techmex pursues its objectives of developing the Polish geoinformatics market, enhancing the quality of management in public administration, as well as, speeding-up the implementation of novel solutions, as may be worked out by the Polish scientific and research centres in the field of geoinformatics. The technology, which until recently has been reserved in Poland, exclusively, for a narrow circle of scientists, right now is becoming just like in other developed countries, the technology being used from day to day, for ordinary-project-work purposes. SCOR presents an opportunity for a widespread application of modern satellite maps in such spheres of economic activity as infrastructural development, transport, town and country planning, environmental protection, agriculture, forestry, and telecommunications.