National space agency ISRO has opened up high-resolution Earth imageries data up to 1 metre to all users with effect from July 4 and hopes it will bring in many Indian buyers.
Until now, private users of satellite imageries could only access data of resolution up to 5.8 metre under the Remote Sensing Data Policy of 2001. Government users had the edge for resolutions finer than that. ISRO's Earth observation satellites can offer resolution of up to 80 cm: they can “see” objects of that size from space.
Regional planners, highway builders, township and industrial installations frequently seek remote sensing data.
The revised policy that has been in the pipeline for over three years improves only the resolution part, said senior ISRO officials. Downstream data distribution and value addition will continue to need clearances and licence.
Indian users would be much comfortable under the new norms that provide data at much lower prices than international data, Dr V.S. Hegde, Scientific Secretary, Department of Space and Director, Earth Observation Systems, told Business Line .
For instance, he said, a black and white imagery of 1m from Cartosat-2 costs $2 per q km. Equivalent data from foreign satellites cost $17 per sq km.
The easing of the limit was natural as ISRO has a strong constellation that offers high resolution pictures, he said. Because of the 5.8-m limit, “People (users) bought imageries from foreign satellites at huge costs. Our data is much cheaper and a user can get repeat coverage of the same area at much better prices. We hope our people will go in for our data.”
Antrix makes 20-30 per cent of its Rs 1,000-crore revenue from data sales.
ISRO expects to come close to matching the products of US satellites such as QuickBird and Orbital View. An earlier CAG report faulted ISRO for letting its imageries idle.
Cartosat and Resourcesat satellite series that are recent and offer high resolutions “will be alive and do well” in the new norms, he said. The interactive portal Bhuvan may also get the 1-m imageries.
National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, remains the gateway for all Indian users; Antrix Corporation will market data overseas.
An ISRO release said, “All data of resolutions up to 1 m shall be distributed on a non-discriminatory basis and on “as requested' basis.”
For data better than 1 m resolution, private users need clearance of an existing inter-agency High Resolution Image Clearance Committee and need to sign non-disclosure agreements to not share them further.
“With a view to protect(ing) national security interests, all data of better than 1 m resolution shall be screened and cleared by the appropriate agency.”
Exempt from this clearance are government users such as ministries, PSUs, autonomous bodies, R&D institutions, educational and academic institutions, as also private sector agencies working on developmental activities and which have been recommended by at least one government agency.
The lowering of the barrier is also said to offer a price advantage 8-10 times for some categories over data from foreign satellites.