PCI Geomatics and Natural Resources Canada Announce
First Support of SPOT 5 Rigorous  Sensor Model Within
PCI Geomatics Software

Richmond Hill, Ontario, February 11, 2003 — PCI Geomatics® and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) are pleased to announce support for data (10-metre, 5-metre and 2.5-metre pixel spacing) from the SPOT 5 satellite in PCI Geomatics’ Geomatica OrthoEngine® software.

PCI Geomatics will include the new SPOT 5 Rigorous Sensor Model within Geomatica®, the company’s popular all-in-one flagship software solution for remote sensing, spatial analysis, cartography and photogrammetry.

"The long and productive partnership between Natural Resources Canada and PCI Geomatics stands as a best practice in government–industry collaboration that will help close the gap between research and commercialization," said the Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Natural Resources Canada. "As this partnership develops, we will continue to work to make Canada a world leader in innovation."

"Natural Resources Canada and PCI Geomatics have proven year after year how enthusiastic collaboration brings benefits that one party alone may not have achieved." states Dr. Robert Moses, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics, "As the SPOT 5 satellite becomes more popular and its advantages realized through practical applications, users will immediately recognize the value created from our two organizations teaming together for research and development."

Using an initial version of the physical rigorous 3-D model developed by scientists at NRCan’s Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, researchers have achieved high accuracy under a variety of image-terrain conditions. After verification and testing over the next few months, PCI Geomatics expects to further refine these results.

PCI Geomatics was the first provider of image-centric geomatics software solutions to support the IKONOS Rigorous Sensor Model within its geomatics software suite. It is also the only company currently offering support for the QuickBird™ Rigorous Model. Both models were developed through the cooperative efforts of PCI Geomatics and NRCan.

The development and support of the SPOT 5 Rigorous Model have provided users of satellite data with a more accurate and less restrictive model for using SPOT Image SPOT 5 satellite data, resulting in fewer limitations to criteria such as terrain, slope and other geographical considerations.

SPOT 5 was launched on May 4, 2002, and contains two independent optical instruments (HRGs). Each includes two panchromatic (5-metre) CCD arrays that can be combined to generate a 2.5-metre image product, as well as three multispectral (10-metre) channels and one short-wave infrared (20-metre) channel. Each SPOT 5 HRG has an imaging swath of 60 kilometres. Like the previous SPOT platforms, SPOT 5 is able to collect across-the-track stereo data, by imaging the same area from two different orbits. Moreover, the SPOT 5 platform is capable of along-track stereo viewing through a dedicated stereo sensor.

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of image-centric geomatics software solutions. PCI Geomatics’ flagship solution, Geomatica, meets the growing demands of the remote sensing, spatial analysis, cartographic and photogrammetry worlds. PCI Geomatics is celebrating the beginning of its third decade as an industry-leading geomatics solution provider and has long been recognized for its premium yet affordable geomatics software solutions, advanced algorithms, excellent customer assistance, and product support of the widest range of spatial data formats in the industry.

About Natural Resources Canada’s Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS)

Natural Resources Canada is the federal department responsible for Canada’s natural resources and their sustainable development. The CCRS is internationally recognized as a leading centre of excellence in the use of earth-observation data, and in the development of remote-sensing applications and related methodologies and systems. This helps support the fast-growing geomatics industry, which provides information essential to the resource industries and environmental protection. Canada is a world leader in geoscience and geomatics, including technology development, international revenues and sales of remote sensing products and services.

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Press Contact
Tricia McIntosh
Marketing Coordinator
Tel:  (905) 764-0614, Ext. 2217
Fax: (905) 764-9604
Email:  mcintosh@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com