Satellite imagery is any photograph taken by an artificial satellite of the Earth -- i.e., spacecraft orbiting it, or unmanned satellites. Commonly, satellite imagery is used to refer to images made by unmanned satellites. The raw area of the Earth means that raw satellite imagery needs colossal levels of image processing, requiring large amounts of time and processing power. The first satellite image ever taken was by the satellite Explorer 6 on August 14th, 1959First satellite photo of earth, and showed a blurry patch of the Central Pacific ocean.
Applications
Satellite imagery has military, civilian, industrial, ecological, and economic applications. Software such as Google Earth and web applications like Google Maps allow even an individual citizen with relatively little investment in technology to engage basic uses of satellite imagery. Satellite imagery should not be confused with GPS, which does involve satellites but only provides locations, no visual information about those locations. Combining GPS with satellite imagery can provide both location and visuals of that location and nearby locations.
Satellite Imagery Blogs and Forums
GISLounge.com: Forum for GIS professionals
University Of Wisconsin: Satellite Imagery Organizations and Societies
GEarthBlog.com: Google Earth blog
Bravehost.com: Weather imagery blog
References
Fast Facts
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Fact:
First satellite photo was taken on August 14th, 1959 First satellite photo of earth
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Fact:
NASA satellite imagery is public domain
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Fact:
Imagery is supplanted with radar sometimes for height mapping
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Fact:
Commercial imagery is limited by government restriction
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Fact:
GPS can be coordinated with satellite imagery but is not imagery
