High-Resolution Images to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Costs for Energy Company
( http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000522/LAM023LOGO)
Southern Company is a super-regional energy company with nearly 39,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Southeast. Southern Company uses IKONOS imagery data for a number of projects including hydropower re-licensing, forestry, environmental applications, land use planning, business development, asset management, and transmission line planning and routing. It has also been used to identify land classification, cultural resources and encroachment.
"The IKONOS satellite imagery has enabled us to plan more efficiently and ensure minimal environmental impact, and will continue to add value for years to come," said Kenny Lowe, GIS senior specialist at Alabama Power Company, a division of Southern Company. "The high resolution and accuracy of the satellite images as well as the fact they reflect the current landscape, provides us with the data we need to make intelligent business decisions. In the past, we relied on the U.S. Geological Survey's Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles (DOQs)."
Ten years ago Southern Company began simultaneously re-licensing seven facilities and became one of the first energy companies to use satellite imagery to meet these re-licensing requirements as defined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). According to the FERC, over the next decade 220 hydropower project licenses will expire. This group of projects has a combined capacity of 22,000 megawatts, or 20 percent of the nation's installed hydropower capacity. Collectively, these hydropower re-licensing decisions will reshape local communities, ecosystems and economies across the country. Having access to IKONOS imagery for the past three years has simplified the re-licensing process. Southern Company can now view a larger area of not only specific land features, such as reservoirs and boundaries, but also its surrounding properties. Southern Company then submits the analyzed satellite imagery to the FERC and state and local government agencies to demonstrate that it is meeting regulatory requirements.
"Southern Company has been very innovative in its use of satellite imagery to meet re-licensing requirements for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission," said Steve Bedsole, president of GEDS. "Working with Space Imaging, we can provide Southern Company with imagery that can be used for multiple purposes thereby increasing the company's return on investment."
"Southern Company was one of our early customers and this deal represents a large sales and usage milestone for both companies," said Howard Klayman, director of Customer Service Operations at Space Imaging. "Our IKONOS satellite imagery has provided Southern Company with a vast amount of data that has enabled better assessment and project planning. This is a prime example of how satellite imagery is being utilized in the commercial industry to improve efficiencies and save costs."
About Geographical and Environmental Data Services
Geographical & Environmental Data Services, Inc.(TM) (GEDS(TM)), established in 1996, is a small business with a global focus. It is headquartered in the Greater Birmingham, Alabama, area with an additional sales and support office in West Palm Beach, Florida. GEDS' primary focus is sales and support services in the fields of digital mapping, imagery, LiDAR, remote sensing, environmental classification, and GIS applications. GEDS also provides the latest technology for high-speed data management and distribution of large raster and vector data files. GEDS takes great pride in offering its clients a "Solutions Toolbox" filled with diverse, high-quality tools that can be used to address their specific needs. For more info visit their website at: http://www.geds-inc.com/.
About Space Imaging
Space Imaging is the premier provider of satellite imagery enabling businesses, governments and individuals to better map, measure, monitor and manage the world in which we live. Based near Denver, Colo., Space Imaging radically transformed the Earth information market when in 1999 it launched IKONOS, the world's first commercial high-resolution imaging satellite. Today, Space Imaging's products are the cornerstone of the remote-sensing industry. The company supplies the highest quality, most accurate, visual information about the planet's changing natural and cultural features. Space Imaging's customer-centric business lines include imagery from satellites and aircraft, decision-support geospatial solutions, and direct access to its satellites for corporations and governments. Space Imaging is a privately held company with partners, resellers and 14 affiliate ground stations around the world. For more information on products and services, please visit http://www.spaceimaging.com/.
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CONTACT: Gary Napier of Space Imaging, +1-303-254-2106,
Email Contact; or Meredith Bagnulo of LeGrand Hart,
+1-303-298-8470, ext. 240,
Email Contact, for Space Imaging
Web site: http://www.southerncompany.com/
Web site: http://www.geds-inc.com/
Web site: http://www.spaceimaging.com/