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Service Launched With Views of 30 North American Metropolitan Areas; 95 by Mid-2001
ROCHESTER, NY, October 31-Kodak’s Commercial & Government Systems division (C&GS) announced today the launch of a site for the on-line sale of high resolution color and black-and-white earth imagery featuring a data set unmatched in scope, precision and quality. The new Kodak Earth Imaging Products (EIP) Web site can be found at http://www.kodak.com/go/earthimaging.
Currently, aerial imagery is available on-line from over 30 North American major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and Kodak plans to steadily increase this number to 95 by mid 2001 with the addition of imagery offerings from a number of suppliers from across the continent and around the world.
Industry analysts predict the earth imaging information market will exceed $1 billion over the next three years. Kodak EIP will meet the needs of this market by offering many different levels of precision image data from one-meter black-and-white to six-inch resolution color. Kodak will output aerial imagery on CD with viewer or high quality paper prints.
The aerial images available on-line of the North American MSAs are the result of an agreement that Kodak announced last year with Hauts-Monts International Inc., a leading remote sensing imagery provider headquartered in Quebec, Canada. This imagery is a historical first in scope, precision, and quality consistency throughout the set. With this agreement, Kodak has the exclusive rights for Internet sale of Hauts-Monts images marketed under the CitiPix brand name by Altaphoto, Inc., the Hauts-Monts U.S. division located in Columbia, Md. Earlier this month, C&GS announced an agreement with Compagnia Generale Ripreseaeree S.p.A (CGR) of Genoa, Italy to market high resolution aerial images of Italy through Kodak’s new Web site.
“We are proud to launch Kodak Earth Imaging Products,” said David Ledgerwood, vice president of C&GS. “This newest offering via kodak.com will not only revolutionize how high resolution earth imagery is bought and sold but expand its use. We also take the complexity and frustration out of the search for the best imagery so that image information solutions can be delivered quickly to enable more effective customer decision making.”
The company stated that the new e-commerce site opens new opportunities for both buyers and sellers of high resolution earth imagery. For buyers (in numerous industries such as architecture, engineering, construction, telecommunications, utilities, transportation, insurance, travel, real estate and local/state/federal government), Kodak EIP represents an easy-to-use, time and cost-effective solution for the procurement of earth imagery as sophisticated as six-inch color resolution. Image search and procurement is all Web-based, creating a simple buying experience that is facilitated through the use of familiar credit card and purchase order fulfillment procedures. With easy to use and intuitive search capabilities, customers can shop on-line with confidence that they will receive the right product at the right price, while benefiting from a reduced cycle time made possible by e-commerce technology.
For earth imagery and data providers (such as aerial flyers and geospatial map companies), Kodak EIP represents a new revenue growth opportunity by creating a new sales channel which reaches more potential customers. Providers of imagery can also realize significant cost of sales savings through reduced individual marketing expenditures.
Kodak’s Commercial & Government Systems unit provides innovative image information solutions for business and government intelligence needs. Examples include aerial imaging, digital imaging systems for commercial imaging satellites, and optical systems for land and space telescopes.
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EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
COMMERCIAL & GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS
1447 ST PAUL STREET
ROCHESTER, NY 14653-7129