Sky-High Map Guys

But the new opportunity has also brought some challenges--like meeting surging demand for new, high-resolution aerial photos. "We're pushing the envelope with these guys, challenging them to collect the data we need," says John Curlander, the former head of digital-camera maker Vexcel, who now works for Microsoft. (Curlander thinks consolidation in the aerial-imaging field is inevitable.) Both the satellite and the aerial imagers also have to deal with the likelihood that potential customers who would otherwise pay for images are now getting their pictures free of charge online. Digital Globe CEO Jill Smith argues that the increased awareness of her company's photographs, generated by the Internet firms, outweighs any potential cannibalizing effect on its product line. She adds that "there are certain features we can only offer direct customers," like an infrared band which the Internet sites can't show.

In the future, the value of these satellite and aerial photos to the Internet players will only grow in importance. Today's online mapping services offer mostly top-down, 2-D pictures, but high-tech execs like Bill Gates talk regularly about combining photos from various angles to create a 3-D, "Matrix"-like representation of the real world. Already services like Zillow.com and MSN offer 45-degree-angle views of homes in some major cities (instead of the flat, bird's-eye view), and Google Earth shows topographic details like mountains. That's only the beginning. By the end of the decade, all kinds of imagery--from the sky and the street front--will be crunched into 3-D photorealistic simulations of the actual world. Users will be able to navigate down simulations of familiar streets and walk into virtual stores. "Imagine looking up a driving route online and seeing in 3-D the actual landmarks you will pass along the way," says Jim Greiner, general manager of AOL's Mapquest, which is preparing to unveil its own aerial-imaging service later this fall.

For aerial photographers like Cady Daniels, whose images are central to achieving that vision, that's good news. While the 36-year-old pilot bounced between failing airlines in the 1990s, his wife desperately wanted him to find a desk job outside of aviation. This year he was hired as the chief pilot for aerial-imaging firm Sanborn. The best part: his wife, a real-estate agent, uses Google Earth herself. They no longer talk about finding that desk job.

© 2006