U.S. Department of Commerce Relaxes Resolution Restrictions DigitalGlobe Extends Lead in Image Quality
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U.S. Department of Commerce Relaxes Resolution Restrictions DigitalGlobe Extends Lead in Image Quality

LONGMONT, CO -- (Marketwired) -- Jun 11, 2014 -- DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI), the leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions, today announced that it received notice from the U.S. Department of Commerce on its application to allow the company to sell its highest-quality and industry-leading commercial satellite imagery.

Effective immediately, DigitalGlobe will be permitted to offer customers the highest resolution imagery available from their current constellation. Additionally, the updated approvals will permit DigitalGlobe to sell imagery to all of its customers at up to 0.25m panchromatic and 1.0m multispectral ground sample distance (GSD) beginning six months after its next satellite WorldView-3 is operational. WorldView-3 is scheduled to launch, August 13 or 14, 2014 from Vandenberg Air Force base.

With the launch of WorldView-3, the DigitalGlobe constellation will set a new technological bar for commercial satellite imagery, offering customers the highest available resolution, revisit rate, capacity, and spectral diversity. The company currently operates a fleet of five high-resolution earth imaging satellites. Two of those satellites -- GeoEye-1 and WorldView-2 -- collect imagery sharper than 0.50m, and all customers will have access to that imagery at the highest native resolution. WorldView-3 will provide even higher resolution at 0.31m, and the GeoEye-2 satellite, which is substantially complete, will capture similarly sharp images when it is launched to replace a satellite currently in service or as an expansion to the constellation once warranted by market demand.

"We are very pleased and appreciative that the U.S. Department of Commerce under the leadership of Secretary Penny Pritzker, with support from the U.S. Departments of Defense and State and the Intelligence Community, has made this forward-leaning change to our nation's policy that will fuel innovation, create new high-tech jobs, and advance the nation's commanding lead in this strategically important industry," said Jeffrey R. Tarr, DigitalGlobe CEO. "Our customers will immediately realize the benefits of this updated regulation, as for the first time, we will be able to make our very best imagery available to the commercial market. As a result of this policy update and the forthcoming addition of WorldView-3 to our constellation, DigitalGlobe will further differentiate itself from foreign competition and expand our addressable market."

Additionally, DigitalGlobe announced today that it plans to shift the WorldView-1 satellite into a different orbit, in which it will image the earth in the afternoon local time each day. This shift will optimize the DigitalGlobe constellation to monitor changes on the earth at various times during the day. Customers will be able to image a particular area with multiple satellites in the morning and again with WorldView-1 in the afternoon thus providing consistent views of Earth over much of the day.

"As our constellation has grown, we have pioneered new capabilities for satellite imaging in every successive generation to deliver new and unique value to our customers in the growing and dynamic geospatial market. The combination of additional spectral bands, higher resolution products, morning and afternoon collection times, and increased collection capacity all enable DigitalGlobe to provide its customers with dramatically more information in every image collected," said Walter Scott, DigitalGlobe's founder and Chief Technology Officer.

DigitalGlobe supports customers' critical decisions with the highest resolution commercial satellite imagery available anywhere. To see visual examples of how better resolution can enable better decision making for Civil Governments, Location Based Services and Energy, visit http://www.digitalglobe.com/imagery-completeness#completeness-as-a-component-of-quality.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Feature            IKONOS      QuickBird   WorldView-1   GeoEye-1   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Spectral                                                            
     characteristics     Pan + 4 MS   Pan + 4 MS       Pan      Pan + 4 MS  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panchromatic resolution                                                     
         (nadir)           0.82 m       0.55 m       0.50 m       0.41 m    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Multispectral                                                          
   resolution (nadir)      3.28 m       2.20 m         N/A        1.64 m    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Accuracy specification                                                     
         (nadir)          9 m CE90     23 m CE90    4 m CE90     3 m CE90   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Onboard storage       80 Gbits     128 Gbits   2199 Gbits   1000 Gbits  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Collection capacity      150,000      160,000     1,500,000     350,000   
                           km2/day      km2/day      km2/day      km2/day   
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Launch timing          1999         2001         2007         2008     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------
        Feature                                    GeoEye-2  
                        WorldView-2  WorldView-3  (subject to
                                                    change)  
-------------------------------------------------------------
        Spectral                    Pan + 8 MS +             
     characteristics    Pan + 8 MS     8 SWIR     Pan + 4 MS 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Panchromatic resolution                                      
         (nadir)          0.46 m       0.31 m       0.31 m   
-------------------------------------------------------------
     Multispectral                                           
   resolution (nadir)     1.84 m       1.24 m       1.24 m   
-------------------------------------------------------------
 Accuracy specification                                      
         (nadir)        3.5 m CE90   3.5 m CE90   3.5 m CE90 
-------------------------------------------------------------
    Onboard storage     2199 Gbits   2199 Gbits   3000 Gbits 
-------------------------------------------------------------
  Collection capacity    1,200,000     680,000      680,000  
                          km2/day      km2/day      km2/day  
-------------------------------------------------------------
     Launch timing         2009         2014          TBD    
-------------------------------------------------------------

About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world's leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers' most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.

Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained herein and in other of our reports, filings, and public announcements may contain or incorporate forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future financial performance. We generally identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "continue" or "looks forward to" or the negative of these terms or other similar words, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words.

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We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward looking statements.