GlobeXplorer was an online spatial data company that compiled and distributed aerial photos, satellite imagery, and map data from their online spatial archives. GlobeXplorer has been credited as the first company to establish a business around compiling and distributing online aerial and satellite imagery. In 2007, the company was acquired by DigitalGlobe.
GlobeXplorer's imagery and property data was licensed to many online information websites. GlobeXplorer obtained its content through online distribution relationships with about 30 of the world's top acquirers of aerial, satellite, and property data. GlobeXplorer's primary products were the ImageAtlas ecommerce storefront and ImageBuilder web developer toolkit. It also provided ImageConnect extensions and web services for GIS and Computer-aided design.
GlobeXplorer's defensible core competence was its ability to meter custom profiles of content for consumers and pay royalties to providers based on 512x512 "standard image units" (SIU). This was accomplished through content hosting, delivery via APIs and application plugins, and building a custom billing system modeled around TELCO call rating and inter-bank settlement accounting. Beyond imagery, the billing system also supported metering of vector data and usage of floating license tokens for programs such as Arc/INFO, PCI and ERDAS.
History
GlobeXplorer was founded in 1999 by Rob Shanks, Michael Fisher, Chris Nicholas, and Paul Smith (former executives at HJW GeoSpatial, Inc.) through partnerships with Sun Microsystems, NASA, and Oracle Corporation