From: Saskia Van Elburg <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2015 09:01:12 +0000

Hi Mark,

Can't help with the license query, but there are other satellite
imagery suppliers. DigitalGlobe are a big player in the VHR (Very High
Resolution - around about half a metre on ground pixel size) market -
they supply imagery to Google Maps for instance. VHR costs a lot to
acquire and produce, so is sold commercially, but the medium
resolution (30 metres) stuff is easier to collect, so a lot of it is
free - Landsat/Sentinel-2, etc. In Europe AIRBUS provide SPOT data
(1.5 metre resolution) commercially

There are other providers listed here:

http://vterrain.org/Imagery/commercial.html

cheers,

Saskia

Saskia van Elburg BA MA (Hons)
Library & Digital Support Team Leader (Content and Licensing)
Technology & Information Services
Room 104 Charles Seale-Hayne Library
Plymouth University | Drake Circus | Plymouth | PL4 8AA | UK
Email: [log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark L Clemente <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:04:06 +0000

Hi colleagues,

We are working on a license right now for GIS data (satellite imagery)
from DigitalGlobe and the license contains some difficult language
concerning 1) MIT’s full responsibility for all user actions; 2) MIT’s
indemnification of DigitalGlobe; and 3) DigitalGlobe’s ability to
perform on-site audits and to charge additional fees if MIT is not
complying with the license.  We are unable to modify the language and
we are currently weighing the issues.

Have any of you signed licenses with DigitalGlobe before, and if so,
how have you dealt with these clauses?  Our GIS librarian has
determined that they are essentially the only commercial vendor of
satellite imagery, so there aren’t really alternative sources.

Many thanks for your input!

Mark Clemente

Mark Clemente
Scholarly Communications and Licensing Librarian MIT Libraries
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
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