This week started with the news that the Federal Communication Mission would block LightSquared’s broadband internet network because it interferes with GPS signals, which can be seen as a win for the awareness of the value of this important spatial positioning network. In stark contrast, there is news that the Pentagon’s latest spending plan will significantly cut the EnhancedView satellite imagery program, which does a disservice to the value of current and accurate imagery as well as the ancillary commercial market that it supports.
The whole LightSquared lobbying effort, with it’s naked aggressiveness that at one time suggested that the whole GPS industry and all its users should upgrade their devices, felt like billionaire bullying all along the way. The anectdotal support from the likes of John Deere, and the discussions of the economic value of GPS that have occurred, have meant that LightSquared has done a great service to the geospatial industry. Some have classified this along the same lines as the troubled banks, asserting that GPS is “too big to fail.”
That line alone can be considered a great source of pride for what the industry has accomplished within a very short period of time. Recall that the network wasn’t fully operational until 1994, with only a degraded signal available until 2000 when Selective Availability was turned off. It’s amazing to think how much efficiency we’ve gained, and how many businesses have been built upon this capacity within just over a decade.
The fate of the Enhanced View program, which will significantly impact U.S.-based satellite-imagery providers DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, is still thankfully far from settled. Some estimate the cuts at $300 million, a full 40% reduction from planned spending levels. Some form of cuts seem inevitable, but that level of reduction could be devastating.
The motivation of these proposed cuts to the commercial imagery spend is a bit murky, given the economic value that this imagery supports. There’s some talk about the motivations of large agencies against privatization in order to preserve their own space capabilities. There are also cries for more clear accounting as often we never understand the full cost of military satellite platforms, and without that clarity the true bargain of the commercial space cannot be accurately assessed.
At least the administration is conducting a study of the usefulness of commercial imagery, which is due mid-April. And NOAA is also conducting a survey to get feedback on proposed changes to reduce the resolution restriction on commercial sales from 0.5 meters ground sample distance (GSD) to .25meters GSD. The promise of improved resolution, and all the advances in monitoring and modeling capacity that this would entail, is the right direction for the government to take.
Perhaps it speaks to the level of maturity and importance of the whole geospatial industry that we find ourselves in the headlines and under close scrutiny. While most lawmakers and the general public take GPS for granted and view imagery as a static view that Google provides for free, it’s even more imperative that we act in concert to convey the full value of what we do.
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The investors in the Harbinger Capital fund that paid for much of the 3 billion dollars spent on LightSquared must be absolutely furious. It’s surprising how far LightSquared drove down the wrong road before they hit the barricade. I noticed that there is a lawsuit now (Schad v. Harbinger Capital Partners LLC) filed by an investor.