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Media Contact for DigitalGlobe:

Chuck Herring
Director of Marketing Communications
303.682.3820 (Direct)
cherring{at}digitalglobe.com
(800) 496-1225 (Customer Service line for publication)

June 18, 2003

STATE OF ALASKA USES QUICKBIRD SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR FIRE RESPONSE

LONGMONT, Colo. -- DigitalGlobeTM announced today that its QuickBird
satellite images were recently used by the State of Alaska's Forestry
Division to help firefighters navigate wildfires. Fires began blazing
through forested areas about 80 miles south of Fairbanks on May 26 and
have since been contained.

The 60-centimeter resolution black-and-white QuickBird(tm) images,
collected in August 2002, show trails and roads, building structures and
fire pronevegetation. Firefighters used the images for locational mapping
to determine where endangered structures existed, which residents should
be evacuated, where emergency personnel should be dispatched and where
firelines should be constructed.

Large print-outs of the QuickBird images were posted on fire department
dispatch walls so fire dispatches could quickly map out response routes,
while smaller copies were distributed to division supervisors for key
emergency personnel as they were dispatched to fight fires.

According to Marc Lee, Fairbanks Area forester for the Alaska Department
of Natural Resources (DNR) Forestry Division, the QuickBird images proved
to be critical resource for quick responses by the Division of Forestry
andcooperating fire departments. "Using the images, we were able to better
locate threatened structures and improve our deployment of firefighting
forces. We identified several structures and one house that had been
destroyed," said Lee.

"We also added power line coverages in a geographic information system
(GIS) so we would know which power lines were threatened and where to turn
offelectricity, so firefighters' lives wouldn't be endangered," Lee added.

Wildfires are a common occurrence in the interior of Alaska, where black
spruce trees, an extremely fire prone species, are abundant. The 2.44-
meter resolution, multispectral QuickBird images were used to identify
black spruce as well as trails and ponds. In the past, Alaska firefighters
had relied onone-inch-to-the-mile quadrangle maps to help them navigate
their way around an area during a fire. The quad maps do not indicate
trails, roads, structures, vegetation such as black spruce, and many other
features important tofirefighters. QuickBird imagery, by contrast, depicts
these details.

"Using the imagery, one can see which ponds helicopters can access for
dipping buckets, where firelines should be constructed, which creeks to
set a back burn from, and which trails a light fire engine can navigate,"
explained Lee.

The Alaska DNR started acquiring QuickBird data in May 2002 to provide
basic mapping services for several of the state's local communities. The
imageproducts of the Fairbanks area provide a critical resource for
emergency service organizations in support of a project called "Community
Fire Planning Using GIS," funded by the National Fire Planning Initiative.

In addition, QuickBird imagery covering an 11,475 square-mile area in
Alaska's Tanana Valley supports a NASA grant the state won in 2001. A
long-term goal of the NASA proposal is the development of base data
necessary to support fire behavior software that predicts wildfire spread.
The project will include the creation of a database of fuel models based
on vegetation mapping to help the Division of Forestry identify fire prone
areas, calculate rates of spread and demonstrate parameters associated
with fire spread such as fuel types, weather and wind speed.

"Threat from wildfire is an annual danger faced by Alaska's towns and
villages. During the last decade in the Tanana Valley, numerous wildfires
consumedvaluable resources and threatened and destroyed people's
properties and homes," said Lee. "Coupled with this challenge, Alaska's
large size and remote access severely limits the traditional ground
intensive mapping approach. Knowledge and management of forest fuels,
community facilities and transportation systems are essential to minimize
fire losses and maximize fire protection.

"Because of its high-resolution and accuracy, QuickBird is perhaps the
only practical solution to solving this mapping dilemma and providing
resources for emergency service organizations," Lee concluded.

About DigitalGlobe: www.digitalglobe.com

DigitalGlobe is an Earth imagery and information company in Longmont,
Colorado, USA. With the 2001 launch of its QuickBird satellite,
DigitalGlobe hasestablished a market leadership position. The company
provides the world's highest resolution commercial satellite imagery, the
greatest collectioncapacity, the most up-to-date archive and the largest
image size of any other satellite imagery provider. The competition has no
plans to launch a comparable commercial satellite until at least 2006. In
addition to offering technical superiority, DigitalGlobe distinguishes
itself in the market through itscommitment to excellent customer service,
relationships with business partners and open-systems philosophy. More
information can be found at www.digitalglobe.com .


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