With the aim of promoting the use of satellite images and particularly images produced by the new generation of satellites equipped with very high resolution sensors (from 4 to 1m) aboard, the Belgian science policy has published the poster 'Belgian cities seen from space'.
This poster, produced by the Surfaces Laboratory at the University of Liège, shows images of Brussels, Liège and Ghent. They have been reproduced in natural colours and were obtained from Ikonos images. The poster is part of the 'City promotion' project, an Internet site designed to promote these three cities on the Web by means of satellite imagery.

The use of very high resolution satellite images
The new millennium sees the dawn of a new era for earth observation. The new generation of satellites with very high resolution (1-4 m) sensors aboard offers new possibilities due to the aerial photograph-like quality of the images.
The advantages of these images are manifold: high data acquisition rate because of the ever increasing number of satellites in orbit, digital data recording for direct use in GIS systems, importance of large area coverage, …
Today, the use of very high resolution images plays a commanding role in areas such as regional and urban planning, geomarketing, risk and hazard assessment for insurance companies,…
The 1 m spatial resolution on offer by Ikonos allows for large scale reproductions such as the 1 / 3 000 samples shown above. In addition to the visible light channels, the near infrared channel proves useful for vegetation monitoring applications.
The images above are the result of a fusion combining the 4 m resolution visible light channels and the 1 m panchromatic black and white channel. The result thus obtained is a 1 m image in natural colours.