[McIDAS #JMU-577220]: In need of your help.

Hi Kristen,

re:
> I was searching google for a Colorado-based company that deals with
> satellite imagery when I came upon your website. There was a man who
> recently went missing in the Aspen/Snowmass area. I was wondering if
> you have any way to access images from November 27th and 28th to help
> track down the missing individual.

We have some imagery that extends back to Nov 27-28, but it may not be
of high enough resolution for your purposes.

re:
> The man hunt recently turned into an
> investigation, so I'm trying to get a lead.

How would satellite images help in this effort?  What wavelength channels
are you looking to access?

re:
> If you do not have this kind of imagery, please help me get in contact
> with someone who does.

It seems to me that you would need the highest resolution satellite images
available.  Along with this, it seems to me that you would need visible
images that have higher resolutions than those typically provided by
weather surveillance satellites.  Just so you know, the MODIS instrument
on the AQUA and TERRA polar orbiter satellites provide resolutions as
high as 250 meters in several wavelength channels.  If you are thinking
of using satellite imagery to track a person's movement on the ground, you
should be looking for images that have higher resolutions than this.

re:
> Below is a link with more details about the missing
> George Aldrich. Anything you can do to help is much appreciated! If you
> have any sort of information that can help the Aspen Police Department,
> they can be contacted at (970) 315-2103.
> 
> http://www.realaspen.com/article/366/Authorities-call-off-field-operations-in-Aldrich-case

This article says that the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department

  "They took to the air, utilizing planes and helicopters as they sought 
answers to his
  mysterious disappearance. They walked up and down riverbanks. A 
remote-controlled vehicle
  was deployed into a pond near where Aldrich might have gone missing."

The size of objects that can be resolved from planes and helicopters should be 
_much_
smaller than what can be resolved by weather satellites of any kind.  Again, 
the highest
resolution provided by weather satellites at the present is on the order of 250 
meters.
With this coarse resolution, it would be next to impossible to spot an 
individual.

If I were you, I would try to find out if there were any aircraft-based mapping 
campaigns
during the time of Mr. Aldrich's disappearance.  One place you might try to 
contact is
Google since it uses very high resolution imagery for Google Maps.  The other 
group
I would contact is Digital Globe:  http://www.digitalglobe.com/.

Best of luck!

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: JMU-577220
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed