IKONOS Satellite Imagery for Wildlife Conservation Groups

GeoEye Foundation Donates IKONOS Satellite Imagery to Wildlife Conservation Groups for Monitoring Endangered Gorilla Population - New High-Quality Maps of Africa's Virunga National Park Reveal Mountain Gorilla Habitat

DULLES, Va., Nov. 13 -- GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), a leading producer of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, recently announced the Foundation's donation of more than 1,000 square kilometers of high-resolution, IKONOS satellite imagery to international conservation groups to aid in gorilla preservation efforts. The recent massacre of a family of mountain gorillas in Africa's Virunga National Park prompted increased attention to this area, the home of 60 percent of the world's gorilla population.

Houston-based Satellite Imaging Corp. (SIC), one of GeoEye's North American Resellers, approached the Foundation and applied for the grant on behalf of various conservation groups involved in the fight to protect Virunga's dwindling gorilla population.

Leo J. Romeijn, president and owner of SIC explained, "Once my team heard about the conservation group's need for updated maps, we approached GeoEye's foundation and were awarded the grant within two days. We immediately set out to create nine high-quality images that span six years. We believe the combined images will allow conservation groups to become more familiar with the more than 300-square-mile habitat."

"GeoEye and our partners strive to be good stewards of wildlife and the environment," said Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of Corporate Communications and Marketing. "One of the reasons we formed the GeoEye Foundation was to advance humanitarian and environmental research studies.

The more than 300 million square kilometers of map-accurate imagery already in our archive provides both coverage and historical perspective that can be of great value to such initiatives. We are adding to this archive on a daily basis, and will be doing so at an increased rate with even higher resolution and more accurate color imagery when we launch our new satellite, GeoEye-1, next year. We are proud to partner with SIC and lend our geospatial solutions to help with the conservation efforts of the mountain gorillas in Virunga."

Conservation groups involved in the project include the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the Central African Regional Program for the Environment, International Gorilla Conservation Program, Zoological Society of London and the African Conservation Fund. This year, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) celebrates its 40th anniversary of protecting and studying gorillas in their natural habitat. After 40 years, the Fossey Fund is one of the foremost world leaders in gorilla conservation efforts through the renowned Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda.

"This kind and quality of information will be enormously useful in helping to plan for the future of the endangered mountain gorillas," says Fossey Fund president and CEO Clare Richardson. "It will also allow all of us to continue our work with local partners in the region to help create far-reaching sustainable conservation solutions in the Virungas."

Link.
Source: http://www.geoeye.com/.