TAMPA — DigitalGlobe, a geospatial analysis company that provides services to U.S. Special Operations Command, is once again assisting in the search for a missing airliner and allowing the public to help.
For at least the third time this year, the company, which has six satellites in orbit, is using its imagery technology and a crowd-sourcing platform to help solve an aviation mystery.
The company on Monday said it is using its online subscription service called FirstLook, managed out of its Tampa office, to help in the search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The plane lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday on its way from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board and is presumed crashed into the sea.
FirstLook offers high-resolution satellite images of emergency management events and disasters online to its clients, which typically include humanitarian organizations, first responders, online mapping portals, global development organizations and governments, the company says.
DigitalGlobe activated its FirstLook service on Sunday, according to Turner Brinton, a company spokesman. So far this year, there have been about 200 events like natural disasters and missing aircraft that have been added to the subscription service, he said.
The company on Monday also activated its crowd-sourcing platform called Tomnod. By logging onto Tomnod.com, the public can pore through the company’s commercial satellite imagery to help look for debris or other clues about the missing jet, which Indonesian officials now say is likely at the bottom of the ocean.
DigitalGlobe has “retasked” its satellites to focus on an area east-northeast and southeast of the island of Pulau Belitung in the Java Sea, Brinton said.
After Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March with nearly 240 people aboard, DigitalGlobe allowed the public to use the Tomnod site to help in search efforts. Millions of people took part, and while the flight was never found, Brinton at the time said the Tomnod efforts helped narrow down the search area.
In July, the company activated its FirstLook service after the downing of Malaysia Air Flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine with nearly 300 people on board.
Aside from managing the FirstLook program, the Tampa office also works with Socom, which is based out of MacDill Air Force Base, and government and civilian clients on projects ranging from predicting sink holes in Pasco County to helping actor George Clooney stop the killing of civilians in South Sudan.
PHOTO DigitalGlobe, which has an office in Tampa, has six satellites for satellite imaging and provides orbital views to such companies as Google and provides services to U.S. Special Operations Command. TRIBUNE FILE