WorldView 1
50 cm panchromatic — black and white only, no spectral bands
When to use
- Visual interpretation, base mapping, infrastructure monitoring
- Stereo pairs for DSM/DTM generation
- Defence and intelligence work where colour is unnecessary
When it's the wrong fit
- Any spectral analysis (single panchromatic band — no NDVI, NDWI, etc.)
- Vegetation, water, mineral, or any quantitative analytics
Processing levels
Five processing levels. Levels 1–3 are applied by default on every order; pansharpening (4) runs automatically when the sensor has a panchromatic band; mosaicking (5) runs automatically when the AOI spans multiple scenes. Specify any level explicitly if you need to override the default.
| L | Output | What's applied | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Raw | Digital numbers (sensor counts) with no calibration or geometric correction. Delivered as unprojected GeoTIFF with sensor metadata. | On request |
| 1 | Orthorectified | Geometric correction onto a DEM. Every pixel sits at its true ground position. Customer-supplied GCPs accepted at no extra cost. | Default |
| 2 | Surface reflectance | TOA radiometric correction plus atmospheric correction. Output is the actual fraction of light reflected by the ground, comparable across dates, sensors, and sun angles. | Default |
| 3 | Pansharpened | Not applicable — this sensor has no panchromatic band. | N/A |
| 4 | Mosaicked | Seamless multi-scene composite over the AOI with ML cloud/cirrus masking and custom seam-line path-finding. Applied automatically when the AOI spans more than one scene. | Default* |
*Mosaicking applies when the AOI spans more than one scene. Single-scene orders skip it.
Water masks, tree masks, glint handling, lidar-aligned reflectance, aquatic atmospheric correction, region-tuned models — anything your downstream pipeline requires. Quoted with the order.
Specifications
| General | |
| Provider | Vantor (formerly MAXAR) |
| Country | United States |
| System type | Constellation member (9+ Vantor) |
| Product type | Panchromatic |
| Availability | Tasking and catalog |
| Available since | 2007 |
| Sensor | |
| Resolution | Panchromatic: 50 cm |
| Bit depth | 16-bit; 8-bit Map-Ready also available |
| Swath width | 17.7 km |
| Off-nadir range | 5°–45° |
| Constellation | 1 satellite (WorldView-1 (Vantor constellation)) |
| Orbit | Sun-synchronous, 496 km |
| Revisit | 15 times daily (Vantor constellation) — in practice 1–5 days |
| Acquisition modes | Mono |
| Reference | |
| CRS | UTM-WGS84 |
| Positional accuracy | < 5 m CE90 absolute |
| Processing levels | Primary (Basic), Georectified (TOA), Orthorectified (TOA) |
| Tasking and catalog conditions | |
| Minimum AOI width | tasking 3 km wide · catalog 3 km wide |
| Minimum charge area | tasking 50 km² · archive 25 km² |
| Geographic restrictions | Some areas restricted by US export controls |
Live tracking
See all Geopera's satellites →WorldView 1 positions propagated from fresh TLEs in your browser. Satellites rendered at true orbital altitude, oriented nadir-pointing. The emerald rectangles on the ground are each sensor's current swath footprint.
Spectral bands
| Band | Designation and wavelength |
|---|---|
| Panchromatic | 400-900 nm |
Delivery manifest
Each order delivers as a single archive containing the following files.
worldview-1_[order_id].zip
├── data/ 1 band file, GeoTIFF, 16-bit; 8-bit Map-Ready also available
├── metadata.xml acquisition parameters, calibration coefficients
├── metadata.txt human-readable summary
├── masks/ ROI
├── thumbnails/ PNG previews
└── overviews/ JPEG quicklook
Compare with
Closest alternatives by resolution and product type.
| Spec | WorldView 1 | BJ3A | Göktürk-1 | Jilin-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 50 cm | 50 cm | 50 cm | 50 cm |
| Provider | Vantor (formerly MAXAR) | 21AT (Twenty-First Century Aerospace Technology) | IMPROSAT (Turkish Air Force) | Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST) |
| Country | United States | China | Türkiye | China |
| Type | Panchromatic | Multispectral | Multispectral | Multispectral |
| Availability | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog |
Spectral indices
4 spectral indices are compatible with WorldView 1. See the full spectral profile for the complete list and band mappings.
Ready to order WorldView 1?
Browse the catalog, place a tasking order, or request a custom processing pipeline through the Geopera portal. We respond to quote requests within one business day.