WorldView 3
30 cm multispectral with 8 bands and SWIR, the gold standard for commercial Earth observation
When to use
- Mineral exploration and geological mapping (8 SWIR bands cover diagnostic absorption features)
- Defence and intelligence work where 30 cm is non-negotiable
- Coastal and bathymetric studies (coastal blue band)
- High-precision change detection on infrastructure
When it's the wrong fit
- Wide-area monitoring where cost per km² matters
- Customers with budget pressure who can flex on resolution to 50 cm
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 | Gram-Schmidt fusion of panchromatic and multispectral bands. Spectral ratios preserved for downstream analytics. | Default |
| 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.
DSM (digital surface model) and DTM (digital terrain model), priced per area. This sensor supports stereo capture, required for elevation products.
Specifications
| General | |
| Provider | Vantor (formerly MAXAR) |
| Country | United States |
| System type | Constellation member (9+ Vantor) |
| Product type | Multispectral + SWIR |
| Availability | Tasking and catalog |
| Available since | 2014 |
| Sensor | |
| Resolution | Panchromatic: 30 cm · Pansharpened: 30 cm · Multispectral: 1.20 m · SWIR: 3.70 m |
| Bit depth | 16-bit (System/Ortho-Ready); 8-bit (Map-Ready Pansharpened) |
| Swath width | 13.1 km |
| Off-nadir range | 5°–45° |
| Constellation | 1 satellite (WorldView-3 (Vantor constellation)) |
| Orbit | Sun-synchronous, 617 km |
| Revisit | 15 times daily (Vantor constellation) — in practice 1–3 days at acceptable quality |
| Acquisition modes | Mono, Stereo (tasking) |
| Reference | |
| CRS | UTM-WGS84 |
| Positional accuracy | < 5 m CE90 absolute |
| Processing levels | Primary (Basic), Georectified (Surface Reflectance), Orthorectified (Surface Reflectance, Display) |
| Tasking and catalog conditions | |
| Minimum AOI width | tasking 2 km wide · catalog 2 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 3 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 | 450-800 nm |
| Coastal | 400-450 nm |
| Blue | 450-510 nm |
| Green | 510-580 nm |
| Yellow | 585-625 nm |
| Red | 630-690 nm |
| Red Edge | 705-745 nm |
| NIR1 | 770-895 nm |
| NIR2 | 860-1040 nm |
| SWIR1 | 1195-1225 nm |
| SWIR2 | 1550-1590 nm |
| SWIR3 | 1640-1680 nm |
| SWIR4 | 1710-1750 nm |
| SWIR5 | 2145-2185 nm |
| SWIR6 | 2185-2225 nm |
| SWIR7 | 2235-2285 nm |
| SWIR8 | 2295-2365 nm |
Delivery manifest
Each order delivers as a single archive containing the following files.
worldview-3_[order_id].zip
├── data/ 17 band files, GeoTIFF, 16-bit (System/Ortho-Ready); 8-bit (Map-Ready Pansharpened)
├── 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 3 | BJ3N | SuperView Neo | WorldView 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 30 cm | 30 cm | 30 cm | 31 cm |
| Provider | Vantor (formerly MAXAR) | 21AT (Twenty-First Century Aerospace Technology) | SPACEWILL (CASIC) | Vantor (formerly MAXAR) |
| Country | United States | China | China | United States |
| Type | Multispectral + SWIR | Multispectral | Multispectral | Multispectral |
| Availability | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Archive only |
Spectral indices
161 spectral indices are compatible with WorldView 3. The most-used: NDVI,EVI,NDWI,MNDWI,SAVI,NBR,NDRE,NDBI,GNDVI,MSAVI. See the full spectral profile for the complete list and band mappings.
Ready to order WorldView 3?
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.