Spot Image, a public limited company founded in 1982 by the National Center for Space Studies (CNES, in its French acronym), the French National Geographic Institute, and the space industry (Matra, Alcatel, SSC, etc.), is a subsidiary of EADS Astrium (81%). Under the mandate of CNES, the company is the commercial operator of the SPOT Earth observation satellites.

Spot Image distributes products and services from Earth observation satellite images worldwide and is supported by a network of subsidiaries, offices (Australia, Brazil, China, United States, Japan, Peru, Singapore) and partners. The objective is to guarantee a local service, through a decidedly global presence.

Spot Image works with a network of more than 30 direct reception stations that receive images acquired by SPOT satellites.

Spot Image collaborates with the GMES program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and works with the OGC to share geographic information and interoperability of web services. Finally, it continues to offer its services for precision agriculture together with Infoterra Global.

The two Spot satellites in orbit (Spot 4 and 5) provide images with a wide range of resolutions: from 2.5 m to 10 m. In addition, Spot Image also distributes multiresolution data from other optical satellites, specifically those from Formosat-2 (Taiwan) and Kompsat Satellite-2 (South Korea), for which it has acquired exclusive distribution rights, as well as from several radar satellites (TerraSar-X, ERS, Envisat, Radarsat). Spot Image will also be the exclusive distributor of very high resolution data from future Pléiades satellites. The launch of the first of them is scheduled for early 2010. The company also offers reception and treatment infrastructure, as well as solutions with high added value.

Satellite images constitute an unparalleled source of information for the knowledge, monitoring, forecasting and management of human resources and activities on our planet. They represent an effective and economical means of extracting valuable geographic data, which constitute authentic tools that help public entities and private companies make decisions.