DigitalGlobe Starts CrowdSourcing Effort for Missing Plane

March 18, 2014  - By

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DigitalGlobe, Inc., has launched a crowdsourcing campaign that will allow anyone to help look for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by combing through satellite images for clues of its whereabouts.

The search drew so many participants on its first day March 17, that it crashed the company’s website, with 500,000 visitors wanting to help find the missing Boeing 777. Anyone can begin searching the satellite images, tagging anything that looks suspicious. Each pixel on a computer screen represents half a meter on the ocean’s surface.

The Longmont, Colorado, company said two of its commercial satellites have already collected images comprising roughly 1,988 square miles at the confluence of the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the Beijing-bound aircraft mysteriously went missing on Saturday. The company is continuing to update the images to reflect new information about the search area provided by the Malaysian government.

To help, go to DigitalGlobe’s crowdsourcing website, Tomnod.com.

This article is tagged with , and posted in Featured Stories, GIS News, GIS Software, Mobile Devices

About the Author: Tracy Cozzens

Senior Editor Tracy Cozzens joined GPS World magazine in 2006. She also is editor of GPS World’s newsletters and the sister website Geospatial Solutions. She has worked in government, for non-profits, and in corporate communications, editing a variety of publications for audiences ranging from federal government contractors to teachers.

2 Comments on "DigitalGlobe Starts CrowdSourcing Effort for Missing Plane"

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  1. Friend says:

    First day March 17? They started that effort March 10! Source: http://www.digitalglobeblog.com/2014/03/10/missingmalayairjet/

  2. Friend says:

    First day March 17? They started that effort March 10! Source: http://www.digitalglobeblog.com/2014/03/10/missingmalayairjet/