Globexplorer

GlobeXplorer provides web services access to satellite and aerial imagery over the internet. GlobeXplorer manages relationships with dozens of source imagery providers and then provides simple web access to a multi-terrabyte unified collection of images.

GlobeXplorer clients range from individual end-users with Web Map Server (WMS) clients to consumer-oriented web portals serving millions of hits a day. This high-load, high-volume environment requires a very reliable technical solution that scales up efficiently to support millions of requests per day.

The GlobeXplorer (GX) architecture does not store imagery inside the database itself, but uses the database to store metadata about available imagery. The GX middleware handles incoming image requests by first querying the database to determine image availability, then retrieving the actual images from storage and delivers them to the client. So, each image request generates one or more database hits on the database metadata.