[SatNews] More than 350 entries have already been received for this Research Challenge... as of this writing, that is.

DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI) has told us the company has received more than 350 entries for the DigitalGlobe 8-Band Research Challenge to date. Submissions have been received from universities, private industry, and scientific organizations located in more than 70 countries around the world since the call for proposals opened on August 1, 2010. Overall enthusiasm for the challenge has been extremely high. Scientists are proposing to leverage 8-band imagery to address questions of land use/land cover, vegetative analysis, feature extraction and bathymetry, as they apply to various industries including environmental, telecom, oil and gas and civil government. The 8-Band Challenge represents an unprecedented collaboration between private enterprise and the scientific community to understand the true power of 8-band imagery and support its usability in the commercial market.

DigitalGlobe 8-Band Research Challenge is a contest designed to encourage researchers to investigate how 8-band, high-resolution imagery can enhance image analysis and classification research. The 8-band data is unique in the marketplace to DigitalGlobe, a result of the company’s newest commercial satellite WorldView-2, launched in October of 2009. Accepted proposals will receive a limited quantity of free 8-band imagery in order to conduct their research and submit a final paper for review. The call for proposals will close on August 31, 2010. For official rules and conditions regarding the 8-Band Research Challenge, please visit www.digitalglobe.com/8bandchallenge.