SPOT Images

A SPOT satellite image is a view of the Earth seen through one of the satellite’s high-resolution imaging instruments. The technical characteristics of each instrument determine the resolution and spectral mode of the image.
The acquired image is then processed to suit users’ requirements in terms of geographic information. It is delivered in a standard format able to be integrated directly in current geographic information software packages.

Resolutions and spectral modes

By combining imagery from SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 satellites, it is now possible to generate data

at four levels of resolution (2.5 m, 5 m, 10 m and 20 m)
in black and white and in colour
across the same 60 km swath

This multi-resolution approach offers users the geospatial information they need at different scales.

More information about resolutions and spectral modes

Preprocessing levels and location accuracy

Astrium GEO Information Services' wide choice of preprocessing levels offers precise and reliable analysis tools to meet users’ diverse geographic information needs.

More Information on preprocessing levels and location accuracy

The SPOT images format

The standard format of the SPOT images is DIMAP format but some images can be produced in the CAP format.

The DIMAP format

DIMAP, which stands for Digital Image Map, is the SPOT product data format introduced in mid-2002 for the launch of the SPOT 5 satellite. DIMAP was developed in partnership with CNES, the french space agency.
More inforamtion about the DIMAP format

The CAP format

SPOT Scene products derived from SPOT 1 to 4 can be supplied on request in the CAP format, CEOS standard compliant.
pdf CAP Format descriptive file (pdf file - 250 Ko)