Vexcel has announced plans for a 7.5cm aerial imagery program across the US, with the aim of extending it to Europe.

Data collection in the US will begin in January 2027. The company currently offers 15cm-resolution data across the country.

Vexcel claims the new program will result in:

• 16x more pixel detail per square metre than the highest-resolution true-pixel commercial satellite imagery available today (30cm)
• 4.5-5 million square kilometres collected annually across the US at 7.5cm resolution
• 48 states covered with consistent 7.5cm imagery across both rural and urban areas
• 4x more 7.5cm coverage than any other US aerial imagery program
• 90% of the US population refreshed twice annually
• 96% of the US population refreshed at least once annually.

The program will produce orthomosaic imagery and multispectral imagery, plus a generated nationwide digital surface model aligned to the ortho imagery.

Vexcel claims this will be the most detailed elevation dataset ever assembled across the contiguous United States.

“For more than two decades, Vexcel has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in large-scale aerial imagery,” said Erik Jorgensen, Group CEO of Vexcel.

“We helped pioneer seamless [US] nationwide coverage at 30cm, expanded it to 20cm and then 15cm, and now we’re taking the next step with 7.5cm imagery across the contiguous United States.

“As AI models and digital systems increasingly depend on accurate and high-fidelity representations of the physical world, this program will provide a new foundation for understanding places, infrastructure, property, and change at national scale.”