Starting September 4, the GeoEye satellite will be supplying Google with imagery for the company’s Google Earth and Google Maps products.

Mark Brender, vice president of corporate communications and marketing for Google, stated that the company will be the exclusive mapping site using GeoEye-1’s imagery.

Moreover, its logo will appear on the rocket set to launch the satellite in September. Nevertheless, it seems that there is no financial interest behind this, the logo being merely a way to show Google’s support for the project.

The satellite, which is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on September 4, will be in its orbit within an hour-and-a-half, ready to provide high resolution images. It is said that GeoEye can take detailed imagery for an area the size of New Mexico in only day, meaning that in 30 days’ time, it will be able to get images for the entire country.

The satellite will orbit 423 miles above Earth, gathering detailed imagery of approximately 50 cm per pixel. Currently, Google Earth’s images are within a resolution range that only allows large geographical features to be seen.

The overall satellite was built by General Dynamics, while ITT is the company responsible for the imaging subsystem and will also be so for the GeoEye-2 satellite, set to be launched in 2011 or 2012. ITT stated that GeoEye 2 will have a resolution of 25cm.

Google spokesperson, Kate Hurowitz, said that GeoEye will have the highest ground resolution imagery available in the commercial marketplace.

“It is our goal to display high-resolution imagery for as much of the world as possible and GeoEye-1 will help further that goal," she added.