From weeks to minutes
How Delta Geomatics transformed aerial imagery workflows with SkyWatch Content Store.
A boutique GIS consultancy eliminated weeks of manual imagery processing, reducing project timelines from 1–2 weeks to under an hour and enabling faster, more reliable basemap delivery for utility clients across North Louisiana.
Who is Delta Geomatics
Delta Geomatics is a boutique GIS consultancy based in North Louisiana, founded by Chase Walker roughly one year ago. The company specializes in the utility sector, specifically water and sewer infrastructure, helping regional utilities transition from paper-based records and maps to modern digital GIS platforms.
Delta Geomatics manages and maintains digital infrastructure data for multiple water and sewer districts in Ouachita and Morehouse Parishes, delivering field data collection, web application development, and day-to-day operational GIS support. The company is also actively expanding into municipal public works, supporting local governments as they modernize their data infrastructure.
Project background
Delta Geomatics was contracted by a private community water district serving the City of Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. The engagement involved building out a fully digital GIS platform for the district's water infrastructure, including mapping valves, mains, and service connections in a way that field operators could use day-to-day for maintenance and emergency response.
A foundational requirement of this work was current, high-resolution aerial imagery to serve as a base map layer within ArcGIS Online, the platform underpinning the district's operational GIS.
Why imagery matters to a utility crew
For utility operators, accurate basemap imagery is not cosmetic; it is operationally critical. Field crews rely on up-to-date aerial base maps to:
- Visually locate infrastructure assets such as valves, hydrants, and mains relative to landmarks like light poles, buildings, and roads
- Confirm that mapped asset locations align with what they see on the ground
- Reduce time spent searching for assets during maintenance or emergency shutdowns
If they can visually see that light pole, then I think, all right, I know that valve is right by this light pole because I can see it on the base map.
Chase Walker, Founder, Delta Geomatics
Outdated or low-resolution imagery renders these workflows unreliable.
The challenge
Morehouse Parish commissions aerial imagery on a six-to-eight-year cycle. Because the water district is a private entity rather than a municipal department, as it is in some jurisdictions, it fell outside the parish's data-sharing arrangements. Directly sourcing aerial imagery on a one-off, small-parcel basis was not economically viable.
Even if imagery could be sourced, there was a significant technical hurdle to clear. The imagery would need to be downloaded and processed from its raw format before it could be published into the client's ArcGIS Online account. Drawing on prior experience processing similar datasets, Walker described a workflow that takes one to two weeks on a high-end workstation: building a mosaic from raw SID files, reprojecting from State Plane to NAD83, and exporting a tile cache into ArcGIS Online.
The process was fragile. A system update or accidental shutdown midway through could force a complete restart, costing days of work.
How Content Store solved the problem
While reviewing content in his ArcGIS Online organizational account, Walker discovered the SkyWatch Content Store. Within minutes he had uploaded a feature layer of the area of interest within Morehouse Parish and located EagleView aerial imagery at the exact coverage he needed. Walker purchased approximately 56 km² of fully processed aerial imagery from 2024 for under $4,000, and client approval for the purchase was turned around in minutes.
The imagery arrived ready to publish: no reprojection, no mosaic processing, no tile cache export. Within 40 minutes of initiating the publish workflow, the layer was live in their organizational account. Within 15 minutes of that, the updated basemap had been deployed to the client.
Results at a glance
| Measure | Old way | SkyWatch Content Store |
|---|---|---|
| Time to imagery | 1–2 weeks of processing | About 55 minutes total |
| Hardware required | High-end workstation | Standard computer, browser-based |
| Data access | Manual procurement; failed agreements | Instant discovery and purchase |
| Processing steps | Mosaic, reprojection, tile cache | None, ready to use on purchase |
| Risk of failure | High, crashes force full restarts | Minimal, one-click re-publish |
| Technical expertise | Deep GIS and imagery knowledge needed | No prior GIS background required |
| Cost | Unclear licensing; not cost-effective | Transparent: about $4,000 for 56 km² |
“Within 15 minutes I had the updated basemap operational and kicked back to my client. The basemap was updated, clean. I didn't have to do anything. It was awesome.”
Summary
For Delta Geomatics, SkyWatch Content Store eliminated both the access barrier and the processing burden that had previously made current aerial imagery unattainable for this client. What had historically required specialized hardware, weeks of manual processing, and a high tolerance for workflow failure was reduced to a browser-based purchase and a 40-minute publish queue.
Walker also highlighted SkyWatch's customer service, specifically the responsiveness of the support team in resolving his purchase threshold issue, as a meaningful differentiator.
That customer service is few and far between right now. You have knocked that out of the park.
Chase Walker, Founder, Delta Geomatics
The platform's simplicity was equally notable. Walker observed that the intuitive, e-commerce-style interface means that even users without formal GIS or imagery backgrounds can successfully discover, purchase, and deploy satellite and aerial imagery, opening up access that was previously available only to those with deep technical expertise and expensive infrastructure.
