Geospatial Intelligence Research Articles

Geospatial Intelligence: Can Customs Learn From the Policing Perspective?

Every day, customs administrations around the world collect enormous amounts of data regarding the movement of passengers, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, cargo and currency and this stream of data is growing. With this expanding supply of data – and shrinking customs resources – a smarter way of making sense of this data is required, including mining the data to identify patterns of activity. Customs administrations could consider how policing agencies are mining their data holdings to derive meaningful intelligence and become intelligence-led organisations. It is postulated that customs administrations could learn from policing agencies (the scientific discoveries, the computing advances) and adapt developments by those agencies to the customs environment. This paper provides an overview of how policing agencies use geospatial intelligence and identifies ways that customs administrations would benefit from considering its use in collaborative border management.

From Anthropology to Human Geography: Human Terrain and the Evolution of Operational Sociocultural Understanding

Human terrain is a complicated term. It has been plagued with controversy in recent years stemming from US Army implementations in the Middle East. This paper reviews the history of human terrain in three forms: as a human behavioral concept, a conflict based application, and a multidisciplinary area of research. It investigates the history of the term and its evolution from anthropological foundations to human geography and geospatial intelligence. Recommendations are given and practices are suggested to gain knowledge and understanding of people that can assist in helping in hazardous situations and avoiding conflict.

소방취약지 모델의 활용 및 적용사례 발굴

AbstractIn order to foster rapid disaster response and public life protection, National Emergency Management Agency has been trying to spread ‘Emergency Rescue Standard System’ on a national scale since 2006. The agency has also intensified management of firefighter’s safety on disaster site by implementing danger predication training, specialized training and education and safety procedure check as a part of safety management officer duties. Nevertheless, there are limitations for effective fire fighting steps, such as damage spreading and life damage due to unawareness of illegal converted structure, structure transformation by high temperature and nearby hazardous material storage as well as extemporary situation handling endangered firefighter’s life. In order to eliminate these limitations there is a need for an effort and technology application to minimize human errors such as inaccurate situational awareness, wrong decision built on experience and judgment of field commander and firefighters. The purpose of this study is to propose a new disaster response model which is applied with geospatial information. we executed spatial contextual awareness map analysis using fire-fighting vulnerable zone model to propose the new disaster response model and also examined a case study for Dalseo-gu in Daegu Metropolitan City. Finally, we also suggested operational concept of new proposed model on a national scale.Keywords:Fire-fighting Geospatial Intelligence, Fire-fighting Vulnerability Map, Spatial Contextual Awareness, Geospatial Application Cases

Marine Oil Spill Simulation: A Scenario-Based Classroom Application of Meteorology and Oceanography to Environmental Protection

Predicting oil spill impacts and designing an effective response requires knowledge from several disciplines, including environmental chemistry, meteorology, oceanography, and marine ecology. In this poster, we describe an interactive computer modeling exercise that expands student understanding of principles in the natural sciences by applying them to an oil spill response scenario. The exercise is based on the software package, GNOME v.1.3.7, available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Students begin by selecting one of numerous coastal locations in the United States and an oil product to be spilled (e.g., medium crude, diesel fuel, No. 6 fuel oil). They predict oil drift trajectories by accessing surface weather analysis charts, upper air charts, and marine forecasts produced by the National Weather Service as well as real-time oceanographic data available from NOAA's Data Buoy Center and the Tides and Currents database. Students consult the Atlas of Pilot Charts from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to evaluate any influence of large-scale currents. Drawing from knowledge of the chemical properties of oil, weathering processes, leeway, Ekman dynamics, tides, and geostrophic flow, students forecast the amount and location of oil remaining after 48 hours. Predictions are tested in GNOME, which simulates an oil spill with the chosen characteristics, at the chosen location, under the same environmental conditions. Based on the model results, students evaluate environmental impacts by referring to Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps for affected coastlines. These maps are available from NOAA's Office of Prevention and Response and contain site-specific information on shoreline habitat sensitivity, conservation status of biological populations, and location of vulnerable coastal infrastructure. Students prioritize areas for protection and design a response plan with appropriate clean-up countermeasures. Response plans are communicated to the instructor in the form of a recommendation addressed to the Captain of the Port. This exercise has been successfully incorporated into several courses at the Coast Guard Academy, with modifications to accommodate various audiences and learning objectives. All versions include multidisciplinary and collaborative learning techniques, higher-level cognitive thinking, and communication requirements. Data and software packages for this exercise are freely available from federal government websites, making possible its widespread use at other colleges and agencies seeking to provide students with hands-on opportunities to explore scientific concepts in the context of environmental protection.

국방지리공간정보 거버넌스에 대한 연구 - 미(美) 정보공동체와 육군 랜드워넷을 중심으로

최근 ICT 환경이 급격하게 발전하면서 전쟁의 양상도 네트워크중심전(NCW)으로 바뀌어가고 있다. 우리나라도 그 중요성을 인식하고 C4I체계, 전술데이터링크 등 정보통신분야의 발전은 비약적인 발전을 거듭했다. 그러나 네트워크 체계의 기본바탕이고, 임무수행체계의 기반이 되는 것은 지리공간정보이며, 그 동안 지리공간정보에 대한 관심 및 발전은 상대적으로 미흡했다. 이 논문은 미국 정보공동체에 대한 연구와 미 육군 범지구격자체계인 랜드워넷에 대한 연구를 통해 미국이 공유하고 있는 정보와 지리공간정보에 대한 중요성을 인식하고, 우리나라에서 지리공간정보의 역할과 위상을 재조명하여, 향후 국방지리공간정보 거버넌스를 발전시키는데 그 목적이 있다. 미국 정보공동체는 정책결정자들의 정보요구를 충족시키기 위해 다양한 정보출처에 대해 독립된 정보과정을 통해 정보를 생산해왔으며, NCW 전장환경에 부합한 범지구격자체계를 발전시키기 위해 미 육군은 랜드워넷 체계를 도입하였다. 랜드워넷 체계의 기반인 지리공간정보 데이터 구축을 위해 설립한 기구가 공병사령부 예하의 육군지리정보센터(AGC)이며, AGC는 육군 지리공간정보 사업(AGE)을 추진하고 있다. 우리나라도 NCW구현을 위해 지리공간정보에 대한 중요성을 인식하고 국방지리공간정보의 중심점을 확립해야 한다. 현재 지리공간정보의 생산에 중점을 두고 있는 국방지형정보단의 임무 및 위상을 격상시키고, 육군에는 이에 걸맞는 공병지리공간연구소 설립이 요구되며, 지리정보 생산을 전담할 수 있는 한 개의 지리공간정보대대를 창설하는 것이 바람직할 것이다. Recently, ICT environments have been increasingly developed and the pattern of the war also has been changed to NCW. The development of communication and network technology, for example, C4I and TDL(Tactical Data Link), has been prosperous and rapid. But the geospatial intelligence field which is the basis of the network frames relatively has not been developed. The purpose of this paper is to foster the geospatial governance in terms of the defense perspective. In order to do that, this paper deals with the U.S. Intelligence Community(IC) and the U.S. Army Global Information Grid(GIG), LandWarNet and those could be good examples of roles and statuses of geospatial intelligence. IC has been produced essential intelligence which is required for policymakers and military leaders. IC has several stove-piped intelligence process systems which have been separately developed and competed. And so as to complete GIG, the U.S. Army adopted LandWarNet. The U.S. Corps of Engineers organized the Army Geospatial Center(AGC) on 1 October 2009 to support LandWarNet. In order to develop NCW, we should recognize geospatial intelligence as the basis of network framework and make a central leading organization of defense geospatial intelligence. The mission of Korea Defense Geospatial-Intelligence Agency should be changed from producing GEOINT to a strategic GEOINT agency. The Army should organize a laboratory of geospatial intelligence field. The mission of producing GEOINT should be transferred to a geospatial intelligence battalion which is newly organized.

표준 인터페이스를 적용한 프레임 센서 모델링에 관한 연구

Until recently, photogrammetric applications for processing the satellite images and remotely sensed data have been used in different structure of functions and interfaces for sensor modeling by each developer. Thus, a standardized utilization procedure was necessary to solve the problems, such as expandability, cost, inefficiency of sources which were resulted from different approaches. Therefore, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) provided unified interfaces by developing Community Sensor Model (CSM) to sensor models in same way. In this study, we suggested the method of design and analyzed main functions needed modeling for the frame sensor using CSM Application Program Interface (API) provided by NGA. We also applied the designed structure to the modeling. The implemented CSM was verified by groundToImage and imageToGround. In the future, the active R&D is expected with using CSM due to the cost saving effect of software development and remarkable expandability of sensor.

The Application of Geospatial Intelligence in National Security for Sustainable Development to combat Terrorism Insurgence in Nigeria

The development of a nation stands on a tripod which is food, shelter and security; security which is a major factor plays a vital role and should not be jeopardized, when it is jeopardized there is deterioration, depression, downcast and so on ,in the economic and welfare of the citizenry. It is therefore important that a wise nation, allot more attention to it. This research work looked into the concept of security, how geospatial intelligence has helped nations of the world to develop and to sustain the development, the history of terrorism in Nigeria which is a major treat to security, it also looked at how geospatial intelligent has assisted and can assist in taking care of cases of terrorism. The applications of geospatial techniques were then discussed and challenges which Nigerian government is facing were posed. The work was concluded by encouraging the government of Nigeria to employ the methods used by developed nations and more so tackle the challenges of funds, Inadequate satellite imagery, Lack of dedicated security satellite to curb terrorism, Inadequate trained personnel, Lack of Integration of all database within the country, with these challenges the researchers believes that the issue of security in Nigeria if not been a forgotten issue, will be drastically reduced.

Learning to Prognostically Forage in a Neural Network Model of the Interactions between Neuromodulators and Prefrontal Cortex

Neuromodulatory systems and prefrontal cortex are involved in a number of decision-making contexts. In this work, we adapt a recent neural network model that simulates interactions between neuromodulatory and prefrontal areas to the problem of prognostic foraging—that is choosing information to update or form a hypothesis. In the context of a simulated geospatial intelligence task, the model assesses a number of decision variables and strategies to choose actions that maximize information utility to more accurately predict the actions of an adversary. The model is also capable of modeling biases in decision making such as deviations from the optimal solution of maximizing information gain. Comparisons to other approaches and problem domains in information foraging are also discussed.

Geospatial Intelligence Requirements in Counterinsurgency Operations: Focusing on the War in Afghanistan(2001~Present)

Geospatial Intelligence Requirements in Counterinsurgency Operations: Focusing on the War in Afghanistan(2001~Present)

Context-based mobile GeoBI: enhancing business analysis with contextual metrics/statistics and context-based reasoning

Business professionals are increasingly mobile and should be supported by suitable mobile Decision Support Systems (DSS). In our previous work, we have established that such suitable mobile DSS should be (i) GeoBI(Geospatial Business Intelligence)-enabled and (ii) context-based, and have addressed issues regarding context characterization and context modeling. The present paper deals with mobile GeoBI context-based reasoning. Through realistic scenarios, it highlights (i) the requirement for context-based reasoning to enhance mobile GeoBI experience, (ii) the need for contextual metrics/statistics to help mobile business professionals discover their local context, (iii) the need for crossing business performance metrics with contextual metrics to help mobile business professionals in discovering the context hidden behind business performance figures, and proposes convenient solutions to tackle these needs.

Hot geospatial intelligence from a Cold War: the Soviet military mapping of towns and cities

As part of its secret military mapping program the Soviet Union produced large-scale maps and plans of hundreds of towns and cities around the world. The end of the Cold War and the subsequent fall of communism saw the eventual closure or transformation of cartographic factories in the former Soviet republics, and, for the first time, these highly detailed products of geospatial intelligence became available to a wider audience. This paper focuses on maps and plans of non-Soviet towns and cities that were produced from the 1940s to the 1990s. Through a comparison of their style and content with contemporary cartographic and documentary sources, it aims to examine the key questions of how and why they were made, before exploring their possible strategic value.

Using geospatial business intelligence paradigm to design a multidimensional conceptual model for efficient coastal erosion risk assessment

One of the main challenges in Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment (CERA) is integrating and analysis of conflicting data in various time periods and spatial scales through dissimilar environmental, social, and economic criteria. Currently, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are widely used in risk assessment despite their drawbacks and limitations as transactional systems for multi-scales, multi-epochs, and multi-themes analysis. Hence, an analytical conceptual framework is proposed in this paper based on geospatial business intelligence paradigm to develop a Spatial Multidimensional Conceptual Model (SMCM) to assess coastal erosion risk. The model is designed based on Spatial On-Line Analytical Processing (SOLAP) platform, on the top of both analytical and transactional paradigms, to allow fast synthesis of cross-tabulated data and easy comparisons over space, scales, epochs, and themes. This objective is achieved through a comprehensive integration of multiple environmental, social, and economic criteria as well as their interactions at various scales. It also takes into account multiple elements at risk such as people, infrastructure, and built environment as different dimensions of analysis. Using this solution allows decision makers to benefit from on-demand, interactive, and comprehensive information in a way that is not possible using GIS alone. The developed model can easily be adapted for any other coastal region through the proposed framework to perform risk assessment. The advantages and drawbacks of the proposed framework are also discussed and new research perspectives are presented.

Geospatial intelligence workforce

A report on the future U.S. workforce for geospatial intelligence, requested by the U.S. National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA), found that the agency—which hires about 300 scientists and analysts annually—is probably finding sufficient experts to fill the needs in all of its core areas, with the possible exception of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing. The report by the U.S. National Research Council, released on 25 January, noted that competition for GIS applications analysts is strong. While there appear to be enough cartographers, photogrammetrists, and geodesists to meet NGA's current needs in those core areas, the report cautioned that future shortages in these areas seem likely because of a relatively small number of graduates.

Spatial, Temporal and Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Maritime Piracy.

Objectives:To examine patterns in the timing and location of incidents of maritime piracy to see whether, like many urban crimes, attacks cluster in space and time.Methods:Data for all incidents of maritime piracy worldwide recorded by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency are analyzed using time-series models and methods originally developed to detect disease contagion.Results:At the macro level, analyses suggest that incidents of pirate attacks are concentrated in five subregions of the earth’s oceans and that the time series for these different subregions differ. At the micro level, analyses suggest that for the last 16 years (or more), pirate attacks appear to cluster in space and time suggesting that patterns are not static but are also not random.Conclusions:Much like other types of crime, pirate attacks cluster in space, and following an attack at one location the risk of others at the same location or nearby is temporarily elevated. The identification of such regularities has implications for the understanding of maritime piracy and for predicting the future locations of attacks.

Optimization of Nigerian Satellites and Geo-Spatial Intelligence on National Security.

Nigeria as a nation is experiencing a tremor in its National security based on the indiscriminate bombings and killings in the country which is attributed to religious, political and/ or ethnic fight. The United States defense has used geospatial intelligence to manage its national security in the past years and it has yielded by the cracking down of the big terrorist and terrorist organization in the world. This was achieved by its massive investment and commitment in its space programs. In bid to emulate the US, this study aimed to promote geospatial intelligence amongst the Nigerian Security Agencies towards achieving a stable National Security. Also, the study identified the relevant agencies to collaborate with the security agencies to promote synergy towards a stable national security in Nigeria; and provides a framework for improving and managing National Security using geospatial intelligence approach. The approach employed was a combination of satellite imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information with the help of ICT to tackle the identified sectors that makes up national security (micro (internal), macro (regional) and strategic (world at large)). The incorporation of geospatial intelligence in the micro, macro and strategic security sectors will strengthen our National Security provided there is synergy, commitment and information sharing among relevant agencies.

When Informationists Get Involved: the CHICA-GIS Project.

Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation (CHICA) is a computer decision support system (CDSS) that interfaces with existing electronic medical record systems (EMRS) and delivers “just-in-time” patient-relevant guidelines to physicians during the clinical encounter and accurately captures structured data from all who interact with the system. “Delivering Geospatial Intelligence to Health Care Professionals (CHICA-GIS)” (1R01LM010923-01) expands the medical application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by integrating a geographic information system with CHICA. To provide knowledge management support for CHICA-GIS, three informationists at the Indiana University School of Medicine were awarded a supplement from the National Library Medicine. The informationists will enhance CHICA-GIS by: improving the accuracy and accessibility of information, managing and mapping the knowledge which undergirds the CHICA-GIS decision support tool, supporting community engagement and consumer health information outreach, and facilitating the dissemination of new CHICA-GIS research results and services.

HIGH RESOLUTION DSM AND CLASSIFIED VOLUMETRIC GENERATION: AN OPERATIONAL APPROACH TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract. As mentioned by Bacastow and Bellafiore, Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) is a field of knowledge, a process, and a profession. As knowledge, it is information integrated in a coherent space-time context that supports descriptions, explanations, or forecasts of human activities with which decision makers take action. As a process, it is the means by which data and information are collected, manipulated, geospatially reasoned, and disseminated to decision-makers. The geospatial intelligence professional establishes the scope of activities, interdisciplinary associations, competencies, and standards in academe, government, and the private sectors. Taking into account the fact that GEOINT is crucial for broad organizations, BLOM Group, a leading International provider within acquisition, processing and modeling of geographic information and ITHACA, a non-profit organization devoted to products and services delivering to the UN System in the field of geomatics, set up and provided GEOINT data to the main Italian companies operating in the field of mobile phone networking. This data, extremely useful for telecom network planning, have derived and produced using a standardized and effective (from the production point of view) approach. In this paper, all the procedures used for the production are described and tested with the aim to investigate the suitability of the data and the procedures themselves to any others possible fields of application.

GEOSPATIAL SERVICE WEB: FROM DATA, INFORMATION, AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING TO WEB GEOINTELLIGENCE

Abstract. The existing Spatial Data Infrastructure applications or virtual globes allow users to experiment with these tools for sharing and exploration of geospatial data. A typical application is the recently launched MapWorld, an interactive geospatial data browser developed based on GeoGlobe. Geospatial Service Web goes further by providing a geospatial infrastructure that integrates various geospatial-related resources through the Web and service technologies. The development of the Geospatial Service Web will be the establishment of a platform where data, information, and knowledge can be shared and exchanged in an interoperable and interworkable way. The fulfilment of this platform requires the integration of geospatial data acquisition system, data transformation system, distributed spatial data collection, high-capability server system, and large volume storage system etc., and exploration and extraction of useful information and knowledge from oceans of data. These are together known as Web-based Geospatial Intelligence (i.e. Web GeoIntelligence), which is an important content of the Geospatial Service Web.

SUMMARY OF THE VALIDATION OF THE SECOND VERSION OF THE ASTER GDEM

Abstract. On October 17, 2011, NASA and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan released the second version of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) to users worldwide at no charge as a contribution to the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). The first version of the ASTER GDEM, released on June 29, 2009, was compiled from over 1.2 million scene-based DEMs covering land surfaces between 83°N and 83°S latitudes. The second version (GDEM2) incorporates 260,000 additional scenes to improve coverage, a smaller correlation kernel to yield higher spatial resolution, and improved water masking. As with GDEM1, US and Japanese partners collaborated to validate GDEM2. Its absolute accuracy was within -0.20 meters on average when compared against 18,000 geodetic control points over the conterminous US (CONUS), with an accuracy of 17 meters at the 95% confidence level. The Japan study noted the GDEM2 differed from the 10-meter national elevation grid by -0.7 meters over bare areas, and by 7.4 meters over forested areas. The CONUS study noted a similar result, with the GDEM2 determined to be about 8 meters above the 1 arc-second US National Elevation Database (NED) over most forested areas, and more than a meter below NED over bare areas. A global ICESat study found the GDEM2 to be on average within 3 meters of altimeter-derived control. The Japan study noted a horizontal displacement of 0.23 pixels in GDEM2. A study from the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency also determined horizontal displacement and vertical accuracy as compared to the 1 arc-second Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM. US and Japanese studies estimated the horizontal resolution of the GDEM2 to be between 71 and 82 meters. Finally, the number of voids and artifacts noted in GDEM1 were substantially reduced in GDEM2.

The Best‐Laid Schemes: Postcolonialism, Military Social Science, and the Making of US Counterinsurgency Doctrine, 1947–2009

The Best‐Laid Schemes: Postcolonialism, Military Social Science, and the Making of US Counterinsurgency Doctrine, 1947–2009