0606_Pathfinder_National Geospatial Intelligence Journal

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N / D 2 0 0 8

Foundation Data

and Technology

Vol. 6 No. 6


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On My Mind

M T AIn oces, labs and orward-operating bases, talented members o the NGA team are developing innova-tive and eective ways to produce the highest-quality geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) necessary or theproblem at hand. Technology is oten given credit or revolutionizing a process, but the real credit goes tothe people behind the technology. They innovate, build and operate the tools and techniques to give ourwarghters and policymakers the inormation they need to do their jobs. But there are many actors thatinfuence how NGA approaches technology development.

Asymmetric threats, adversarial nations and rapidly expanding technologies require NGA to adapt andthink systematically about what we are doing now, what we should be doing and how we will do so in theuture. In the recently released Vision 2015: A Globally Networked and Integrated Intelligence Enterprisethe Director o National Intelligence reiterates our need or multiple, integrated collection systems, ointegrated processing, exploitation and dissemination architecture, and or collaborative analysis. Thekey design principles o Vision 2015 are adaptability, alignment and agility; these principles are guidingNGAs technology priorities. Incorporating multiple sensors into our architecture and analysis and improvingexploitation tools and techniques are two examples o how technology is improving our operations.

Sn AdvngOver the last several years, combat operations have demonstrated what ull motion video (FMV) brings to

the ght. As airborne reconnaissance advances, wide-area surveillance (WAS) enables a better view o thebattleeld and multiplies the eectiveness o each mission. The added value that airborne imagery bringsto a large number o missions and operations reinorces our need to ully support intelligence, surveillanceand reconnaissance (ISR) eorts.

Additionally, NGA and our mission partners are leveraging existing capabilities and adapting them to newapplications. Hyperspectral imagery, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and advanced radar applicationsare providing high-resolution terrain inormation that promises eature detection, extraction and attributionIn Aghanistan, we have seen rsthand the impact o these new applications in a collaborative coalitioneort. NGA and numerous partners used hyperspectral imagery to gain a better understanding o the terraino Aghanistan, creating oundation data that assisted in a variety o mission sets. These valuable, dynamic

capabilities produce exponentially more data that require signicant storage and exploitation space andappropriate extraction tools that make sure it is used eectively.

Expn AdvncImproving our sources and using national technical means (NTM) with commercial and airborne assets

adds signicant value to our capabilities. Still, our real power resides in our ability to perorm geospatiaanalysis and work with our U.S. and allied counterparts. Our analysts require tools that enable them todiscover, exploit and share existing imagery and data. Tools like Consolidated Analytic Spatial initiative(CASi) and GEOINT Online (GO) allow or quick retrieval o vast quantities o data in a user-riendly ormatNGA is looking outward or other tools to aid in exploitation, like SOCET GXP, Adobe PDF, MicrosotVirtual Earth, ESRI Arc Explorer and Google Earth. Our analysts continue to seek out more collaborativetools as they see the power to intuitively nd the imagery and geospatial inormation that they need toproduce accurate, relevant and timely GEOINT.

To maintain our technical advantage, NGA continues to develop a diverse array o GEOINT sources,

tools and techniques. Technology has played a major role at NGA and will continue to do so, particularlyas we ocus outward and work more closely with Deense and Intelligence Community partners every dayAnd at the end o the day, we must all remember that our people drive our analysis, innovation, creativityand progress.

Robert B. MurrettV A, USN

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Contents2 LOR3 GC:TAGEOINT6 UpF:AAppLGE-1

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7 UpF:ODNIV2015ExpVwIEp

F E A T U R E S

8 NGA:GPSCCb11 EGMAGEOINT

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14 AGpEbBT16 CASpI

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18 UbFDSpWVw

19 OGbNATMF

D E P A R T M E N T S21 OH:GEOINTFEb

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23 NwCpE:T-DOpCWMV

Pathinder November/December 2008 Vol. 6 No. 6

On the Cover

NGA broke ground or its New Campus East (NCE) on Sept. 25, 2007. Asthe new home or geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), NCE promises tooster an improved environment or the ongoing ulllment o NGAs mis-sion. The NGA Director, Navy Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, recently touredthe NCE construction site at Ft. Belvoir, Va., with the Under Secretary oDeense or Intelligence, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr.,Murretts predecessor. The two surveyed the work in progress, admiringthe solid oundation being laid or the uture o GEOINT. That oundationincludes the agencys accumulating wealth o geospatial oundationdata and the technological systems used to exploit and deliver it. Agencypersonnel will begin the move to NCE in 2010. NCE will be completed in2011. Photos by Larry Franklin. Photo illustration by Carmella Bender.

M h Sy?The online Classied Pathnder, which is accessible

by members o the Intelligence Community, may in-

clude additional inormation and expanded sections

o some Pathnder articles. The Classied Pathnder

provides a orum or reading and discussing topics

at the level o Unclassied//For Ocial Use Only

or higher. For inormation please contact the editor,

Heather Cox, at 301-227-2290.


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Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Oce o Corporate Communications

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-7388,

DSN 287-7388

E-mail: [email protected]

Director

Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, U.S. Navy

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Oice o Corporate Communications, Director

Paul R. Weise

Internal Communications Branch, Chie

Louis J. Brune

Editor

Jason K. Michas

Managing EditorKelly M. Kemp

Graphic Designer

Carmella E. Bender

Contributing Authors

Denise Damschroeder

John A. Duncan

Glenn Forinash

Emily Kilman

Mark Munsell

Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, Director, NGA

Dr. Nikolaos K. Pavlis

Lloyd Rowland, Deputy Director, NGA

Wayne P. Schneider

Gregory Wagner

Dr. Gary E. Weir

GETTING PUBLISHED

All members o the geospatial intelligence community are wel-

come to submit articles o community-wide interest. Articles are

edited or style, content and length. For details on submitting

articles, send an e-mail to [email protected].

The Pathnder is the medium with which the National Geo-

spatial-Intelligence Agency enhances and promotes public

awareness and understanding o the discipline o geospatial

intelligence. The Pathnder is an authorized Department o

Deense publication or members o the Department o Deense.

Contents o this publication are not necessarily the ocial view

o, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department o Deense

or NGA. Articles in the Pathnder may be reproduced in whole

or in part without permission, unless stated otherwise. I they

are reproduced, please credit the author and the NationalGeospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Pathnder magazine. Any

reproduction o graphics, photographs and imagery is subject to

the original copyright.

Letter to Our Readers

F D TEvery building rests upon a oundation, everypublication begins with a blank page and every

achievement has a starting point. From concept

to product, emerging ideas oten evolve into

successul actions.

NGAs dedication to providing timely and

relevant geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is

ueled by emerging technologies ounded

upon the structurally sound data points o

NGAs predecessor agencies. Whether as a

building, an inormation system or a class

o data, NGAs strong oundation allows theagency to succeed in ullling its mission

and supporting its partners. This Pathnder

explores the relationship o oundation data and technology and the ground-

work they lay or the agencys success.

NGA Deputy Director Lloyd Rowland reminds us o the intimate relationship

between geospatial oundation data and the work o this agency. The success-

ul launch o the GeoEye-1 satellite, a part o the NextView program, points to

the continual need to develop both data and the technology to deliver it, to

strengthen the momentum o GEOINT in the pursuit o the nations security.

Technology and oundation data magniy NGAs collaboration with and

responsibility to the Intelligence Community. These crucial elements also pre-

vent threats and protect warghters, as illustrated by NGA Director Vice Adm.

Murretts article on the importance o the Global Positioning System (GPS) to

actionable GEOINT.

Wayne Schneider and Denise Damschroeder provide insight into the Bound-

ary Technical Working Group, a critical partnership that establishes the most

accurate geospatial truth related to international boundary data in mapping and

geospatial history. No less valuable, urban eature data reinorces the GEOINT

support NGA provides to military orces, as discussed in Gregory Wagners article.

Valuable GEOINT is collected and constructively shared through the Consoli-

dated Analytic Spatial initiative (CASi). John A. Duncan and Emily Kilman intro-

duce CASi and its role in improving inormation sharing among analysts. Mark

Munsell outlines the Oce o Global Navigations eorts to achieve the uture o

GEOINT by meeting increasing requirements to seamlessly manipulate data at

the touch o a button.

Join NGA Historian Dr. Gary E. Weir as he travels through decades past, explor-

ing deep into the oundational base o gathering GEOINT. Finally, Glenn Forinash

shares his perspective on how the New Campus East (NCE) will enhance

time-dominant operations. The building o NCE continues to progress ahead o

schedule and serves as an ever-present reminder o the importance o a solid

oundation to achieving success.

Success and accomplishments come in many orms. The next issue, Janu-

ary/February 2009, will relate many o NGAs signicant accomplishments o

this past year.

Paul R. WeiseD, O C C


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Guest Column

T A GEOINTBy Lloyd Rowland, Deputy Director, NGA

M

Desert Storm, I sat down to plan a mission with a map

on my knee board. At the time, I remember thinking I

needed a used product that would allow me to see the

imagery overlay o geospatial inormation with up-to-

date imagery intelligence. Only later did I come to realize

the product was one maniestation o what we today

know as geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).

Over the years I have come to admire the commitment,fexibility and can-do spirit o the employees o NGA and

our predecessor agencies. Time and time again, they

have demonstrated the strong desire to make sure our

mission partners have the inormation they need when

they need it, in order to make key decisions and to solve

todays toughest intelligence challenges. Our people

have built more than an agency. We have led the way or

the emergence o the GEOINT discipline and ensured the

success o the GEOINT tradecrat. With the establishment

o the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) in

1996, eight separate organizations were combined to

bring together the nations most capable imagery andgeospatial assets. NIMAs creation provided a critical

usion o skills and technologies to expand the GEOINT

discipline under one mission umbrella.

In 2000, we began to experiment with using imagery,

imagery intelligence and geospatial inormation. This

conceptual experiment gained signicant momentum

ater Sept. 11, 2001. We were among the rst to answer

the call or unied intelligence operations that were at the

oreront o the nations consciousness. Today we are ex-

panding the GEOINT ootprint, pushing orward in using

GEOINT with other intelligence disciplines and exploiting

the digital environment. Our goal is to make sure policy-

makers, warghters, and other end users have the GEOINT

advantage. Whether our partners need a hardcopy map,

a physical model, 3-D visualization or used intelligence,

NGA is there to give them the critical edge.

Lkng FwdAs we move orward, GEOINT shows the way! Our uture

is extremely bright, thanks to our ability to meet the

ever-increasing need or relevant and responsive GEOINT

in a time o unprecedented global change. NGA and our

partners learn daily through the ongoing war against

violent extremism and combat operations how to cooper-

ate, share and use data. NGA has a orward-deployed

strategy that puts our people with our mission partners

on their ground and operating on their terms. The impact

o this strategy has been tremendous. As Vice Adm. Mur-

rett and I travel the world, we receive accolades and ap-

preciation or the dierence the NGA workorce, and the

relevant, timely and actionable intelligence they deliver,

is making on the rontline.That said, the GEOINT community always has room to

grow and challenges to ace, so we cannot rest on our

laurels. We must view every challenge as an opportunity

to excel and to move GEOINT into new arenas. I would like

to highlight six opportunities that will move us orward.

Balacig Missi RquimsThere is the ever-present need to balance time-domi-

nant with non-time-dominant mission requirements.

Lloyd Rowland, Deputy Director, NGA

Ph y R Cx


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This means we must maintain a constant vigilance and

reprioritize resources as needed. It also requires NGA

personnel to maintain a sense o urgency, while pacing

ourselves or the long haul. Rememberthis is not a

sprint; it is a marathon. It is entirely probable that we will

be ghting the orces o violent extremism or several

decades to come.

Icasig PasipsNGA cannot accomplish our mission alone. We need

our existing partnerships, and we need new ones. We

are managing more agreements and providing more datato more users than ever beore. The good newsGEOINT

is getting into the hands o those who need it. The bad

newsmany more users still need GEOINT and either do

not know they need it or do not yet have the capability to

get it. Spread the word!

Rcuiig, Taiig ad Raiig a Wld-Class Wkfc

As demand or GEOINT continues to grow, NGA must

keep the outstanding workorce we have and attract the

best and brightest to meet uture requirements. Over the

next 12 months, NGA will conduct an aggressive hiring

campaign to reinorce our great workorce. The insertion

o new hires will undoubtedly bring new energy, new

ideas and new talent to our agency and our mission. The

goal is to hire the right people with the right skill sets to

meet the demands o today, tomorrow and beyond.

Expad Idusy ad Acadmic EgagmGEOINTs way ahead is grounded in our people, but

it has a technological angle, too. We must continue

to expand our industry and academic engagement to

develop innovative solutions. We will put the best minds

o government together with the brightest minds in

industry and academia to solve the toughest challenges.

For example, with the exponential increase in terabytes

o inormation, one o our biggest challenges today is

managing, storing and retrieving inormation. We need

industry and academia to help us identiy ways to ad-

dress these challengesand they will.

Pc Ou Rsac ad DlpmIsm

NGA remains committed to maintaining a strong

research and development program. Our challenge is

balancing the budget to address all competing require-

ments. For example, as sources o data increase, so

does our drive to evolve to a sensor-neutral architec-

ture. NGA must stay on the oreront, ready and able

to adapt, exploit, and use the data collected rom all

possible sources, develop a common ground and com-

munity inormation technology and assist in providing

multi-intelligence (multi-INT) usion capabilities. Future

phenomenologies like hyperspectral, multispectral and

polarimetric imagery will help unlock the toughest intel-

ligence problems.

Dplyig Missi Nw Campus EasNew Campus East (NCE) provides the rst opportunity

or GEOINT to truly have a new mission home in the East.

Like our sister agencies, NGA will now benet rom bring-

ing our orces together and working with the Common-

wealth and other agency representatives in the same

acility. The next 18 months are critical to our success in

moving the GEOINT mission orward. The importance oour core sites in St. Louis and Arnold, Mo., will be even

greater during and ater our mission deployment to NCE.

These locations are key to dispersed operations, breadth

o mission and continuity o eorts.

As we move orward and address these challenges,

the GEOINT community approaches the biggest leap

orward in our tradecrat evolutionthe move to predic-

tive analysis. I am certain there will come a day when the

combination o great people, technology, and multi-INT

usion will enable an analyst to say, with a high degree

o certainty, where the next improvised explosive device

plantings will be or where the next Al Qaida cell will be

employed. This predictive analysis will allow our mis-

sion partners to move quickly to interdict with a greater

probability o success through actionable intelligence.

That is our ultimate goal, ater alloperational success,

national security and the saving o lives. Thanks to ev-

eryone who makes the power o GEOINT possible. Know

the Earth, Show the Way!


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Layers o oundation data skillully applied with theproper technology contribute to the accuracy o NGAsgeospatial products.

Ph n y Cm Bnd


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Up Front

A A L GE-1 SO S. 6, NGA

community applauded the successul launch o GeoEye-1,

a new source o high-resolution color imagery. GeoEye-1

is the second commercial imaging satellite developed

under NGAs NextView program.

GeoEye ocials report that the satellite is unction-

ing properly. Following the launch, NGA Director Vice

Adm. Robert B. Murrett commented, Everything so ar

in terms o the initial testing has been successul, it is

tracking as it should be, and we look orward to gettingthe initial images. On Oct. 8, GeoEye released the rst

image collected rom the satellite, a view o Kutztown

University in Pennsylvania. GeoEye anticipates begin-

ning commercial sales o GeoEye-1 imagery in late 2008.

NGA initiated the NextView program as a partnership

with the commercial remote sensing community to en-

sure access to commercial imagery in support o national

security. Speaking o NextView and the agencys com-

mitment to its commercial partnerships, Murrett stated,

We are the single strongest supporter o the commercial

remote sensing industry. It is absolutely integral to our

success and is a undamental building block o what wedo as an agency.

Lito o the GeoEye-1 satellite at 11:50:57 a.m. PDT rom Space LaunchComplex 2 West at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Cali.

Ph y Cn B, 2008 Bng


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Up Front

ODNI V 2015 Ex V IE

T O D N

Intelligence (ODNI) published Vision 2015: A Globally

Networked and Integrated Intelligence Enterprise to chart

a new path or how Intelligence Community (IC) agencies

will work together in the 21st century. Given that the

visions principles o integration, collaboration and in-

novation are already part o NGAs culture and strategic

planning, how will Vision 2015 change NGA?

ODNIs mission is to create decision advantage or

policymakers, warghters, homeland security ocials

and law enorcement personnel, all o whom NGA serves

daily to meet its mission. To help create decision advan-

tage as part o Vision 2015, NGA will contribute geospa-

tial intelligence (GEOINT) within the ramework o the

ICs customer-driven intelligence.

For example, NGA will

continue to use

NGAs processes with other IC processes to t into

the ODNIs operating model and result in new mission-

ocused capabilities. NGA analysts will continue to

deepen their own expertise by importing other IC exper-

tise into NGAs processes. NGA will participate in joint IC

projects as a way o lie, having ewer processes that are

conned, or stovepiped, within the agency. IC agen-

cies will work toward removing barriers to cross-agency

collaboration, training, acilities and other resources that

can be shared to achieve a net-centric inormation enter-

prise that is agile, lean and fexible enough to respond to

a dynamic environment.

To guide the way to 2015, the ODNI is implementing a

strategic roadmap to serve as the basis or planning and

budget programming. IC agencies are involved in shap-

ing the roadmap and the major actions and milestones

needed to achieve the vision. The more the vision is

discussed among IC members, the better the IC will be

integrated by 2015.

The DNI has stated that a vision without a map is justa wish. As ODNI completes the strategic roadmap and IC

agencies adopt Vision 2015, a globally networked and

integrated intelligence enterprise will become reality,

creating decision advantage with GEOINT.

The Vision 2015 document is available on the

ODNI Web site, www.odni.gov.


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NGA: GPS C CBy Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, Director, NGA

O , NAVSTAR G

Positioning System (GPS), managed by the U.S. Air Force

(USAF) Space Command or the Department o Deense

(DOD), has become the most exploited space-based as-

set that the U.S. government has ever developed. Since

GPS provides space-based radio navigation or anyone

with a GPS receiver, both military and civilian uses have

increased exponentially.

In act, everything geospatially oriented today is reli-ant on GPS. Most military and intelligence operations de-

pend on knowing precisely where something is located.

NGAs mission is to provide the accurate, timely and

actionable geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to our mis-

sion partners, when and where they need it most. From

the warghter on the ront line to the local search-and-

rescue team seeking food victims, NGA provides GEOINT

to support operational and decision-making needs.

For example, we provide the geospatial products that

enable our warghterssoldiers, sailors and airmento

accurately locate and hit targets. Our analysts will build

a picture or the warghter by layering natural eatures,

such as rivers, hills and waterways, with man-made

eatures, such as roads, power lines and buildings, to

develop a 2-D or 3-D picture or common use. Knowing

that a target o interest exists is important; knowing

where exactly that target o interest is located ensures

accurate targeting and minimizes the risk o collateral

damage. To target an object, the warghter needs ac-

curate geographic coordinates. Subsequently, each data

layer used in the development o a GEOINT product is

reerenced to a standard coordinate system.

Enng Acccy nd RyU.S. national security, transportation and navigation

saety, economic interests and scientic uses all rely

on GPS. This increasing dependence demands that the

coordinate inormation and reerence system be both

accurate and accessible. NGA plays an essential role in

maintaining and improving the accuracy and reliability o

GPS by providing the DOD with precise GPS orbits, satel-

lite and station clock corrections and Earth orientation

inormation. NGA is not only a daily consumer o GPS but

a robust contributor as well.

NGA and its predecessor organizations partnered

with the DOD to develop the World Geodetic System

1984 (WGS 84) as the standard geodetic rame o reer-

ence. The WGS 84 global reerence rame provides a

mathematical representation o the Earths shape, a 3-D

coordinate system, and a gravity model that is essential

or computing satellite orbits and precise locations on,

above or below the Earths surace. WGS 84 provides a

common, standardized reerence rame or interrelating

and integrating all geospatial data, including GPS-

derived position location inormation. This global reer-

ence inormation is what allows users to determine their

locations on Earth based on the precise positions o GPS

satellites in space.

Prior to the 1950s, coordinate systems were developed

regionally. Once satellites became available in the 1950sand 1960s, we were able to establish an Earth-centered,

global coordinate system. Today, the WGS 84 coordinate

system, used by GPS, is dened by the 3-D coordinates

established by the combination o the Air Force and NGA

satellite tracking stations distributed around the world.

The more accurately we know the positions o these

tracking stations, the more accurately we can determine

the GPS satellite positions. Currently, we estimate the

accuracy o these station coordinates within a ew centi-

meters or less. As a by-product o this data processing,

Satellites like this one orm the NAVSTAR Global Positioning Systemconstellation.

DOD ph


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U.S. Nvy Ph y M Cmmncn Spc F C Rg S. Dncn

A U.S. Navy seaman practices navigational skills using a GPS unit.

we can also detect small variations in the Earths ori-

entation in space and its rotation rate. This inormation

is crucial or the accurate and precise orientation and

geopositioning o satellite imagery.

Precise timing is the key to GPSs accuracy. Every DOD

GPS tracking station and GPS satellite is equipped with

an atomic clock, each o which runs at slightly dierent

rates. NGA collocated a tracking station with our nations

master timekeepers at the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO)in Washington, D.C. This allows us to take advantage o

the stability, precision and accuracy o the USNO time by

dening it as our GPS master clock and then to adjust

all the other satellite and station clocks to the master.

Reliability o service is essential to GPS eectiveness.

Beginning in the 1980s, NGA provided personnel support

at the GPS Joint Program Oce (now the GPS Wing) at Los

Angeles Air Force Base (AFB) and the Operational Control

Station (OCS) at Schriever AFB in Colorado Springs.

Additionally, we invested in building and operating a

global network o unmanned GPS tracking stations to

augment the Air Forces permanent GPS tracking stations.

The result has been substantial benets to the entire GPS

user community. As part o a major accuracy improve-

ment initiative, NGA stations now eed real-time data to

the GPS through the OCS at Schriever AFB. These data

are incorporated into the real-time estimation process or

GPS orbit determination, resulting in increased accuracy

and integrity o GPS navigation signals or GPS users.

Lkng FwdFuture improvements and maintenance o GPS, aug-

mentations and backup capabilities are necessary to meet

growing national security, economic, commercial and

scientic requirements and opportunities. For example,

new oreign-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems

(GNSS), such as the Russian GLONASS and the European

Galileo System, provide additional options or current

and uture GPS users. These oreign systems are not yet

as robust as our GPS system but may be in uture years.


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Ph n y Cm BndOgn ph y U.S. A Fc, Amn 1 C Jnhn Snyd

With ongoing eorts to ensure interoperability among all

the systems, every system may be vulnerable to the same

intentional or unintentional intererence. The sheer num-

ber o combined GNSS satellites, upwards o 60100

in the uture, may help to mitigate these eects.

The deense community is exploring new mitigation

strategies to counter electromagnetic radiation in-

tererence caused by solar fares or geomagnetic

storms, as well as intentional and unintentional

radio jamming caused by man-made techniques.

DODs development and implementation o a

military-only code and other new satellite eatures aredesigned to protect and preserve U.S. strategic access to

GPS, even in hostile environments.

As we look toward the uture and the next evolution o

GPS, we must ensure interoperability and compatibility

in the context o geospatial inormation. NGA will con-

tinue our strong collaboration with the USAF to ensure

uture satellite procurement and technological decisions

consider GEOINT needs and capabilities. Additionally,

NGAs continued participation in the International GNSS

Service, the international organization that produces

state-o-the-art GNSS data and products or the

scientic community, will also help ensure that

NGA stays up-to-date on the latest GNSS sci-

ence and technology.

As both a consumer o and a contributor

to GPS, NGA is committed to integrating

and working collaboratively with our

mission partners as we make the best

decisions to ensure our national

security, saety and stability.

This article also appeared in the

May 2008 issue o High Frontier, a

publication o the Air Force SpaceCommand.


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E G M A GEOINT SBy Dr. Nikolaos K. Pavlis

O A 17, 2008, NGA

and most accurate global model o the Earths gravita-

tional eld: Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM08).

Making this new and unrestricted model available to the

public conrms NGAs leading geospatial role within the

worldwide scientic community.

A G NdMany people may recall rom their high school physics

that on the surace o the Earth, the acceleration o grav-

ity is 9.8 meters per squared second. Most physics text-

books dont mention the act that this is only an average

value or that variations o the Earths topography, ba-

thymetry, geology and other geophysical eatures aect

the acceleration o gravity at a given spot on the Earth.

The precise determination o these gravity variations

is the ocus o the branch o science called gravimetric

geodesy. A long-standing goal o this discipline is the

determination o the gravity eld o the Earth at the high-

est possible resolution and with the highest possible

accuracy, anywhere on or above the Earth. The encap-sulation o this inormation into a set o parameters

that mathematically describe the gravity eld is called a

gravity eld model. Some models o the Earths gravity

eld are global and may be used to estimate any type o

quantity related to the eld anywhere on or above the

Earth, while others are regional or local and may be used

to estimate only certain quantities related to the eld

over a given geographic area. The accuracy o any gravity

model depends primarily on the accuracy o the data

that were used to create it and secondarily on the rigor

and expertise with which these data were treated.

Global models are inherently superior to regionalmodels, especially or NGAs interests and or NGA

customers who use this inormation or Department o

Deense (DOD) or Intelligence Community applications.

In part because they require more eort to create, global

models have historically lagged behind regional and

local models in terms o resolution by a considerable

amount. This situation changed dramatically when NGA

ocially unveiled EGM08 and made it publicly available

to all. This new global gravity model not only describes

the gravity eld or the entire planet but does that at a

resolution comparable to that o regional models and

with accuracy that in some cases surpasses the accuracy

o regional models. In the same ashion as the geometric

portion o the World Geodetic System 84 (WGS 84) reer-

ence rame has replaced the myriad o local and regional

geodetic reerence rames (datums), thus providing

much-needed uniormity and consistency among DOD

users, EGM08 now enables a dramatic advancement inNGAs quest or higher accuracy o the global vertical

reerence rame and the highly accurate targeting prod-

ucts NGA supplies to DOD customers. Since this gravity

model is unclassied, many scientic applications are

also possible. For example, scientists can use this model

to improve understanding o global ocean circulation,

which is important to global climate studies.

A G SnBeore EGM08, the global model o choice or many

applications was EGM96, which was developed jointly by

NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Imag-ery and Mapping Agency (NGAs predecessor) and The

Ohio State University. EGM96 required approximately

130,000 parameters to be estimated or its numerical

realization and could support a nominal resolution

o 30 minutes o arc, which corresponds to about 55

kilometers on the equator. Within EGM96, the long wave-

length portion o the model, which describes the broad

eatures o the eld, required the processing o satellite

tracking data acquired over decades, rom tens o di-

erent spacecrat. In contrast, or EGM08, 57 months o

the highly accurate data rom the Gravity Recovery and

Climate Experiment (GRACE) missionthe rst satellite-to-satellite tracking mission ever launched where both

satellites orbit at low altitudewere enough to support

the estimation o the long wavelength portion o this

model 100 times more accurately than was possible or

EGM96. This long wavelength portion o the model is

critical or the accurate determination o the geoid sur-

ace (approximately the Earths mean sea level extended

through land). While EGM96 was capable o supporting

the determination o the geoid with an average accuracy


14/28

o about +/- 50 centimeters and a nominal resolution o

30 minutes o arc (55 kilometers), EGM08 can support

geoid determination with an average accuracy better

than +/- 15 centimeters and a nominal resolution o 5

minutes o arc (corresponding to 9.3 kilometers on the

equator). Thus, with EGM08 NGA is now realizing more

than three times higher accuracy at six times higher

resolution, compared to EGM96.

The determination o the high-resolution component

o EGM08 over land areas depended critically on the

availability o elevation data rom the Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission (SRTM), which cover more than

80 percent o the Earths landmass. To achieve this

higher resolution, EGM08 required the estimation o

approximately 4.7 million parameters, which are neces-

sary to dene the model numerically. Most users o the

model are interested not only in the models products,

but also in reliable accuracy measures associated with

these products. This requires the estimation o errors

associated with each one o these 4.7 million parameters

within a well-dened statistical ramework. The solution

o such a large estimation problem required the develop-

ment o an estimation strategy and the implementation

o highly innovative analytical and numerical methods,

which have become the envy o many theoreticians and

practitioners within the discipline.


15/28

Dr.NikolaosK.Pavlis

is a Project Scientist in the Geodesy andGeophysics Division o NGAs InnoVision

Directorate. His research ocuses on very highresolution global and regional gravity elddetermination.

Gravity anomalies computed rom EGM08 reveal numerous geophysicaleatures, such as oceanic trenches, ridges, subduction and racture zonesand seamount chains.

Gphc pvdd y NGA

The development o EGM08 was possible only be-

cause o the long-term close collaboration between the

Geodesy and Geophysics Division o NGAs InnoVision

Directorate and Oce o GEOINT Sciences. InnoVision

provided the research and development resources, the

technical leadership or the project and the rare analyti-

cal and numerical expertise required or global gravity

eld modeling, estimation and validation. The Oce o

GEOINT Sciences provided specialized geodetic expertise

and large, processed, careully selected unique data

sets, including a custom-developed subset o the NGA

gravity data holdings that contains more than 55 million

point gravity measurements. EGM08 required the eort

o our individuals over approximately our years, and

in this regard it has been developed at a comparatively

low cost to NGA. The worldwide interest generated by the

announcement o the initiation o this project in 2004

made it also possible to benet rom the contributions o

national and international partners. These have provided

valuable input to this eort, in the orm o gravity data

contributions, in the processing o satellite altimetry data

over the oceans, in terms o eedback rom the evaluation

o preliminary solutions, etc., all at no cost to NGA.

With EGM08, NGA has achieved a quantum leap

towards establishing a new state o aairs in gravimetric

geodesy, whereby a single model can be used to sup-

port an extremely wide variety o applications. These

include highly accurate orbit determination or articial

satellites, geoid computations necessary to achieve a

representation o mean sea level around the world, the

estimation o other gravimetric quantities known as

defections o the vertical and several others. All o

these identied applications are important to DOD and

Intelligence Community customers. Finally, the achieve-

ment o EGM08 brings an intangible, yet highly signi-

cant benet to NGAintroduction o this groundbreaking

gravity model has secured an indisputable leadership

role or the agency in applied geodetic research.

EGM08 resources can be ound on the Web at:

http://earth-ino.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/

egm2008/index.html


16/28

A G E B TBy Wayne P. Schneider and Denise Damschroeder

F

geopolitical conficts. Political boundary inorma-

tionthe location and status o international and admin-

istrative boundaries, both terrestrial and maritimeis

a undamental component o geospatial intelligence

(GEOINT). Increasingly stringent requirements or more

accurate and authoritative boundary inormation have

compelled NGA and its partners to take a more system-

atic and rigorous approach to boundary analysis.International boundaries are oten the ocus o global

problems that can incite crises. Resolving border con-

ficts and managing cross-border movement requires a

clear understanding o where a legally dened boundary

alls on the ground. Policymakers, diplomats, analysts,

coalition orces and others increasingly expect accurate

and timely GEOINT rom NGA regarding the location and

status o political boundaries.

Many modern international boundaries were delineat-

ed at a time when the geography and cultural landscape

were unknown, leading to much disharmony among

nations and sometimes to open warare. In 1890, British

Prime Minister Lord Salisbury observed:

We have been engaged in drawing lines on maps

giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to each

other, only hindered by the small impediment that

we never knew where the mountains and rivers and

lakes were.

Sorting out U.S. government policy and creating

geospatial truth related to boundary location is the

combined job o analysts at the Department o States

(DOSs) Oce o the Geographer and Global Issues,

NGA GEOINT analysts within the Source Operations

and Management Directorate and Analysis and Produc-

tion Directorate, and boundary analysts at the United

Kingdoms Deence Geographic Centre (DGC). The unied

orces o these organizations have produced the most

accurate international boundary data in mapping and

geospatial history. Known as the Boundary Technical

Working Group (BTWG), these analysts meet to discuss

boundary issues, policy, theory and processes to ensurethat only the most correct boundaries are distributed

throughout the Intelligence Community (IC). The group

is constantly searching or new technology and methods

or the dissemination o boundary inormation.

Boundary work requires an in-depth knowledge o geo-

spatial tools and research principles. To ully understand

the issues surrounding international lines, BTWG analysts

careully study national political history, international

boundary history, culture, environment and resources.

Recently the group accomplished an in-depth analysis

o the 1949 Armistice Line that separates Israel rom the

West Bank in support o the ongoing Middle East peace

process. Analysts researched and reviewed original

treaty maps augmented with current materials to depict

the line to the highest degree o accuracy to date. In ad-

dition, the group revised and updated with imagery the

depiction o the security barrier that physically separates

much o Israel rom Palestinian areas in the West Bank.

The analysts completed a series o 28 Border Image

Maps (BIMs) portraying both the Armistice Line and the

Security Barrier.


17/28

The BIMs include explanatory notes to aid the user in

accurate boundary delineation and boundarynatural

eature association. The entire project has been a col-

laborative eort between NGA, the United Kingdom and

DOS. The BIMs and associated vector data will likely be

used during any peace talks to determine the historical

positioning o the Armistice Line. The maps and vector

lines are available to the IC via NGAs Digital Interna-

tional Boundary Database (DIBDB), the ocial repositoryo international, internal (1st, 2nd and 3rd order) and

maritime boundary data collected in cooperation and

consultation with the NGA Geographer, the NGA Political

Boundary Branch, DGC and DOS.

The reconstruction o any boundary entails the selec-

tion o the best base sources, alignment treaties and

maps. In the reconstruction process, the BTWG selects

sources or utmost accuracy and currency. These include

historical and current hardcopy sources; digital data,

such as Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED); imagery;

commodity data; and open source collateral inormation.

The group thoroughly investigates all sources to build a

picture o the intended boundary delineation.

The analysts create geospatial boundary data by align-

ing all digital vector data against the natural eatures as

understood rom their systematic study. Accurate carto-

graphic source, DTED and mono and stereo imagery are

used as the base to trace the boundary along the eatures.

In many cases, skilled analysts will collect vector data in

stereo, resulting in an exceptionally accurate boundary

vector line. I the boundary was previously demarcated,

WayneP.SchneiderandDeniseDamschroeder

are Lead Regional Geographers in the NGA GEOINT FoundationOce, providing actionable data to customers.

analysts identiy the location o boundary pillars and

transer them to stereo imagery or accurate placement.

Demarcation work does not stop at the international

level but includes the portrayal o internal administrative

boundaries along with maritime limits. GEOINT analysts

require current boundaries to the detail o the largest

scale possible.

All good scholarship requires documentation. The

BTWG authors an in-depth analysis o sources andprocess to accompany each boundary segment with

paragraphs on boundary history, geography and carto-

graphic guidance. Included are graphical presentations

and virtual scenes.

Boundary history and location are essential to under-

standing human terrain and the relationships among

local people and their neighbors. Throughout history,

land ownership has always been a divisive issue, with

invasion and conquest a common historical occurrence.

Exactly where one state ends and another begins re-

mains a point o contention and confict.

As population density increases and the world

scrambles or scarce resources, the boundaries o land

ownership become even more crucial. NGA and its BTWG

partners will continue to provide the key GEOINT per-

spective in collaborative boundary analysis.


18/28

C A S I AS DBy John A. Duncan and Emily Kilman

F ,

valuable geospatial eatures that are oten overlooked in

standard collection. This ad hoc eature data has tended

to remain stored in shoeboxes, typically available only

to the analysts who originally noted it. Now, an NGA

initiative is expanding access to this valuable data or the

agency and its partners. The Consolidated Analytic Spatialinitiative (CASi) improves geospatial intelligence (GEOINT)

sharing among analysts within NGA, the Intelligence Com-

munity (IC) and the Department o Deense (DOD).

To an urban planner, a manhole cover is a cast-iron

disc that allows access to underground inrastructures.

But to an insurgent or terrorist, it can be a portal to insert

guerillas or explosives. To an imagery analyst, a manhole

cover can be worth noting. Yet manhole coversand

other oten overlooked commonplace eaturesare not

included in standard eature databases.

The various systems that make up CASi enable

analysts to collect, discover and share access to vastamounts o nonstandard GEOINT data. CASi incorporates

new and emerging inormation and technologies to

support the discovery, dissemination and analysis o

GEOINT eature data within a system compliant with

Open Geospatial Consortium standards.

The original call or CASi came about two years ago,

when analysts rom NGAs Analysis and Production

Directorate voiced concerns at the diculty o storing

and sharing data that did not conorm to standards,

yet had obvious value to their work. NGA Director Vice

Adm. Robert B. Murrett understood these concerns and

instructed the agency to remedy the situation, leadingto the establishment o the CASi program oce within

the Analysis and Production Directorate. While the CASi

sta put together ull processes and plans to stand up

the related systems, they also made a CASi prototype

available at NGAs Washington, D.C., and Bethesda,

Md., acilities to provide analysts an interim capability to

load data and encourage them to suggest improvements

to the CASi interaces. During the development and

implementation phases, CASi benetted greatly rom a

bridged development approach that took advantage o

the complementary skills o NGA personnel rom each

directorate, in collaboration with the program oce,to develop and maintain a system that provides data

storage, management, discovery, retrieval, analysis and

accessibility o nonstandard GEOINT eatures.

The three CASi program segmentsCASi-Internal

(CASi-I), CASi-External (CASi-E) and CASi-Forward


19/28

(CASi-F)were created to acilitate and enhance analytic

exchange, yielding sharable knowledge or the IC. The

CASi inrastructure design promotes GEOINT interoper-

ability across networks, hardware platorms and operat-

ing systems.

CASi-I allows analysts to aggregate, manage, search,

discover and share nonstandard GEOINT data. CASi-Iservers allow analysts to utilize the data without having

to download it, saving limited computer space and deliv-

ering data consistently across the network.

CASi-E extends data-sharing capabilities to NGA, the

IC and DOD. Analysts can share their data with the wider

IC by loading it to the CASi-E servers, search or eatures

relevant to their work loaded by other analysts, and add

value to the data by rating and commenting on it.

CASi-F provides orward-deployed GEOINT analysts a

hybrid o CASi-I and CASi-E, oering data gathering and

distribution capabilities or nonstandard country datasets

and products to analysts working side by sidewith warghters. A CASi-F system was deployed to

Baghdad in June 2008, and CASi-F or Aghanistan is

currently under development.

To load data to CASi systems, users complete

a ew elements o standard geospatial metadata.

These provide the ramework or users to locate relevant

eatures, understand their history and purpose, and

contact the data producer or urther collaboration.

The program oce develops and releases CASi ele-

ments on a spiral schedule. Program segments were

initially released at 6570 percent o their intended

capability. Subsequent releases provide additional unc-

tionality several times a year. Analysts who use the CASi

systems guide this spiral development by commenting

on current capabilities and suggesting unctions that

they would like to see in uture releases.

The accuracy o GEOINT analysis only improves as

analysts more ully aggregate and share the nonstandard

eature data they each discover. At the oreront o the

eort to collect and share these important resources,

CASi eectively extends the analysts ability to support

the IC, DOD and the warghter.

JohnA.Duncan(Left)andEmilyKilman(Right)

John A. Duncan is a Regional Analyst andCASi Representative in the GEOINT Founda-

tion Oce, supporting the National System orGeospatial Intelligence.

Emily Kilman is a Geospatial Data Steward inthe GEOINT Foundation Oce, assigned to theCASi Program Oce.


20/28

U F D S Wf VBy Gregory Wagner

U F D (UFD), NGA

products serving the warghter, has proven eective in

the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). This high-density

urban area vector data can be overlaid on imagery de-

picting areas o high interest or use by intelligence op-

eratives and special operations orces. UFD is part o an

initiative to use multiple intelligence sources, ground

movement target indicators and other data to provide

actionable intelligence to rontline operators.Since 2003, UFD has provided NGA analysts and

partners with the data needed to make better decisions

as the landscape o todays war zone transitions to

an urban environment. UFD supports urban planning

operations to help both the military and the Intelligence

Community to ght the GWOT.

UFD has helped ll the increasing demand o the

modeling and simulation community or site amiliariza-

tion and route-, mission- and target-planning data. UFDs

high-density geospatial data, when combined with other

intelligence sources, provides the necessary spatial

context or identiying key terrain, cultural, and street-level eatures required to track persons o interest. The

ollowing hypothetical example illustrates UFDs utility:

Inormation indicates that a person o interest is

staying at a hotel one block rom a government acility.

Additional inormation places the target in the vicinity

o a named road. Neither the hotel, acility nor road

can be easily identied rom imagery alone. To provide

context, UFD can be quickly overlaid on imagery that

has been georegistered to known geographic control

points. Analysts can then search the extensive UFD

attributes to nd the eatures eciently and locate the

person o interest.

Intended or use within geographic inormation sys-

tems, UFD has evolved to oer three levels o enhanced

2-D or 3-D vector data over urban and some rural areas.

The data is primarily extracted rom stereo imagery. More

current commercial imagery is used to update the data set.

Direct eedback on the product has been extremely

positive. One user remarked that Urban Feature Data or

Baghdad, Samarra, Kirkuk, Kabul and Hit will aid the user

in creating a detailed product or any mission, route and

target planning in these cities. While this is a good nd

rom a 2-D perspective, it is even more useul rom a 3-D

perspective. Because the UFD shapeles include build-

ing data along with height values or each structure, the

data can be loaded into Terra Vista [scene visualization

sotware] to create a 3-D build o the entire area.

Another user stated that UFD is a valuable tool or

tactical line-o-sight requirements in urban operations

on or near the ground, in addition to site amiliarization.

We also like its use in navigationgood representation o

landmarksand its use as an urban planning graphic.

The GEOINT Foundation Oce (SG) within NGAs

Source Operations and Management Directorate man-

ages NGAs UFD program with support rom the Oce o

Commercial Partnerships. Almost all UFD data has been

produced by commercial vendors. However, SG carto-

graphic analysts have recently begun work on NGAs rst

in-house UFD data set.

NGA aces many challenges regarding UFDs uture.

With the increasing demand or the product, NGA is in-

vestigating how best to disseminate and distribute UFD

to the user community. The program aces additional

challenges, including standardizing UFD, creating com-

mon specications among its variations, and updating

the product to remain current. Nevertheless, given its

proven benets and NGAs dedication to solving these

challenges, the ever-improving UFD will remain crucial to

the warghter or a long time to come.

Img pvdd y NGA

Individual buildings and an extensive system o walls are illustrated in thisexample o Urban Feature Data.

GregoryWagner

is a Cartographic Analyst in NGAs SourceOperations and Management Directorate,

GEOINT Foundation Oce, where he supportsthe Urban Feature Data program.


21/28

O G N A T M FBy Mark Munsell

W (GEOINT)

analyst need to conront a world o complex threats and

rapid change? The essential requirement, in a word, is

dataabundant current and historical inormation with

which to understand a situation and draw conclusions

and the aster the better. The analyst also needs tools to

manipulate data and seamless lines o communicationto reach other analysts to collaborate.

NGAs Oce o Global Navigation is working to cre-

ate a setting that would provide all o these attributes.

Consider how a hypothetical day might unold in such

an environment:

Upon logging in, a maritime analyst receives several

messages rom collaborative partners, including some

unexpected tip-os about important changes in the navi-

gation inrastructure within the analysts geographic area

o interest. Ater a quick review, its apparent only one o

the tip-os requires immediate attention. The analyst re-

trieves resh GEOINT rom the source management systemthrough a simple and direct interace. The inrastructure

behind it can input host-country navigation publications

at a urious rate. This system contains every paper and

digital navigation product known to exist, indexed and

searchable both geospatially and via keywords.

The analyst enters a oreign port into the search eld

and, within moments, results start fowing, including:

Six host-country published, scanned nautical

charts, at various scales, coverage and dates

Two new oreign partner electronic nautical charts

Two other oreign nautical charts, scanned and

georeerenced

Two open source articles published by U.S. and

oreign newspapers on recent activity in this port,

including which contractor perormed the work and

its estimated value

The most recent commercial reports on port activity,

uel prices, piracy and trac, plus a variety o open

source inormation rom Wikipedia, Google, etc.

Two bathymetric surveys o unknown origin

A recent Notice to Mariners published by the

host country

Nothing in the source appears suspicious, but the

analyst digs deeper. Based on metadata associated with

the querys original results, the analyst clicks on the

newest chart rom a oreign partner, and it opens in a

geographic inormation system (GIS) window. The ana-

lyst repeats the process or other charts, a bathymetric

survey and an outline o a commercial image.

In the GIS, the analyst adjusts the order and transpar-ency o the data layers. The analyst then brings up layers

rom the Maritime GEOINT database and compares the

recently added source to the current database that is

transmitted to NGAs Department o Deense (DOD)

customers weekly. The comparison reveals several

signicant eature changes. The analyst then receives an

instant message rom an imagery analyst that all inbound

trac is at a halt oshore waiting entry into the port.

The analyst immediately adds the live eed and latest

airborne imagery and lays it over the current database.

U.S. Nvy ph y M Cmmncn Spc 1 C Chph Fw

U.S. Navy crews depend on accurate inormation to navigate saely. NGA isworking to accelerate the analysis and delivery o essential maritime data.


22/28

Shockingly, much o the port is destroyed, though the

cause is unclear.

Immediately, the analyst begins a videoconerence

with the partner who provided the initial tip-o. The

analyst includes an aeronautical analyst as similar

destruction to an aireld is discovered. Then several

senior analysts join the conversation to lay out a plan

o actionone o the rst steps being to alert ships in

the area o the port closure via a broadcast warning

message. Working together, the analysts begin to data

intensiy all o the nautical and aeronautical charts in

the region or possible immediate military operations or

humanitarian relie missions.

From an operational standpoint, this scenario depicts

ar switer and deeper access to maritime source data

than analysts currently have. And it describes a quantum

leap in the ease o collaboration. Yet, rom a technical

standpoint, this scenario is not ar-etched. All o the

technologies described are available today.

This begs a critical question, namely: Why doesnt

NGA have such a system right now? The reason is that

the challenge o building such a capable system is not

just technical but logistical. The goal is in sight, but NGA

will only achieve it through the heavy liting o integrat-

ing data and systems and making total unctionality

accessible to its analysts. The ollowing will have to be

developed to realize this concept o operations:

A robust system o source ingest, archiving, index-

ing and retrieval ed by many sources.

A database that every analyst can access, with cur-

rent saety o navigation and navigation inrastruc-

ture, inormation and intelligence data. Aeronautical

and maritime analysts can update this database

dynamically, as well as nominate updates rom

outside sources. Tools to easily compare, overlay, ingest and merge

data rom the source management system.

Tools to support and use the persistent surveillance,

Web-based geospatial visualization and community

collaboration o the NGA time-dominant operating

picture or inormation development, data usion

and situational awareness.

NGA will transorm to create this uture operational

state, beginning with two ambitious pilot projects o the

Global Navigation Services (GNS) or the Aeronautical

and Maritime Domains. Currently, maritime eature data

resides on 29 CDs held in hundreds o Digital Nautical

Chart libraries. The goal is to build a database or mari-

time eature dataa groundbreaking eat in itseland

design this system to rapidly deliver Digital Nautical

Charts on demand. The present GNS-Aeronautical

database is 10 years old and strains under a sotware

architecture that is no longer supported. Beyond ensur-

ing higher reliability, the new, more robust aeronautical

database will incorporate additional eature data,

updated data standards and new product lines, such as

Stereo Aireld Collection.

Implementation o both GNS pilots will ollow a

phased approach or smooth integration into the entire

system in a service-oriented architecture that acilitates

cross-organizational publishing o inormation. Further,

both databases will employ network-attached storage to

acilitate data sharing. Compliance with Open Geospatial

Consortium standards will make these pilot databases

more interoperable and accessible to NGAs partners in

DOD and the Intelligence Community.

The ultimate goal o both pilots is to provide

one-touch maintenance o saety o navigation in a

database environment, where digital source data are

automatically ingested and used, and where products

are created directly rom the database, regardless

o whether the source material is textual, digital or

hardcopy. This environment will allow analysts to do

their jobs more eciently and will empower them to

lead the way in GEOINT-sharing capabilities with NGAs

partners. The Oce o Global Navigation pilots will start

to realize the day-in-the-lie scenario described above,bringing NGA analysts and their partners closer to

analytical nirvana.

MarkMunsell

is the Technical Executive or the Oceo Global Navigation, where he works on

transormational issues and acilitates technol-ogy insertion or the Aeronautical and MaritimeDomains.


23/28

Our Heritage

GEOINT F E T ABy Dr. Gary E. Weir

S G W 19141918, -

shipman at the U.S. Naval Academy made a startling

discovery on a naval summer cruise. He observed that

the primary chart upon which the ships navigator relied

dated to 1839. This seemed remarkable or a number

o reasons. First, he discovered the high quality o early

19th century surveying and mapmaking and the reliabil-

ity o the oundation data gathered over 80 years earlier.

In addition, the chart ormed part o a collection thatemerged rom the U.S. Exploring Expedition that cir-

cumnavigated the globe and diverted to such places as

Antarctica between 1838 and 1842. This very successul

venture marked the rst time the young United States o

America engaged in exploration ar rom its own shores.

Not too many years ago, the Smithsonian Institution

honored the expedition with an exhibit entitled The

Magnicent Voyagers. Finally, the discovery seemed

even more remarkable and the episode more ironic to

the midshipman because Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes, com-

mander o the U.S. Exploring Expedition, prepared the

chart. As it happened, the midshipman recognized Wil-

kes as his great-grandather. As part o his proessional

naval education, this young ocer discovered at sea the

vital and eternal nature o the knowledge provided both

by his amily and the oundation tradecrats.

In preparing the reports based on the collection

compiled over our years at sea, the personnel o the

U.S. Exploring Expedition employed the considerable

treasure they brought back rom their long journey. The

six-ship squadron brought back to the United States

280 island surveys; 180 charts, maps and surveys o the

Oregon Territory coastline extending or 800 miles; and

1,500 miles worth o similar data or the Antarctic coast.

Their eorts actually validated Antarctica as the seventh

continent. The expedition eventually supplied the inant

Smithsonian with the beginning o its extraordinary

natural history collections. Combining the expeditions

Oregon maps and charts with the 1842 Rocky Mountain

work o Capt. John Frmont soon enabled the United

States to create a geodetic base or the territory between

the Mississippi River and the Pacic Ocean. Wilkes

himsel prepared observations based upon personally

gathered data or the expedition reports on the Earths

magnetic eld and its gravity.

Their eort to understand the Earth in these most

basic and essential ways places Wilkes, his expedition

sta, Frmont, and other determined explorers among

the scientic parents o the National Imagery and

Mapping Agency (NIMA) and NGA. The our years, the

six wooden ships, and the oundation research o the

U.S. Exploring Expedition clearly emerged rom the same

undamental requirement that gave birth in our own time

to the Deense Mapping Agencys (DMAs) Digital Terrain

Elevation Data, or DTED, mapping database that pro-

vides accuracy down to 300-oot intervals across a much

greater expanse o geography.

While time moved on, the need or knowing the Earth

in this way obviously did not change. Wilkes and his

company desired to know our world more intimately and

NASA ph

The Space Shuttle Endeavour collects topographical data during theShuttle Radar Topography Mission in February 2000.


24/28

pursued that goal with a single-minded drive that con-

rmed a new continent. In the same way, DMA continued

to rene the precision o DTED by using the additional

data that came rom photo analysis and mensuration to

improve the accuracy o its products.

The U.S. Exploring Expedition wanted to visualizeas much as possible and take those physical impres-

sions back to the United States in data, charts and art.

Knowing how the Earth actually looks can make all the

dierence to peace, war, prosperity and understanding.

One o the most impressive images produced by the

expedition shows Sugarloa Mountain overlooking the

harbor o Rio de Janeiro. Expedition member Navy Lt.

John Dale composed a landscape demonstrating the

beauty o the mountain and its surroundings that both

pleased and strategically inormed. Over a century later,

DMA and the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center

perormed the same unction or the participants at the

Dayton Peace negotiations on Bosnia in 1995, using their

oundation data to impel the required terrain visualiza-

tions and automated cartography to tailor maps and

analyze the topography in a way that made negotiators

more comortable with their assumptions and decisions.

Just as our predecessor agencies did, NGA now provides

this service daily in the orm o geospatial intelligence

to the warghter and to allies in need o support due to

natural disasters or external aggression.

In 1999, three years ater DMA, the National Photo-

graphic Interpretation Center and other organizations

combined to orm NIMA, which became NGA, the agency

went on an exploring voyage o its own with NASA. NIMA

used the space shuttle Endeavor to dramatically improve

DTED by exploiting the radar intererometry techniques

developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,

Cali. For 222.4 hours in February 2000, the Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission, or SRTM, successully surveyed 80

percent o the Earths surace and 95 percent o its popu-

lated areas. The improved DTED contributed incompara-

ble accuracy to everything rom geophysics to earthquake

research to the best location or cell phone towers to mis-

sile targeting. This voyage did not involve a wooden ship

under sail, and its techniques would have astonished

Charles Wilkes, but he would have understood the goals

and the importance o the data and the nal products to

both commerce and the national deense.

The best oundation activity lasts orever. It inorms

currently and provides the basis or an ever-deeper

understanding and a platorm upon which to build. It

never grows old or irrelevant. The need or SRTM data

and DTED products and the importance o World

Geodetic System 84 and Earth Gravitational Model 08,

which NGA recently made available to the public, testi-

es to the constant relevance o oundation data and

tradecrat. In 1943, during the island-hopping campaign

against Japan in World War II, the Allied sta planning

the landing on the island o Tarawa resorted to using a

chart composed by the U.S. Exploring Expedition rom

the oundation knowledge the expedition had gathered

in the 1840s. Having used techniques that stood the test

o time, Charles Wilkes once again stepped orward in an

essential way, this time to help American orces subdue

the Japanese in a dicult campaign. NGA oundationproessionals, past and present, regularly ollow in the

ootsteps o Wilkes and his Magnicent Voyagers.

Dr.GaryE.Weir

is the NGA Historian.

Img cy h U.S. Nv Hc Cn

Schooner Porpoise and Flying Fish in Heavy Seas by Alred T. Agate. ThePorpoise was one o several ships o the U.S. Exploring Expedition.


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New Campus East

T-D O C W MVBy Glenn Forinash

Editors Note: The Pathfnder and the New Campus East

Advocacy eort invited Glenn Forinash o the Time-Domi-

nant Operations Center to contribute this article.

T N S G I

(NSG) Strategic Concept o Operations or 2015 lays out an

expectation that Department o Deense (DOD) and Intel-

ligence Community (IC) customers will require immediategeospatial intelligence (GEOINT) with increasing urgency.

In anticipation o shortening timelines, in 2007 NGA es-

tablished the Oce o Time Dominant Operations, which

provides a persistent stream o situational awareness

data to its operations directors, analysts and customers

across the NSG. The standup o the oce and the imple-

mentation o the agencys own Time-Dominant Operations

Center (TDOC) concept o operations synchronized time-

dominant entities and provided a single NGA voice to its

broad customer base. The New Campus East (NCE) TDOC

will orm the ulcrum o NGAs time-dominant support.

NGA units involved in time-dominant operations

currently reside in a number o locations across the

United States. The NCE TDOC will consolidate NGAs

geographically and unctionally dispersed time-domi-

nant operations on the East Coast within a single,

integrated center to enhance internal collaboration

and the quality and timeliness o its GEOINT. TDOC

analysts will have ready access to inormation technol-

ogy support, and NGA leadership will have easy access

to operational inormation and personnel. A similar

plan to align agency time-dominant units in St. Louis,

Mo., is also in work. The multidirectorate entity in St.

Louis will be operational prior to the stand up o the

NCE TDOC and will be critical in providing continuity

o time-dominant operations during the relocation o

units to the NCE.

The integrated NCE TDOC design adheres to our key

concepts to better serve IC and DOD customers:

New Campus East will consolidate NGAs East Coast operations.

In pvdd y RTKL/KngSn


26/28

Th ngn m-dmnn f c

cmpnn will be managed by NGA operations

directors (ODs) who will synchronize eorts and

marshal resources across NGA to respond to custom-

ers needs. The ODs will continue to serve as a ocal

point or NGA customers requesting time-dominant

support. The ODs will maintain their interaction with

watches and operations centers across the IC, DOD

and oreign partner organizations to ensure that

NGAs time-dominant intelligence eorts are aligned

with customers priorities and inormation needs.

Th dvpmn dc nd nng

TDOC pn will continue to enrich the eld

o time-dominant operations. NGAs current training

and certication programs or ODs ensure that they

are able to ully represent and leverage NGA capa-

bilities and respond thoroughly and consistently to

customers requirements. A training program or all

NGA proessionals perorming elements o the time-

dominant mission is currently in development and

will carry orward to the NCE environment. Th nn dy vd cmmncn

nd chngy to enable operations will acilitate

persistent collaboration and situational aware-

ness among IC sites and mission partners. The

increased situational awareness and collaboration

capabilities will enhance the quality and timeliness

o NGAs GEOINT. Inormation technology resources

will display all pertinent inormation needed by

TDOC personnel, assisting them in maintaining

analytic ocus. The ability to display large amounts

o inormation on NCE TDOCs newly engineered

GlennForinash

is an Operations Director in theOce o Time-Dominant Operations.

knowledge wall will greatly increase the situational

awareness o the ODs and TDOC components. Web-

based geospatial visualization tools will package

large volumes o data, and security technology will

provide new means or disseminating intelligence

inormation across multiple security domains.

Th mpvmn h c at NCE TDOC will

synchronize time-dominant activities and help

provide the best possible GEOINT to customers.

Time-dominant analysts ability to reach the broader

NSG elements will be enhanced. Subject matter

experts in many cases will reside in close physical

proximity, providing greater access to the deep

analytic capability ound in NGAs unctional and

regional oces. NGA and the NCE proessional sta

have ensured that time-dominant operations will be

conducted in an environment that allows persistent

collaboration and guarantees multiple-security level

access and seamless system interoperability.

NGAs critical contribution to the time-dominant mis-

sion will continue to grow as the demand rom the agen-cys customers or timely and relevant GEOINT increases.

The NCE TDOC will greatly enhance the inormation

superiority and technological advantages essential to

providing infuential time-dominant GEOINT and warning

o imminent threats.

A concept sketch anticipates the striking interior o New Campus East.

In pvdd y RTKL/KngSn


27/28

NCE

PROGRESS

the plan

A NCE mg y NGA

the groundbreaking

on schedule

the steel signing

the nal rendering

2008 Jpmg C


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0606_Pathfinder_National Geospatial Intelligence Journal

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