Google Earth

[jcustis]

I downloaded the CMAP stuff today and will dig through it at some point. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of gems in it, but the greatest problem I can foresee getting it loaded onto our silly NMCI machines.

Although each company HQ should have access to a deployable laptop, I begin to wonder if we have shot ourselves in the foot during the information war aspect of the current fight, by limiting ourselves to "approved" tools and AIS. I mean, I could see it right now. Motivated company commander goes to his S-6 and says that he wants the CMAP stuff loaded onto his laptop, but the S-6's hands are tied because these tools weren't on the approved list of software for the deployable seat. Despite their enabling capabilities, they could require a lengthy approval process which in turn prevents timely training and use, and thus said company commander finds himself stuck with a tool that is perhaps 5-6 years old and actually archaic.

That's an unfortunate reality of the cumbersome AIS blanket we wear with NMCI. Does anyone have any experience with streamlining this process through the appropriate waivers?

[GIMpublisher]

Hello all.

I am the owner/publisher of www.globalincidentmap.com - noted traffic to my site coming from here so I came to see what it was.

Thanks Bill, for linking to us.

While the public version of the site does not have much analytical use, we can create custom versions that do. We have been creating custom versions of the map for leo/gov/mil users that do different things. Whether a military joint op center just wants a version that displays nicely 'up on the wall', or someone wants a version that can create reports, its not too difficult to do.
We recently added a search feature that lets users create reports based on searching our database by date, location, incident type, or any combination.

On request from more than one military outfit we are currently building a system that doesnt rely on human hand-jabbed data, but instead goes out and scours the net for terrorism related news items automatically, using sets of rules.

The public version is limited, but the same system can be used, and is being used, by a growing number of law enforcement, government, and military organizations. And it can do alot more than what you see on the public version. While I garnered some inspiration from the RSOE Hungarian map, the maps are indeed very different in terms of content and functionality.

A good example of an expanded system would be something like this - every military intel analyst we have could have their own map for tracking their own incidents, and all of those maps could 'talk' to eachother displaying all of the aggregate data from all the individual analysts. Then you can add whatever reporting or analytical modules you need to evaluate the data as a whole.

One railway police user is taking it a step futher, such that the mapping system becomes more of an incident management system - allowing first responders to add comments to an incident indicating what they are seeing on the ground and what resources they need, and the ability to chat with their centers via the map system. They had us add a display of all the various types of rail cars with images so they could easily identify which rail cars might have hazmat threats from chemicals and such. They hope to get all of the railroads to use the system to share incident data amongst themselves. The system is really only limited by ones imagination.

The beauty of the system we have now is that its flexible, and cheap. It uses Googlemaps now but can work practically any GIS system that accepts lat/long coordinates. It certainly can be modified to output its data into whatever format your existing analytical tools require. Its cheap enough that I built it having no funding from anyone whatsoever. And apparently its useful, 27% of our web traffic comes from .mil domains, and 6% from .gov domains.

I would love to hear from you folks with your ideas and suggestions on how we can make it a better & more useful project, and would welcome any requests for custom versions that do different things. To date all of the custom versions we have built have been completed at no charge to the user.
If any of you are in the Arlington VA area I'll be up there this week and would be happy to discuss the system, have been invited to the Pentagon to discuss military use of the mapping system.

All the best,
Morgan Clements
Publisher GlobalIncidentMap.com / TerroristWarning.com /TransitSecurityReport.com
news@terroristwarning.com

[Jedburgh]

....The public version is limited, but the same system can be used, and is being used, by a growing number of law enforcement, government, and military organizations. And it can do alot more than what you see on the public version.....

Here's a version that they've put together for the Tenneessee Regional Information Center:

TRIC Incident Tracking Map

....The mapping system is open to the public at large for access and viewing based on its open source content. It is currently linked within the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) Tennessee and Law Enforcement portals. The map URL will soon be linked to the TN Bureau of Investigation website, the TN Dept. of Safety and TN Office of Homeland Security websites.

Two additional maps are being developed; a Sex Offender Registry map and a Violent Offender map. These maps will be used operationally to assist with the investigations of Amber Alerts and violent crimes in progress....

As an aside, but keeping to the topic, NASA's World Wind is available for free download.

3D Engine: World Wind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM elevation data to experience Earth in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there....

Blue Marble: World Wind has a full copy of the Blue Marble, a spectacular true-color image of the entire Earth as seen on NASA's Earth Observatory: The Blue Marble....

Land Sat 7: Using World Wind, you can continue to zoom past Blue Marble and reveal the extremely detailed seamless mosaic of LandSat 7 data....

SRTM: Combining LandSat 7 imagery with Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Data, World Wind can display a dramatic view of the Earth at eye level. Users will literally be able to fly across the world in any direction....

NASA SVS: Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has produced a set of visually intense animations that demonstrate a variety of subjects such as hurricane dynamics and seasonal changes across the globe....

MODIS: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS produces a set of time relevant data that's updated every day. MODIS catalogs fires, floods, dust, smoke, storms and even volcanic activity....

GLOBE: World Wind is capable of browsing through and displaying GLOBE data based on any time the user wants. For example, a user can download today's (or any previous day's) temperature across the world....

...and more.

[pcmfr]

Learning the buttonology for GIS software is one thing, but making sense of the data and illustrating in a matter useful to decision makers is what separates a techie from an analyst. I recommend training for your GEOINT folks from guys who do this full time. That, or you can outsource the mapping. These guys seem to have some interesting approaches that are working for the corporate risk management and security world: Geocritical

[Jedburgh]

Learning the buttonology for GIS software is one thing, but making sense of the data and illustrating in a matter useful to decision makers is what separates a techie from an analyst. I recommend training for your GEOINT folks from guys who do this full time.

I fully agree with you there - and the training opportunities for GEOINT are expanding as the field grows along with its spectrum of application. There are a lot of programs out there dedicated for LE GIS analysts, but the availability of broad-spectrum training is increasing as well.

That, or you can outsource the mapping. These guys seem to have some interesting approaches that are working for the corporate risk management and security world: Geocritical

There is a lot of outsourcing going on. Much of it is crap, because many of those looking for support have no idea what they're looking for, or how to define quality product. Worse, much support is provided through the old boy network within the senior executive chain rather than by competitive bidding to select those best able to fulfill support requirements. Hordes of incompetent amateurs maintain comfortable lifestyles despite the complete lack of a quality product due to connections they made in college or while in government service earlier in life. Like in many other walks of life, ethics is serious problem, despite much exhortation to the contrary.

My viewpoint is driven by the fact that I currently work security/risk intelligence in the corporate world myself. Given that perspective, I found the products shown as examples on the GeoCritical site to be less than impressive. Any reasonably smart guy with a computer and 'net connection could put those maps together. Hell, updated equivalents or better of their samples on Avian Influenza, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes are readily found for free on specialty sites on the open web. Unless they're hiding their real product from the casual viewer (which doesn't make sense from a marketing standpoint), it does not appear that it requires either dedicated GIS software or true GEOINT analytic capability to duplicate (or improve upon) their efforts.

[Jedburgh]

....interesting blog, along the lines of the thread topic area: IMINT & Analysis

Open source military analysis, strategic thinking, and Google Earth imagery interpretation. Comments are welcome and encouraged.

[Rex Brynen]

....interesting blog, along the lines of the thread topic area: IMINT & Analysis

Very cool website.... thanks for digging it up!