Editor’s m

essa

Benjamin Franklin has been credited with saying, 

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

Franklin and his contemporaries obviously 

knew a thing or two about the topic, having 

permanently altered the world’s political 

landscape and future trajectory. The founding 

fathers also experienced the profound difficulty 

of change, understanding full well that pursuing 

their intentions might cost them their very lives.

Fortunately the changes we seek at National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency are not nearly so dramatic. Many are 

nevertheless revolutionary in their potential to save lives, protect our 

national security, and improve the ways in which we work and interact 

with the rest of the world. 

Very often, historic changes have been brought about by 

developments in technology, either actively or reactively. NGA too 

has actively sought to innovate and also had to evolve in reaction to 

technologies developed in other domains. Articles within this issue of 

NGA Pathfinder address both types of transformation.

The main features in this issue address changes going on outside of 

NGA that will affect how the agency provides value to its customers in 

the future. The lead article [page 14] explores mainstream technologies 

that have the potential to shape the products and services NGA offers. Just 

as the proliferation of mobile devices and apps has affected the ways NGA 

currently provides GEOINT to its customers, emerging technologies such 

as augmented reality and wearable devices are sure to influence future 

NGA products and services. 

A trio of short articles [starting on page 22] targets key facets of the 

changing business environment for GEOINT and how they are shaping 

the NGA of the future. GEOINT CONOPS 2022 calls for a fresh look at 

business practices, organization and mission approach across the four 

primary areas where NGA delivers value: creating knowledge through 

analysis, providing geospatial content, creating geospatial services for 

others and managing the GEOINT function across the U.S. government. 

The final feature [page 28] explores the outlook for providing GEOINT 

to warfighters in the years ahead. Following the lead of the military 

services, NGA is preparing to provision soldiers to operate safely and 

effectively inside the expected engagement zones of the future: megacities.

The remainder of articles in this issue provide insight into how NGA 

is actively developing new technologies and techniques for serving its 

customers in the future. Examples include new solutions for modeling 

3-D object data [page 27], use of crowdsourcing to ensure accurate 

mapping [page 33] and a World GeoNarrative plug-in to facilitate 

collaborative analysis [page 37].

Our discussion about the future would not be complete without the 

admission that all of the change necessary to get us there is extremely 

hard for us. We get frustrated with our IT systems, confused trying to 

keep up with changing processes and anxious striving to understand 

exactly what is expected of us now and going forward. But Franklin’s 

message is as relevant today as it was to the people of his day: change 

stops only when you cease to exist. As our British friends [page 6] might 

say, keep calm and change on.

V/r,

Jeanne Chircop

Editor

We provide GEOINT for 

our Nation's Security.

NGA Pathfinder promotes awareness and 

understanding of geospatial intelligence, and is 

published by National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s Office of Corporate Communications.

NGA Pathfinder is an authorized Department 

of Defense publication for members of the 

DOD. Contents of this publication are not 

necessarily the official view of, or endorsed 

by, the U.S. government, DOD or NGA. 

Articles in NGA Pathfinder may be reproduced 

in whole or in part without permission, unless 

stated otherwise. If reproduced, credit the 

author and “National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, NGA Pathfinder magazine.” 

Reproduction of graphics, photographs and 

imagery is subject to the original copyright.

NGA Leadership

Director: Robert Cardillo

Deputy Director: Sue Gordon

OCC Leadership

Director: William Caniano

Chief News & Information: Don Kerr

Editor: Jeanne Chircop

Copy Editors: Dale Lehner

Christine Fennema

Designer: Craig Thoburn

Photography: Anthony Boone, Erica Knight

and David Richards

Contact us

Send letters to the editor to 

Pathfinder@nga.mil

Telephone: 571-557-5400

DSN 547-5400

Approved for Public Release, 16-491
FEATURES

14 Geared up for the Future:

Say buh-bye to old tech, hello to 

invisibility cloaks and mo

22 Knowledge gained: New ways

are learning about the world

28 Street-smart soldier

What geospatial intelligence will b

needed in megacities

4 Know the Eart

6 Team NG

10 Viewpoi

20 Show the W

26 Telling Our S

33 In

36 Collaborati

38 Understand th

DEPARTMENTS
know the ea

4 .L

Collaboration strengthens valuable international ties, 

enhances the expertise of all involved and demonstrates 

the value of shared knowledge. If well managed, a 

collaborative effort provides benefits long after the 

individual program ends. Such is the case with the InterAmerican Geodetic Survey, or IAGS, which launched 

70 years ago using backpacks and surveyors’ tools, and 

formed the foundation for today’s computer- and satellitebased geospatial mission in Central and South America. 

President Harry S. Truman created the IAGS on April 

15, 1946, in response to both post-World War II defense 

requirements and a request from the Pan American Institute 

of Geography and History to assist Latin American countries 

in mapping their territory. The U.S. Department of the 

Army used the IAGS to develop a coherent geodetic control 

system and to create reasonably standardized, reliable maps 

in collaboration with Latin American countries for use in 

hemispheric defense planning. 

The IAGS immediately instituted an effort to map uncharted 

areas of Central and South America as well as the Antilles. 

Known as MAPPLAN, this program provided essential 

support, including equipment and supplies, technical 

assistance and training, to participating Latin American 

countries. The collaboration produced geodetic, cartographic 

and geophysical data, as well as topographic and other 

relevant map products. 

IAGS became a well-respected, internationally recognized 

cooperative venture. The IAGS staff performed collaborative 

geospatial work that helped lay the foundation for today’s 

field of geospatial intelligence and the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency in particular. Thousands of m

By 1956 more than 91,000 miles of first-order triangulation 

and more than 195,000 miles of level lines were completed. The 

IAGS and its partners also defined a continental arc, locating 

the points of continental drift along the west coast extending 

from the United States down through Central America and on 

to the Straits of Magellan – a distance of roughly 6,000 miles – 

then back up again through the Caribbean to Florida. 

The triangulation method used in this case determined the 

location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points 

at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances 

to the point directly. IAGS used ship-to-shore triangulation 

Gone but not forgotten:

The tremndos lacy

of the Intera

Geodeic Suve

By Gary E. Weir, Ph.D., NGA Historian
| know the earth |

Pathfinder 201

along the Nicaraguan Coast and flare triangulation to connect 

Cuba with Florida. Level lines revealed the topography, 

determining relative heights in the landscape. These lines 

translated into elevation indicators on a map. 

Working in Venezuela in 1956, the IAGS also established 

the first provisional South American datum for topographic 

mapping. (A datum is a set of fixed reference points on the 

Earth’s surface from which position measurements are made.) 

By the mid-1970s the IAGS and its allies completed1:50,000-

scale topographic map coverage of Central America and the 

most heavily populated areas of South America.

The case of Pan

The earliest maps of Panama are those of the coastal 

outlines and adjacent islands drawn by the Spaniards 

during the explorations of the area in the 16th century. 

Although engineering companies did surveys during the 

construction of the Panama Canal, the first concerted 

effort to obtain accurate survey data of the Republic of 

Panama began in 1946, in accordance with the provisions 

of MAPPLAN. According to this agreement the United 

States would address all necessary photography, geodetic 

surveys and ground-level work required for mapping 

control, as well as the compilation and reproduction 

of maps. At the same time, the IAGS established its 

headquarters at Fort Clayton in the Canal Zone, along 

with an international school of cartography administered 

by the United States. 

Concurrently, Panama created a provisional division of 

cartography to cooperate with IAGS in the Canal Zone 

and to serve as part of the “Carretera Interamercana,” the 

Inter-American or Pan American Highway Office. In July 

1955 the Government of Panama established its first official 

mapping agency, the “Direccion de Cartografia,” under the 

“Minsterio de Obras Publicas,” the ministry of public works. 

The name was changed to “Instituto Cartografico Tommy 

Guardia” in 1967.

Panama Canal trea

In 1965 disturbances in the Canal Zone protesting American 

control of the Canal led President Lyndon Johnson to explore 

renegotiating the original treaty with Panama. President 

Jimmy Carter signed an agreement with the Panamanian 

government in September 1977 to end U.S. control of the canal 

by 2000. IAGS played a critical role. 

“Your supervision of the preparation of the treaty maps 

during the final stages of the negotiations was a very 

significant accomplishment, and I want to offer my sincere 

thanks for a job well done,” President Carter told IAGS.

With the signing of the Panama Canal treaties in 1977, U.S. 

military headquarters, including the IAGS, began to move 

out of the Panama Canal area, leaving the buildings they had 

occupied since 1947. 

On July 25, 1980 Col. Morton F. Roth and a few 

remaining IAGS staff members completed the 

headquarters move to Fort Sam Houston in San 

Antonio, Texas. The cartographic school would 

remain in Panama at Fort Clayton for another nine 

years, training Latin American allies and performing 

cutting-edge cartography. The IAGS was officially 

disestablished on October 31, 1989.

It is perhaps appropriate that the former 

IAGS headquarters in Panama now houses the 

headquarters of the “Ciudad del Saber,” or in English, 

the City of Knowledge. The IAGS left an unparalleled 

legacy of information about Latin America that has 

served NGA’s geospatial mission well. 

See IAGS teams in action during the 1960s at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGY65o3Mm2w
Tea

British 

Warra

Dale R

By Dale Lehner, 

Office of Corporate Communications

NGA Sal
| team nga |

Know a service member worthy of an 

NGA Salute? Send your suggestion to 

Pathfinder@nga.mil.

Pathfinder 201

It was only as he was preparing 

to leave that he realized, “I had 

dropped my bike, ‘my precious 

thing,’ which I never do.” 

Also precious to Routledge are 

the American friends he has made 

since arriving. Like every service 

member facing a move, Routledge 

worried about his family meeting 

friends and having a support 

system, especially so far from home. 

“The fact that we were very 

lucky to pick a house based on a 

good school for the kids, and the 

right distance from work was a 

good thing,” said Routledge. But 

to fall “into a close community 

with several American military 

members” that welcomed the 

family into their social circle was an 

unexpected bonus.

 “I was a bit worried about my 

wife being so far from home and 

not having other British military 

wives for support,” said Routledge. 

“But she has so many friends, and 

our daughters are more settled 

here than they were in London – so 

many friends and playdates!” 

Routledge also considers himself 

lucky to live in a community where 

his family can learn about the 

American culture and teach their 

new friends about British culture. 

“I am teaching them a lot of the 

English language,” he joked.

Both his daughters “speak 

American,” said Routledge, which 

he considers a “breaking down [of] 

barriers” when they step into school. 

Their accents are not recognizable, 

though, which becomes a great 

conversation starter. 

Much like tea and toast. 

Partnerships are built on 

relationships. Getting to know a 

person might start with a simple 

greeting of ‘good morning, how 

was your weekend?’ It may build 

to include remembering the names 

of the person’s family members 

and eventually lead to exchanges 

of social invitations. For the British 

the process usually involves the 

customary tea and toast. 

British Army Warrant Officer 

Dale Routledge understands the 

value of building and maintaining 

relationships as part of the valued 

Allied partnership between the United 

Kingdom and the United States. 

Routledge is a 16-year veteran 

with several theatre deployments 

under his belt. Each assignment over 

his career as a geospatial analyst, 

or GA, moved him closer to what 

he calls his “golden assignment” 

in the United States, specifically 

as a liaison officer at the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

“It was a long process to get here,” 

said Routledge. “It’s one of those 

golden posts you hear about, but 

[you] don’t know anyone who has 

been there.”

During his last assignment in 

London, Routledge learned that 

one of the current British Army 

liaison officers was leaving NGA.

“I was newly promoted to warrant 

officer, so I applied,” he said. 

“Luckily my credentials worked out, 

and here I am.”

Routledge’s mission-related 

analytic credentials are extensive 

and encompass two years in 

Northern Ireland, two tours to 

Afghanistan, and stints in Kosovo 

and Bosnia. Many of these 

deployments saw him working 

both GA and leadership roles 

alongside American analysts, 

giving him insight into how the U.S. 

intelligence community operates.

Eight months into his two-year 

assignment at NGA, Routledge has 

learned to make critical connections 

between U.S. and U.K. analysts.

“It has taken about six months 

to get them [U.S. analysts] to 

understand what I am doing and 

why I’m here – building those 

face-to-face interactions,” he 

said. “You have to build a working 

partnership before saying, ‘Hey, 

you know that tool you were 

working, can I have it?’”

Routledge first saw his role as 

an information conduit between 

the Allied analysts – sharing best 

working practices, new research 

and customer support – focusing 

on what he could ‘feed back’ to 

the U.K. analysts and what he 

could 'pass forward’ from the U.K. 

to this side of the pond. But his 

goal quickly grew into facilitating 

critical sharing connections directly 

between analysts. 

“Now that I am here, I am starting 

to see the fruits of my labours, 

starting to get buy-in from both 

sides,” said Routledge.

The British soldier has also 

earned unexpected respect from 

his U.K and U.S. colleagues since 

arriving at NGA Campus East in 

Springfield, Virginia. An avid road 

cycler and racer, Routledge cycles 

15 miles for his daily commute. One 

evening on his return home, a car 

came to a screeching halt in front of 

him. Coming alongside the driver’s 

side of the car, Routledge heard the 

driver say, “I think I killed him.” 

As he reached the front of the 

vehicle, Routledge jumped off his 

bike to assist the gentleman lying 

on the road who had been struck. 

The man had a head wound and 

was “not breathing too well.” 

Routledge’s basic military training 

kicked in, and he moved the man 

into a recovery position, staying with 

him until an ambulance arrived. 

“At no point did I think about 

it [helping],” said Routledge. He 

went into action instinctively. 
Tea

8 NG

I am NG

Peter Highnam, Ph.D. Executive profile by Aljith Curtis, NGA Rese
From the outside National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

is not well known for being receptive to new technologies. 

On the inside it’s a different story, especially for Peter 

Highnam, Ph.D., director of NGA Research. 

Highnam left the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects 

Activity – IARPA – one of the most cutting-edge research 

groups under the Director of National Intelligence, to 

lead NGA into the new world of succeeding in the open, 

partnering with Silicon Valley and evolving the agency in 

seven focus areas: radar, automation, geophysics, spectral, 

environment & culture, geospatial cyber and anticipatory 

analytics. He is leading two development-focused 

teams – advanced development for operations, and test 

and evaluation – as well as efforts involving research and 

technology protection, and flexible acquisition capabilities.

With Highnam at its helm, NGA Research is also partnering 

with other NGA key components on three special activities 

that address tradecraft and access to innovative technologies. 

These are GEOINT Pathfinder, the agency’s initiative to solve 

intelligence questions using only open-sourced data; the InQ-Tel Interface Center, representing the agency’s investment 

in speeding the deployment of new analytic tools; and NGA 

Outpost Valley, a new office slated for opening next year in 

Silicon Valley. (See article, page 19.)

Here Highnam shares thoughts on innovation, 

managing risk and what it will take to tackle some of 

NGA’s toughest challenges.

When Director Cardillo approved the standup 

Research, he also established a new NGA portfolio to

R&D as a strategic priority for the agncy. As ma

that portfolio, what are your strategic objective

There are three, and all require persistence, creativity, 

careful science and nurtured partnerships. The first is to 

have substantial levels of automation accepted by the agency. 

There is really no alternative; the volume of data already 

available cannot be handled by merely adding people. At 

the same time, we technologists have overpromised and 

under-delivered before, so skepticism about automation is 

not unwarranted. The second is transition of powerful new 

technologies into practice. In other organizations the most 

reliable route to transition technology, especially technology 

that will be part of disruptive change, is to move people as 

well. In other organizations For a researcher that could mean 

being willing to take something that you believe in and have 

worked on, into the receiving organization and work there 

for a while to actually help change (part of) the world. The 

third is to break out of the self-imposed restrictions of a 

narrow sense of GEOINT, which remains anchored in the 

era of the mapping agency. Thrusts to break conventional 

thinking can be seen in the agency’s new research focus 

areas. There is great talent and passion to make this happen, 

both within our agency and in the broader community. I like 

Director Clapper’s comment on the ubiquitous nature of 

GEOINT, “Everything happens somewhere at some time,” 

with the minor addition that things of interest are not just 

those visible from above.

What are your thoughts on innovati

There is confusion in the popular press around the term 

'innovation.' Too often the term is used interchangeably with 

'new technologies' or 'R&D.' One lesson I have learned from 

a career as an applied research scientist is that innovation is 

really about new ways of operating, changes in behavior/

culture, which may or may not involve technology. Think 

of the power that can come from small changes in longestablished tradecraft, and how hard it can be to effect those 

changes. It can be difficult to make technological advances, but 

I feel my job is easy compared with how challenging it is to 

change the way people work. We have colleagues throughout 

our agency who are focused on these hard problems, and I 

look forward to working with them. 

NGA Research started operations a couple of months 

ago, and we have retained much of the predecessor 

organization’s [InnoVision] internal construct. That will 

change early in the summer, however, when we move to a 

completely new structure.

How do you see NGA Research succeeding in t

In NGA’s anticipated future, increasing amounts of data 

and services will be acquired from commercial sources. 

Those sources are available to everyone. Commercial 

synthetic aperture radar sources today are from outside 

the United States. Small businesses access those sources 

and produce products that they sell. NGA Research has an 

essential role in helping to shape that external environment; 

to push into areas that are not necessarily of commercial 

value but are of vital interest to our national security. 

The 2016DNI Worldwide Threat Assessmen

IC talks about vulnerabilities stemming fr

increasing reliance on information technologies

light of that, how will NGA Research manag

As an intelligence community officer who happens to be 

a scientist, I am acutely aware of the need to protect release 

of information about research projects that could expose 

information on capabilities years before we are ready to use 

them, thereby removing advantage. At the same time, in a 

world where the vast majority of the leading science and 

technology is global, we have to understand how to make 

full use of that expertise, to push the frontiers of science for 

the benefit of all, and to carefully accept the risks of doing 

so. Fortunately, others in the IC have walked this path. In 

collaboration with our Security and Installations colleagues, 

NGA Research now follows best practices established at 

IARPA for research and technology protection. 

| team nga |

Pathfinder 201
vi

ewpoin

10 NG

Editor's note: The views expressed 

in this article are those of the author 

and do not reflect the official policy or 

position of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, the intelligence 

community, the Department of Defense 

or the United States Government. 

Data is king. All hail Big Data!

At first glance, a big data 

solution may appear to be a silver 

bullet for an organization’s needs. 

Certainly, many sectors have urgent 

requirements that can be addressed 

with big data. Companies obtain 

customer information through 

avenues such as social media, 

mobile apps and customer 

relationship-management software. 

Government agencies, such as 

National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, increasingly use big data 

analysis to derive meaning from the 

exponentially growing volume of 

data related to their missions.

In the world of defense, the 

increased resolution and frequency 

at which ISR [intelligence, 

surveillance and reconnaissance] 

sensors acquire data has the 

potential to be greatly beneficial 

but also led to major challenges. 

The emerging area of cybersecurity 

threat intelligence may prove to 

be even more massive: records of 

network traffic, usage logs and 

external indicators are constantly 

growing and will grow even faster 

as new systems come online.

Analyzing large sets of data 

using techniques such as machine 

learning, artificial intelligence and 

statistics can lead to improved 

insight and potentially better 

decisions. But the field is still young, 

and there are many challenges that 

must be considered along the way. 

Of specific concern are cleaning 

and preparation, causality, model 

transparency and decision support. 

Understanding these concerns 

will lead the GEOINT community 

to a better big data strategy and 

selection of technology, and allow 

for more realistic expectations for 

how its members will accomplish 

their missions.

Addressing the big

Cleaning and preparation 

A survey of data scientists 

conducted by researchers at Sandia 

National Laboratories found that 

data collection and cleaning/

preparation were the most timeconsuming tasks for a big data 

analyst. Each of these tasks consumes 

20 percent of the time in a typical 

project (median values). Individually, 

either could consume up to 70 

percent of time on some projects. The 

study results also highlighted that 

most practitioners viewed these two 

steps — cleaning and preparation — 

as the most critical in the process. 

Tasks related to data cleaning and 

preparation can be highly domain 

dependent as well. For instance, 

consider a database of individuals 

that records a variety of attributes. 

We can represent the age of an 

individual either as a number (e.g., 

21 years old) or as a discrete value 

(e.g., is the individual 21 years old). 

Take two individuals, one 

20 years old and one 21 years 

old, and whether or not they 

are considered 'similar’ by an 

underlying algorithm. If we are 

looking at a military or policing 

operation, both of these individuals 

would be considered 'military aged’ 

and likely should be considered 

as similar. If, however, we have a 

company that sells groceries and 

we want to target advertisements 

for beer, we would not want to 

consider these two individuals as 

highly similar – because one could 

legally purchase the product, and 

the other could not. 

Understanding data within the 

context of the application is critical. 

Com

the

of b

ana

By Paulo Shakarian, Ph.D., 

Arizona State University
Paulo Shakarian, Ph.D. is an assistant 

professor at Arizona State University’

School of Computing, Informatics, and

Decision Support Engineering, wher

he directs the Cyber-Socio Intelligent

System Laboratory specializing in cybersecurity, social network analysis, and

artificial intelligence. He has written

numerous articles in scientific journals and 

has authored several books, including 

Elsevier’s Introduction to Cyber-Warfare.

His work has been featured in major

news media, including The New Yorker, 

Slate, The Economist, Business Insider, 

TechCrunch and BBC. He is also a New

America Fellow and recipient of the A

Force Young Investigator awar

award, D  Minerva award

Tech. Review “Best of 2013,” and was 

DARPA Service Chief’s Fellow. Previ

Shakarian was an officer in the U.S. Army

where he served two combat tours in 

Iraq, earning a Bronze Star and the Ar

Commendation Medal for Valor. He ca

be reached for comment at shak@asu.edu

| viewpoint |

Pathfinder 2016

Unfortunately that makes analysis 

more time consuming. Different 

decisions might also be made 

depending on the domain and type 

of data being analyzed.

Causality

 Many pundits extol the benefits 

of big data analytics, leading to the 

belief that the more information 

you have, the higher-quality results 

you will obtain from a machinelearning algorithm. This is not 

necessarily true, however; large 

datasets increase the likelihood of 

chance correlations. For instance, 

“Hilarious graphs prove that 

correlation isn’t causation,” an 

amusing piece published by media 

giant Fast Company, shows that 

there exists a correlation between 

the number of films featuring actor 

Nicolas Cage and the number of 

drowning deaths in swimming 

pools – two obviously unrelated 

things.

One way to resolve this type 

of false outcome is to consider all 

potential causes for a given effect. 

When you are able to consider 

all hypothesized causes, you can 

then do a meaningful comparison. 

In some of our recent work, my 

colleagues and I conducted this 

type of analysis to examine the 

tactics used by the Islamic State. We 

noted with a probability of 0.67 that 

Syrian airstrikes were followed by 

massive arrests by the Islamic State. 

When Syrian airstrikes occurred 

along with another hypothesized 

cause, however, the average 

increase in probability was 0.91 – 

indicating that when the Syrian 

airstrikes occurred, the probability 

that the effect also occurred 

skyrocketed. 

Transparency

 Many machine learning 

approaches, when applied to data, 

produce a prediction or attempt 

to label, classify or organize data 

in a certain way. These algorithms 

always provide results that are 

correct with a certain probability. 

So, a machine learning algorithm 

providing a prediction with an 

associated probability of 0.7 is only 

likely, not guaranteed.

On balance, machine learning 

algorithms simply provide a 

mathematical model, and an old 

adage goes “all models are wrong; 

some are useful.” One thing that 

machine learning approaches 

generally do not provide, for 

instance, is an explanation of 

how they arrived at a particular 

conclusion. This is where secondary 

analysis may be required for further 

understanding – something that 

is often ignored in practice. Even 

still, it is possible to garner better 

understanding by examining the 

attributes of the data. For example, 

one can examine which attributes 

of the data are more diagnostic, 

understand the cases where 

machine learning algorithms fail, or 

even utilize a symbolic machinelearning approach – which will 

often tell the analyst how it arrived 

at a given conclusion.

Decision support

The current state of the art for 

big data analytics can provide 

interesting insights into the data 

– whether in the form of machine 

learning prediction, clustering of 

the data, or statistical methods 

performed at a large scale. These 

results are generally descriptive or 

predictive, however; they do not 

give insight into a course of action 

that one may take based on the 

data. The good news is that the 

recent trend in game theory, known 

as security games, explores this 

problem of decision making under 

adversarial conditions. For instance 

in recent work applying game 

theory to cyber threat mitigation, 

my colleagues and I used a datadriven model of a malicious hacker 

to determine a patch strategy for 

a computer network. Even if such 

techniques are not available for a 

given domain, it is important for 

data analysts to ask the question 

'Who cares?’ with regard to a 

particular result. It goes beyond 

what the data says, to address the 

question of what courses of action 

does it imply we take?

What next?

One thing is certain: big data 

analytics is here to stay and will 

continue to perform in every aspect 

of the world we live in. We need to 

be mindful, however, that the tools 

of machine learning and artificial 

intelligence are highly useful, but 

they do not represent a silver 

bullet for every problem. Even the 

best algorithms will not provide 

good results if the analyst does not 

understand the domain. In the 

end, solid analysis depends on the 

human, not solely the machine. 
viewpoint

12 NG

2 

1

Editor's note: The views expressed 

in this article are those of the author 

and do not reflect the official policy or 

position of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, the intelligence 

community, the Department of Defense 

or the United States Government. 

As a futurist, I have been fortunate 

to travel the world, sharing 

ideas and theories with many 

types of people, and studying 

the overarching political, 

economic, social, technological, 

demographic and environmental 

forces that have implications for 

everyone, everywhere. 

Myriad trends are shaping the 

global outlook. This article shines 

a spotlight on four big-picture 

realities that get scarce attention 

in traditional national security 

discussions but nevertheless have 

profound implications for defining 

the future challenges our nation is 

likely to face in the decades to come. 

Quickly name three threats to our 

national security. Your list likely 

includes things like terrorism and 

cyber- or mosquito-borne viruses 

— and as geospatial intelligence 

officers, you no doubt ponder the 

resiliency of our satellite networks. 

Any futures article focusing on 

national security has to include at 

least some mention of technology. 

After all:

•	 In November 2015, The 

Economist estimated an annual 

cost of $575 billion exacted by 

90 million cyber-attacks. The 

article, “Cyber-Security: The Cost 

of Immaturity,” noted an average 

lapse of 205 days between an 

Four big-pi

will im

nationa

By Gary Marx, Center for Public Outreach

actual breach of a network and 

the owner noticing the intrusion. 

•	 Concern about identity and 

privacy has gone through the 

roof, as personal information is 

harvested using cookies or other 

built-in apps. 

•	 A virtual explosion of the Internet 

of Things is providing an 

exponentially increasing number 

of opportunities for hackers, 

identity thieves, ransomware 

opportunists, and even terrorists, 

to access computer systems.

We could delve deeply into the 

technology trend and many others. 

But consider this: National security, 

in large part, depends on a sense 

of personal security, coupled with 

fairness, equal opportunity, a sense 

of belonging and a voice in creating 

our own futures. So it is important 

to look beyond the traditional topics 

of discussion to consider the larger, 

but perhaps more basic, realities that 

are too often elephants in the room, 

so big and obvious that they hardly 

make the agenda. Among those 

realities are: exclusion, polarization 

and ethical breaches, lack of a level 

playing field, and a massive 'reset’ 

as we move at warp speed into a 

profoundly different future.

Reality Number 1: Every institut

is going through a 

Question: “When will things get 

back to normal?” 

Answer: That’s not the right 

question. The question should be, 

“What will the new normal look like?”

 Jeff Immelt, chief executive 

officer of General Electric, put it 

this way as we moved into the 

Great Recession: “The economic 

crisis doesn’t represent a cycle. It 

represents a reset. It’s an emotional, 

social, and economic reset.”

In fact, every institution, including 

national security, is going through a 

reset. No one gets a free pass.

Once upon a time, when we 

were confronted by new ideas and 

technologies, we could sit back and 

intone, “It’s just a fad. Sit tight. It’ll 

go away.”

Now the status quo is fast 

becoming unsustainable – even a 

ticket to obsolescence – as we ride 

the crest of a seismic shift into a 

global knowledge/information age, 

even an age of knowledge creation 

and breakthrough thinking.

New generations of national 

security challenges are emerging 

before our eyes. The questions are: 

How can we identify them? How 

can we avoid them? How can we 

deal with them?

Reality Number 2: National secur

depends on inclusi

Our national security, as well 

as the security of other nations, 

depends on rallying around big 

ideas, such as justice, authority, 

privacy and responsibility. 

Principles such as 'E Pluribus 

Unum’ and other bedrock values are 

enshrined in our Constitution. They 

are basic to our social cohesion; the 

glue that holds us together.

But that doesn’t mean we’re all 

alike. A reality for the United States 

is that non-Hispanic whites will 

become less than 50 percent of the 

total population by 2043. Beginning 

in the fall of 2014, traditional 

minorities became the majority of 

students enrolled in U.S. schools. 

The face of our nation is changing.

Globally we live in an age of 

massive migration, as people 

move from one region to another, 

hoping to find safety, security and 

opportunity. Immigration looms as 
Gary Marx is the author of, among

other books, “Twenty-One Trends

for the 21st Century ... Out of the

Trenches and into the Future.” He ha

provided futures, communication 

and leadership counsel, and 

energizing presentations on six 

continents. Marx is also president

of the Center for Public Outreac

in Vienna, Virginia. He can

be reached for comment at 

gmarxcpo@aol.com.

| viewpoint |

Have an idea for a GEOINT or 

national security Viewpoint contribution? 

Send your query to Pathfinder@nga.mil. 

Pathfinder 2016

4

3

a test of national character for many 

countries and has hatched an array 

of security concerns.

Basic human behavior and 

tenets of sociology are important 

to remember. When people know 

their voices have been heard, they 

are more likely to feel a sense of 

oneness with their community 

or country, a sense of ownership. 

If they feel their voices have 

not been heard, they will likely 

retreat to political, religious, tribal, 

nationalistic or ethnic groups. Some 

even find their sense of community 

in enclaves. A few of the 

dispossessed, who have lost their 

sense of belonging and personal or 

group esteem, may even strike out 

against society.

Like other countries around the 

world, if we manage our diversity 

well, it will enrich us. If we don’t, it 

will divide us.

Reality Number 3: An abundan

of polarization and a scarcity of

ethical behavior are standi

in the way of progr

Polarization is eating our lunch. 

All around the world, shouting 

matches – or worse – too often 

replace civil discourse. While social 

media theoretically open the door 

to a world of connections and 

information, growing numbers of 

people program their dashboards for 

apps and websites that do nothing 

more than justify narrow, predetermined conclusions or biases.

Looking at our role in the big 

picture, we swear on the one 

hand to the absolute necessity 

of developing good citizens of 

our families, schools, colleges, 

communities, nations and the 

world. On the other, we shamelessly 

shortchange civic education and 

the social sciences at every juncture. 

Thinking, reasoning and problemsolving skills, coupled with ethical 

behavior, are essential to the future 

of civil society. So is the know-how 

to resolve conflict peacefully and 

democratically. For democracy to 

work there must exist a commitment 

to engage people in discussion, to 

listen to their ideas and views – and 

to govern accordingly.

Reality Number 4 A level pla

field is a foundation for

national securit

In 2014, 22 percent of school-age 

children in the United States were 

living below the poverty line. That 

was about 15.7 million kids. More 

than 50 percent of all U.S. public 

school students are from lowincome families. [Low-income is an 

amount that is double the poverty 

line.] Globally, the statistics are 

even more somber.

Our individual and collective 

security is threatened by a lapse in 

equal opportunity and a profound 

shrinking of the middle class in 

nearly all industrialized nations. 

Statistically the rich have gotten 

richer, and the poor have gotten 

poorer. Nurturing talent, ability, 

aspirations and hope for a better 

tomorrow cannot be the exclusive 

purview of those in the world who 

have a great deal and want more. A 

commitment to making possibilities 

available to all, including those 

who have very little and want some, 

has outsized and even existential 

implications for the future of 

nations and their security. 

When we frustrate human 

potential and limit possibilities, we 

all lose. We lose the ideas and the 

drive that help us create an even 

brighter future. That in itself could 

become one of our greatest threats 

to community and national security.

Putting knowledge into ac

Certain implications of these 

big-picture realities for national 

security are clear. As trends 

converge, however, we discover 

new knowledge about threats. 

That same convergence triggers 

breakthrough thinking about 

opportunities and solutions. With a 

wide-angle view of the big picture, 

we are more likely to put our daily 

barrage of paradox, controversy, 

complexity and constant change 

into perspective. Seeing knotty or 

simmering problems in context 

helps us to sort them out and find 

creative ways to manage or even 

solve them.

Trendspotting, trend analysis, 

issue analysis, historical/defining 

moments analysis, flexibility/

innovation analysis and gap 

analysis – all important aspects of 

geospatial intelligence – can help us 

put a finger on projectable threats 

and opportunities. By engaging 

these futures ‘tools,’ we can 

stimulate ‘what-if’ and ‘then-what’ 

questions about our assumptions 

as we form scenarios, which are, 

at their best, plausible pictures of 

alternative futures. Exploring new 

ways to resolve those questions will 

keep us safely ahead of whatever 

threats the future holds. 
f

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14 NG

GEARED UP FOR

THE FUTURE

Say buh-bye to old tech, hello

invisibility cloaks an

By Shelley Wilson, Ctr., Office of Corporate Communications
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

agency has consulted multiple 

industry titans about emerging 

technologies and best practices. 

What follows are several broad 

technology areas where commercial 

products might affect GEOINT 

tools and tradecraft in the future. 

Virtual and augmented reali

Ironically one of the most 

prevalent technologies can trace 

its roots back more than 175 years. 

Virtual reality, touted by many in 

the consumer electronics trade 

press as the next ‘big thing’ at the 

2016 CES, began as a tourism tool 

in the late 1830s. Artists created 

360-degree panoramic paintings 

to give viewers the sense of being 

on location in some far-flung 

destination. Virtual tourism took a 

leap forward with the 1939 patent 

of the popular View-Master, which 

flipped 3-D film 'reels’ of places on 

cardboard disks. 

VR took a quantum leap into 

the computer age with the debut 

of immersive videogaming in the 

1980s. The military quickly began 

using this high-tech VR for training 

purposes and today utilizes the 

technology to mimic dangerous 

situations where warfighters need 

to react. VR enables a safer, more 

realistic and less costly training 

environment than do traditional 

methods. VR is used for flight 

simulation, medic training, 

battlefield operations, virtual boot 

camp and treating post-traumatic 

stress disorder, according to the U.S. 

Department of Defense.

Today’s VR creates a threedimensional, computergenerated environment that 

appears so seamless that the 

person experiencing it forgets 

the computer, headgear and 

accessories are there, and 

becomes immersed in the virtual 

environment. But the recent 

It sounds like science fiction — 

contact lenses with built-in cameras, 

optical camouflage blankets that 

can make buildings disappear from 

sight and augmented reality gear 

that changes how wearers perceive 

the very space they’re in.

This might seem like a description 

of a government research and 

development program, but it’s not. 

While federally funded technology 

is at the forefront of things like space 

exploration and the development 

of alternative energy sources, it is 

often the private sector that leads 

the way in creating new gee-whiz 

products that ultimately become 

universally used. Think mobile 

devices and wearables, for instance; 

both of which are drastically 

changing the ways in which 

geospatial intelligence is gathered 

and consumed.

Predicting what new innovations 

will launch in the consumer market 

and how federal agencies might use 

them or be affected by them in the 

future is almost like betting where 

the ball will land on a roulette table. 

We know the ball will always land on 

the wheel; we just don’t know exactly 

where. We also know consumer 

technology will always evolve. The 

tricky part is predicting where and 

how it will intersect public sector 

needs – and how to leverage it. 

The symbiosis of consumer 

electronics and GEOINT 

was underscored during the 

International Consumer Electronics 

Show in Las Vegas in January 

2016. National GeospatialIntelligence Agency Director 

Robert Cardillo used the forum to 

reach out to consumer electronics 

manufacturers and suppliers 

to invite broad collaboration 

in addressing national security 

challenges. NGA reps have also 

participated in public events such 

as South by Southwest, and the 
feature

16 NG

innovation in VR is really in the 

size and type of display products.

Recently released Google 

Cardboard offers an affordable 

VR experience through a simple 

fold-out, pop-up cardboard viewer 

headset that uses a smartphone. 

Even the old View-Master is 

planning a comeback; Mattel and 

Google announced a collaboration 

to produce a new iteration of the 

View-Master using smartphones. 

The View-Master Viewer DLX is 

scheduled to be released in fall 

2016, according to prelaunch 

promotional literature. 

On the opposite end of the 

spectrum and outside the 

traditional consumer sector, 

Honeywell has partnered with 

DARPA [Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency] to build 

a VR instrument panel that replaces 

glass windows with display 

technology. Known as Ground 

X-Vehicle Technologies, or GXV-T, 

the panels have the potential 

to provide drivers of military 

ground vehicles with an enhanced, 

360-degree view of the world 

around them. Honeywell says the 

first phase of the virtual windows 

development began in July 2015 

and is nearing completion.

GXV-T is one example of the 

biggest evolution of VR since 

the ‘80s – augmented reality. 

While VR simulates a real-world 

environment, AR involves viewing 

the real environment, but with the 

addition of computer-generated 

sensory input such as GPS data, 

video or graphics, and even sound 

and smell.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and 

CEO of Facebook, which purchased 

VR giant Oculus in 2014, spoke at 

F8, the company’s annual global 

developer conference, in April 2016 

about an expansion program that 

will blend augmented reality and VR. 

“Over the next 10 years, the form 

factor's just going to keep on getting 

smaller and smaller, and eventually 

we're going to have what looks like 

normal-looking glasses that can do 

both virtual and augmented reality,” 

Zuckerberg said.

Samsung apparently aspires 

to go even further, revealing 

through a patent application that 

it is exploring the development 

of a contact lens that can overlay 

images directly into a wearer’s eye. 

A built-in camera will enable the 

wearer to take photographs with the 

blink of an eye. According to press 

surrounding the patent application, 

the lenses will be able to connect 

wirelessly to a smartphone, enabling 

the wearer to use on-eye navigation 

instructions to search online for 

more information about whatever is 

being looked at in the real world.

While the concept of a contactlens VR/AR display is more than a 

decade old, tech journalists say the 

technology is closer to becoming 

a reality due to advancements in 

smartphone technologies over the 

past few years.

Wearable technolo

Beyond contact lenses, wearable 

technology can now provide much 

more than fitness tracking, health 

monitoring statistics, navigational 

tools, purchasing applications and 

travel details. Wearable devices 

are an integral part of the Internet 

of Things, the logical evolution of 

the cloud and big data. The idea, 

according to technology watchers, 

is to enable sensor-equipped 

‘things’ to communicate with one 

another and convert physical 

information, gathered by location 

wave beacon technology, into data 

values – data that can be shared in 

various ways for various reasons, 

including GEOINT.

Several companies are currently 

making plans to incorporate 

wearable technology with drones. 

One in development now is the 

small GPS- and camera-equipped 

drone Nixie, also known as the 

wearable selfie drone, which 

launches a camera from the wrist 

that will fly in a preprogrammed 

mode to take photos or a video, 

and then return to the user who 

launched it. 

Global design and strategy 

firm, frog, predicts that wearable 

drones will be in common use by 

around 2030. 

"We can anticipate that more 

technology and devices will be 

taking to the sky," Adam Pruden, 

interaction designer at frog, said 

at the South by Southwest Festival. 

"We must carefully plan and design 

these objects to improve our lives 

rather than disrupt them."

Drone use has the potential to 

both benefit and challenge NGA 

and its partners in the future. 

Microdrones can make it faster 

and more cost-effective to map 

and survey areas, especially in 

support of partners involved in 

disaster relief and humanitarian 

efforts – times when landscapes 

can dramatically change in a 

matter of minutes. The challenge 

comes from the growing number 

of for-profit commercial drone 

pilots who now have permission 

to pursue emergency services 

missions with their drones. 

According to the Center for Study 

of the Drone at Bard College, the 

number has grown from 500 

operators in June 2015 to nearly 

4,000 today. Whether these forprofit operators ultimately will 

help or hinder official operations 

has yet to be determined.
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

Current drone designs depend 

on technology to perform; 

however, research to use the force 

of one’s mind is being done closer 

than in a galaxy far, far away. 

University of Florida recently 

held the first brain-controlled 

drone race, using brain-computer 

interface software to control a 

group of DJI Phantom drones. 

BCI technology isn’t really new, 

as the healthcare industry already 

uses it, but combining it with 

emerging drone technologies 

makes it of potential interest to 

protectors of national security. 

The University of San Diego is 

researching military weaponry 

using BCI technology, thanks to 

a DOD grant. The technology 

under study can use a soldier’s 

brain signals to navigate small 

unmanned aerial vehicles used 

for various military operations. 

The Carnegie Mellon Human 

Computer Interaction Group is also 

working to develop new ways to 

connect technology to the human 

body. The group's SkinTrack project 

combines a smartwatch with “skin 

buttons” projected onto the arm 

of the wearer. The technology lets 

the wearer touch and swipe his 

or her forearm as though it is a 

touchscreen. Tilting and twisting 

the watch will let users control it 

like a joystick.

Moving from technology for 

seeing things to technology for 

making things unseen, several 

companies are making strides 

in creating so-called invisibility 

cloaks or optical camouflage 

blankets. While technologies began 

developing a decade ago and are 

still far from ready for market, 

many are based on already-proven 

technologies, such as the blue or 

green screens used by TV weather 

forecasters and Hollywood film 

directors. Others follow known 

scientific principles such as those 

behind the appearance of mirages 

in hot sand environments.

Automotive intelligen

At first blush it might not seem like 

automotive intelligence has much 

to do with GEOINT, but the drive 

toward autonomous cars has many 

relevancies. For one thing, a vehicle 

capable of driving itself frees up its 

passengers for performing tasks 

other than driving – a benefit of 

particular relevance to warfighters 

and first responders. For NGA, 

there’s also the issue of eventually 

providing safety of navigation data 

to driverless vehicles used by the 

agency’s customers.

It may come as a surprise that 

the leader of these self-driving 

prototypes is not an automobile 

manufacturer, but rather a searchengine company most of us use 

every day – Google. 

Google has created the first fully 

functional autonomous car prototype 

that features cameras and LIDAR 

technology, and includes temporary 

manual controls for a back-up driver. 

The software in the cars classifies 

objects based on their size, shape and 

movement pattern, predicts what 

surrounding objects might do next, 

and then chooses a safe speed and 

trajectory for the car. Some pieces 

of the software already exist in car 

models like Toyota Prius, Ford Focus 

and Tesla, which can park themselves, 

but it is yet to be determined when 

a completely driverless car will be 

ready for purchase. 

Gill Pratt, a former program 

manager at DARPA, is a consultant 

to Toyota on its research efforts to 

build autonomous systems. He 

stressed that it is important to build 

accountability mechanisms into 

new designs. 

“People have reasonable fears 

about whether technology will 

work in their best interest, or if it is 

competent to do the jobs we assign,” 

Pratt said. “We need to be sure 

that the autonomous agents given 

the power to make decisions are 

capable of being audited. We can’t 

trust what we don’t understand, so 

we must build cars that can explain 

their actions.”

Artificial intelligen

The current and future state of 

artificial intelligence in general has 

raised both excitement and fear 

for what ‘intelligent’ machinery 

can and will ultimately do. Some 

people may think of AI as the 

Hollywood version of a humanoid 

robot (e.g., “Terminator,” “I, 

Robot”) that will try to overcome 

and outsmart mankind. In reality 

AI is already used in very popular 

forms, such as personal tech 

assistants like Apple’s Siri. It is 

also integral to commonly used 

online platforms such as Facebook, 

Amazon Echo, OK Google and 

Google Now.

“Artificial intelligence is one 

of the hottest technologies in 

Silicon Valley, where executives 

and engineers say it can enable 

computers to make inferences and 

decisions, versus simply following 
feature

18 NG

3-D printi

Computer technology is 

also changing the prototyping, 

production and shipping of 

products. Increasingly, 3-D 

printers will create whatever object 

is needed by taking a digital file 

template and joining multiple 

layers of different material, 

metals, ceramics or liquid, about 

0.1 mm thick, until the object is 

complete. The technology has 

been around for three decades in 

the aerospace, medical, defense 

and automotive industries, but 

cheaper and smaller-sized printers 

emerging in the consumer market 

are making 3-D capabilities more 

accessible. Some techies believe 

the technology will evolve to 

where it will be able to help the 

medical field by printing organs, 

helping law enforcement by 

printing bulletproof clothing and 

the military by printing out vehicle 

parts where and as needed.

Regardless of how 3-D printing 

and the other technologies 

identified within this article evolve, 

the driving force should always 

be the people who build and use 

them, according to Gary Dunow, 

director of NGA’s Analysis 

Directorate. He says the human 

element will always be the vital 

key to mission outcomes.

“Machines can’t answer why,” 

Dunow said. “Critical thinking 

will never pull away from the 

intelligence community. ‘Why’ 

is a human motive—no matter 

how important computers are 

in automation. We’ll never see 

a time that completely relies on 

computer generation.” 

instructions programmed into 

them,” wrote Wall Street Journal 

reporter Jack Nicas in a May 2016 

article on the topic.

Wired’s Kevin Kelly credits AI’s 

emergence to the convergence of 

three breakthroughs: the advent 

of cheap parallel computation 

(that started with the creation of 

intensely visual videogames), big 

data and better algorithms. The 

result? Deep neural networks of 

hardware and software that “chat” 

with each other to learn tasks and 

get smarter by analyzing vast 

amounts of data. These networks 

learn and create rules to apply in 

similar situations, using braininspired mechanics to achieve 

brainlike function.

At the first National Security 

Forum held last year by the Center 

for a New American Security and 

Defense One, military leaders 

said they hope AI will power the 

cyberbattle of the future but also 

admitted the military lags behind 

the commercial AI market.

“The Department of Defense is a 

follower. The commercial world has 

already made this leap. We have to 

catch up with them quickly,” said 

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert 

Work. “You cannot have a human 

operator operating at human speed 

fighting back cyber tech. You are 

going to need have a learning 

machine that does that.”

On the other hand, Work also 

said that humans, not machines, 

should continue to make the big 

decisions, such as when to use 

lethal force. 

Crowdsourc

Big networks of people chatting 

with each other can also lead 

to powerful data collection. 

Crowdsourcing, which originated 

with the advent of social media and 

proliferated along with smartphone 

technology, can harness the power of 

millions of people to provide real-time, 

on-location situational awareness 

about events and conditions.

In addition to gathering 

knowledge, crowdsourcing is a 

cost-effective solution for gathering 

and providing data. The popular 

traffic application Waze reports it 

employs less than 100 people but 

harnesses the power of more than 

70,000 volunteer map editors and 

15 million users who are driving 

the roads while inputting and 

interacting real-time traffic data.

Companies and government 

agencies alike are using 

crowdsourcing to gather 

important feedback from their 

customers. Procter & Gamble 

uses its crowdsourcing platform 

for worldwide input during 

development of new products. 

Some lawmakers are looking at 

crowdsourcing to get constituents 

more involved in creating and 

editing laws. More than 80 

federal agencies engage with the 

public on the General Services 

Administration’s Challenge.gov 

platform. The site lists government 

challenges and offers prizes for 

future solutions.
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

Silicon Valley is home to Apple Inc., Pixar, Adobe Systems, Tesla 

Motors and now NGA. Beginning in summer 2016, NGA will 

have a presence in Silicon Valley, neighboring major high-tech 

corporations and thousands of startup companies. 

Standing up an outpost in Silicon Valley is one of three ways 

NGA is committing to partnering with industry, attracting top 

talent and technology, and developing solutions to its current 

and future technology challenges. The other two are through the 

GEOINT Pathfinder project, which focuses on using open-source 

data, and the Enterprise Innovation Office.

“The partnership EIO has with the NGA Outpost Valley will 

provide exposure to a new set of skills, research and technology, 

which will be sent back into larger NGA, driving a cultural 

change in the way we acquire, develop and implement 

solutions,” said Dave Cacner, EIO director. 

The NOV will also strengthen the ability to achieve Director 

Robert Cardillo’s vision for ‘Team GEOINT’ – the notion that 

those in government, industry and academia should work 

together more closely to further the GEOINT enterprise. 

Over a two-year period NGA scientists, developers and analysts 

will rotate in and out of the NOV, establishing relationships with 

subject matter experts, academia and emerging companies. NGA 

will have a core staff from multiple directorates to support the 

NOV, including Benjamin Tuttle, Ph.D., from NGA Research, 

who will be leading the NOV.

Tuttle and his team bring many years of scientific and technology 

experience – most recently within NGA’s Geospatial Intelligence 

Advancement Testbed, mobile applications and the In-Q-Tel 

Portfolio teams. Tuttle will also continue to lead the technical 

direction and development for NGA GEOINT Services, enabling 

the NOV to be a driving force for leveraging the best commercial 

innovations in geospatial technology, data and methodologies 

into the NGA enterprise.

NGA mo

Silicon V

By Elizabeth Short, Ctr., NGA Research
show th

e wa

20 NG

Dear colleagues,

The Geomatics Equipment Loan Program is a data-collection vehicle that is 

unique throughout National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. NGA maintains a 

large and diverse inventory of geodetic survey instruments through which, over 

the life of the loan program, NGA has acquired more than $100 million worth of 

scientific data for contractual equipment loan agreements. 

A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA – an 

agreement between a federal agency and a nonfederal entity – with the 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution currently enables WHOI to utilize 

NGA’s scientific instruments for enhanced oceanographic research. NGA 

and WHOI partnered to explore new ways to provide better 

foundation data systems and safety of maritime navigation. 

Using existing sensors and data sources, NGA and WHOI 

will explore new methods for collecting and exploiting 

hydrographic and gravimetric data, as well as investigating 

potential new sensors for collecting maritime data.

WHOI, the world’s largest private nonprofit oceanographic 

research institution, is dedicated to advancing oceanographic 

knowledge through a wide variety of research and education 

programs in ocean science and technology, including 

marine geophysics. WHOI operates two ocean-going 

research vessels, the R/V Atlantis and R/V Armstrong. The 

Armstrong replaced the R/V Knorr, which sailed almost 1.4 

million miles prior to its retirement in December 2014. 

Through its membership in the University National 

Oceanographic Laboratory System, or UNOLS, WHOI 

also collaborates with scores of other U.S. oceanographic 

institutions to regularly observe the ocean environment. The 

WHOI-NGA partnership is an opportunity for WHOI to utilize 

NGA equipment on UNOLS vessels, while NGA benefits from new 

sources of marine gravity data.

Gravity is the largest error source for the Inertial Navigation 

System, one of two components comprising the targeting and 

navigation systems of U.S. Defense Department major weapons 

platforms – aircraft, missile technology and naval surface and 

subsurface vessels. The accelerometers that compose INS guidance 

instruments are compromised by Earth’s gravity, causing a navigation drift 

rate of 0.6 nautical miles per hour. For a one-hour flight time this means 

missing a target by 0.7 miles or 3,646 feet. The NGA Office of Geomatics 

develops error compensation solutions adjusting for gravitational effects, 

which is paramount to the accuracy and success of U.S. defense weapons. 

In addition to geomatics-focused interests, studies involving gravity and 

bathymetry, WHOI conducts scientifically sophisticated research exploring 

future technologies that may impact NGA mission sciences. These studies 

are in technical areas relating to ocean chemistry, ocean currents, climate 

change, dynamic ocean topography, predictive tide modeling and other NGA 

mission-relevant projects. 

This WHOI-NGA partnership will enrich the missions of both organizations 

for many years to come.

Cedric Sanford

NGA Office of Geomatics
| show the way |

Pathfinder 2016

NGA partners to study the sea

Photo credits: R/V Armstrong – Bay Aerial; 

R/V Knorr – George Tupper/Tom Kleindinst. 

Both photos courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
f

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22 NG

NGA is taking a fresh look at the 

fundamental value, organization, 

management and processes of 

creating knowledge of events with 

the potential to affect national 

security. The three articles on the 

following pages examine key 

facets of the story – why, how and 

what else is shaping the future of 

geospatial intelligence?

Kno

gain

New ways we are

learning a

the worl
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

U.S. government. Going forward NGA will structure 

its business on the scientific method and make 

decisions based on market-based interactions. This 

will allow all participants in the GEOINT environment 

to contribute knowledge and value to the greater 

GEOINT community in near real time. 

These principles are driving several strategic 

changes at NGA – the most visible of which will be 

an explosion in the diversity of ways users will access 

and use geospatial information. Analysis and GEOINT 

services are two ways in which NGA delivers value 

to its customers. Each of these activities has multiple 

avenues for providing insight. Based on the principles 

of NGA’s business transformation, there will be 

unprecedented access to not only finished analysis, 

but also to the thought processes and tools used to 

develop that geospatial intelligence. 

Content, as well, is undergoing a revolution. 

The prevalence and diversity of new geospatial 

data sources make it essential to refine the U.S. 

government’s requirements in a way that allows for 

combined purchasing power and shared use of not 

just sources, but the wide variety of commercial and 

open sources of geospatial information as well.

Functional management, too, is an area of growth 

for the GEOINT community. As the functional 

manager of GEOINT for the U.S. government, the 

director of NGA, currently Robert Cardillo, is 

responsible for managing GEOINT activities across all 

agencies and departments. The principles of economic 

exchange will drive these activities, allowing each 

provider and consumer to bring their unique expertise 

and value to the GEOINT environment. This will 

foster partnerships that will allow everyone to benefit.

Managing all of this change will require strategic 

planning and coordination, both within NGA and in 

the wider National System for Geospatial Intelligence. 

Within NGA, Director Cardillo created the NGA Office 

of Strategic Operations under the director of plans and 

programs. This office, along with producing documents 

such as the GEOINT CONOPS, will help the agency 

by implementing a coherent strategy for fostering the 

business changes required to succeed. In the broader 

NSG, a new strategy released in May 2016 addresses 

key areas that will transform the business processes for 

conducting GEOINT across the community.

In the coming months and years, NGA and its 

partners comprising the NSG will overhaul their 

business processes. This will require transparency and 

partnership among all GEOINT stakeholders. 

Peter Drucker coined the term 'Knowledge Worker’ in 

1957, about the time that the intelligence community 

began experimenting with photographic interpretation 

and creating the foundations of geospatial intelligence. 

In that sense, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

and its predecessor organizations have been engaged 

in the business of knowledge work for almost 60 years. 

As technology improved over time, there has been 

constant pressure to produce ever-increasing levels 

of geospatial insight. Throughout the Cold War, the 

1990s and early 2000s, insight from overhead imagery 

provided a unique basis to create knowledge that was 

available only to government agencies.

The growing wave of geospatial technology that 

began with commercial GPS data presents both 

enormous opportunity and challenge for NGA. The 

'democratization’ of satellite imagery and technology 

has increased everyone’s ability to contribute to the 

breadth and depth of geospatial knowledge. Anyone 

with an inclination to do so can now access some type 

of overhead imagery of just about any place on earth.

This means that what once provided the government 

with unique advantage over our adversaries is now 

ubiquitous. Consequently, the government must 

develop new ways of doing business to keep and 

grow our body of geospatial knowledge about the 

world and preserve national security. This puts new 

and unique pressure on NGA to adapt to new realities 

while still increasing the depth, breadth and value 

of its geospatial intelligence services. What brought 

NGA success in the past simply will not get NGA 

to the integrated and diversified knowledge-based 

organization of the future. 

To develop and institute new ways of doing business, 

NGA is taking a fresh look at the fundamental value, 

organization, management and processes of creating 

knowledge of events with the potential to affect 

national security. The NGA strategy and NGA GEOINT 

CONOPS 2022, which animates the strategy, are the 

first of many steps down the road to reinvention. The 

new concept of operations is a first for the agency – a 

single strategic document that describes the principles 

by which NGA will do business across the entire agency 

over the next six years.

GEOINT CONOPS 2022 calls for a fresh look at 

business practices, organization and mission approach 

across the four primary areas where NGA delivers 

value: creating knowledge through analysis, providing 

geospatial content, creating geospatial services for 

others and managing the GEOINT function across the 

Why: The changing busine

By Steve Truitt, Ctr., Office of Strategic Operations
24 NG

f

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automation and machine learning 

as core components of its future, 

realized through three phases — 

integrating a cloud-based GEOINT 

services platform by December 

2017; automating that platform 

before 2020; and ultimately, 

shaping automation through the 

power of machine learning and 

anticipatory analytics. 

“What’s changing is that we are 

realizing that more and more data 

sources of a ‘big’ type — e.g., mass 

media, social media, webs of open 

sensors — are growing in number 

and usually contain large amounts 

of spatial information,” wrote NGA 

data scientist Jon Clark, 

Ph.D., with the CIO and 

IT Services Directorate, 

in a 2016 agency study 

on the future trajectory 

of data.

“The specific challenges 

here include how 

to mine the spatial 

information out of what 

may be massive amounts of ‘noise,’ 

...whether those data are trustable...

how much sampling bias is in 

those data...[determining what is] 

enough metadata and provenance 

to prevent inappropriate use of the 

data,” Clark wrote. 

These concepts, strategies and 

studies are not unprecedented. 

Every phase of the CONOPS, 

when applied to the commercial 

tech sector, has been met to a 

measurable degree of success. 

That’s good news for the IC 

because it allows the community 

to leverage the best practices of the 

commercial sector in interoperable 

cloud platforms, machine learning 

and predictive analytics developed 

by companies such as Google, 

Amazon, Pivotal or Microsoft. 

“We can and must learn from many 

other communities and industries that 

David Bray, Ph.D., the chief 

information officer of the Federal 

Communications Commission, 

visited the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s Springfield, 

Virginia, campus in April for the 

Armed Forces Communications and 

Electronics Association’s Spring 

Intelligence Symposium 2016 to 

share his thoughts on the future of 

intelligence collection. 

Bray, who began his career in 

government information technology 

at 15 years old, spoke about this 

future not as something distant and 

hypothetical, but as an imminent 

reality aggressively rushing around 

the corner on the heels 

of Moore's law. At 

the forefront of his 

discussion was the 'data 

tsunami,’ a term often 

used by NGA Director 

Robert Cardillo. 

“[In] 2013, there 

were 7 billion network 

devices on the planet 

and 7 billion humans,” said Bray. 

“There are now 14 billion network 

devices on the planet and 7.3 billion 

humans. [Jump to] 2020, [there 

will be] anywhere between 50 and 

200 billion network devices on the 

face of the planet. That’s not linear 

change; that’s exponential change.”

For the intelligence community, 

this equates to 40 zettabytes of 

data, or 1 sextillion bytes, which the 

International Data Corporation’s 

2012 Digital Universe Study 

estimates as the size of the digital 

sphere by 2020. Described in more 

familiar terms, this is the equivalent 

of every person on the planet having 

174 newspapers delivered daily. 

So how will the IC harness this 

data? Through dynamics and 

automation, according to NGA. 

GEOINT CONOPS 2022 frames 

NGA’s approach by focusing on 

deal in spatial questions and locationbased operations,” noted Clark. “We 

must not reinvent the wheel.”

Most important is that the 

IC collects, stores, shares and 

exploits exquisite intelligence with 

unwavering efficacy.

NGA, along with its partners, is 

in the midst of a full-scale transition 

to cloud environments at all 

classification levels. The agency has 

also already partnered with two of 

the above-named companies, among 

others, to build an automated 

service-orientated architecture 

— one that can serve as a digital 

couture that quickly designs and 

deploys fast, reliable, operationally 

independent applications, with each 

app providing intuitive interfaces 

to well-catalogued, abstracted and 

algorithmically enhanced data sets 

linked to an array of attributes.

“NGA has a data strategy to 

optimize the use of the IC cloud to 

achieve the greatest efficiencies,” 

said NGA open IT expert Bill 

Holt. “Data will be decoupled from 

applications to allow for maximum 

reuse and tagged for discoverability 

and usability, all while enforcing 

sound, secure data access policies.”

“In addition, we are piloting 

efforts to conduct analytics before 

ingest and only ingest content that 

is identified as relevant or useful,” 

Holt said. 

Holt, who is involved in 

engineering NGA’s data strategy, 

works closely with a federally 

funded research and development 

center, or FFRDC, to plan the 

agency’s future-state data path — 

from three years to 10 years out. 

According to Holt these plans 

entail a unified, shared and 

community-accessible source of 

GEOINT data and resources, with 

shared analytic results, persistent 

monitoring of data through 

Moore’s Law: Gordon 

Moore, a co-founder of 

Intel, correctly predicted 

in 1965 that overall 

processing power 

for computers would 

double every two years.

How: Harnessing the power of th

By Evan Frank, Ctr., CIO-T Communications Team
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

Governments also will benefit from increased 

coordination and collaboration with the private sector. 

Still, unlike private-sector companies, governments 

are in a unique position to consider how best to use 

geospatial information for society as a whole, rather 

than simply get the most return on its investment, the 

report says. 

Governments might also reinvent how they collect, 

manage and distribute geospatial data. 

“Given the proliferation of additional sources of 

data and potential competition from other sectors,” 

the report states, “we may see government providers 

of geospatial information taking on a role that shifts 

more towards a policy, advisory and procurement 

role. ... Governments may increasingly no longer 

see it necessary to collect all geospatial information 

required themselves.”

To make best use of all the geospatial information 

available, the report suggests establishing training 

programs to instill the new and ever-changing 

skills needed to sift through and capitalize on 

geospatial data. 

The report notes the potential for a deepening of 

the 'digital divide’ between the countries with the 

infrastructure, expertise and resources available to 

take advantage of geospatial information and the 

countries without. 

“There will be potential major roles for 

nongovernmental organizations and development 

agencies in ensuring that the skill base necessary to 

ensure all countries reap the benefits of a spatiallyenabled society is developed globally,” the report notes. 

To view the full report, visit 

http://ggim.un.org/docs/Future-trends.pdf. 

Someone posts a photo of a beachfront vacation 

home on Facebook. Another tweets his frustration 

with construction delays on a busy interstate highway. 

These social media users – and millions like them -- are 

contributing to a geospatial treasure trove of information. 

This ever-increasing amount of geospatial information 

presents opportunities and challenges to world leaders, 

policymakers, business leaders and scientists, according 

to the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial 

Information Management, or UN-GGIM.

UN0GGIM published a report on future trends 

in geospatial management in 2013. The report aims 

to help nations, companies and organizations best 

position themselves to use all this geospatial data to 

create economic opportunities, provide emergency 

services, promote sustainable development, enhance 

security and more. 

“Geospatial information is an essential building 

block of a country,” the report states. “Investment in 

such information is worthwhile and will generate 

returns beyond the investment made.” 

The report says that the number of entities – both 

public and private – involved in generating, managing 

and providing geospatial information has risen 

significantly in the past 10 years and predicts it will 

continue to rise.

Governments, it says, will continue to play an 

important role in geospatial data collection and use. 

People may look to governments to provide a reliable, 

trusted geospatial information base; to develop 

standards, methods and tools to ensure quality and 

provide authority to information; and to establish 

policies and structures that allow users to easily access 

geospatial information.

What else: The glob

By Jessica Daues, Office of Corporate Communications

can automatically factor into 

patterned geospatial trending and 

targeting. [Most NLP today is based 

only on word matching, word 

patterns and simple semantics.] He 

also proposes automating systems 

for motion sensors and acoustic 

arrays for precision mapping based 

on sources of noise and movement; 

teaching systems to translate graph 

data into information models; 

crowdsourcing through social 

media; and developing systemautomated systems able to identify 

anomalies, and more focused 

application of knowledge and 

analysis based on geographic region. 

These steps lead to a GEOINT 

environment that selectively and 

purposefully automates the collection, 

cataloguing and exploitation of data – 

all before an analyst ever sees an image. 

Clark suggests the application 

of spatial and temporal algorithms 

to natural language processing of 

mass text, so 'where’ and 'when’ 

dynamic modeling to combine the 

massive streams of future data for 

the purpose of predictive analytics. 

These technologies are no longer 

concepts in the field of data science. 

The challenge is in fostering an NGA 

culture of applied data science.

Pairing such technology and 

automation with the good data 

governance – overseen by stewards 

and curators with backgrounds in 

data and library science – is the 

future of GEOINT. 
telling our st

26 NG

Tell us your personal, unclassified version of the work you or your office does for 

NGA for possible inclusion in the next Pathfinder. Send your 600 word or less 

account to Pathfinder@nga.mil. Submissions may be edited for clarity and length.

What’s your story?

Change detectio

fourth dimension of

By Dennis Campbell, Source

across a broad spectrum of types 

and levels of analyses. Used as 

exploratory tools, they enable quick 

and efficient broad-area searches 

to identify features of interest and 

prioritize areas for updates. Using 

change detection – also known as 

tipping and cueing – data layers in 

conjunction with other data layers 

saves analysts significant amounts 

of time, as they can hone in on 

those features that have changed 

since the last update.

Anticipatory analy

Considering four dimensions 

instead of the traditional three 

facilitates the formulation of 

scenarios that may be modeled and 

enhanced to reveal consequential 

insights. Looking forward, I 

believe that change detection 

data, which inherently present 

a set of consistent chronological 

dates with time ranges, facilitates 

the engagement of a number 

of anticipatory geospatial 

and statistical methodologies. 

Ultimately, change detection 

technologies and related future 

innovations are uniquely 

positioned to become important 

tools for modeling and predicting 

customer consequence.

Dennis Campbell is one of many foundation GEOINT 

specialists working to evolve the analytic tradecraft 

by incorporating useful and time-saving technologies.

Geospatial data have been depicted 

both historically and consistently 

in three dimensions, i.e., longitude, 

latitude and height and/or 

depth. This static representation 

of reality has required analysts to 

function and operate within these 

dimensionality constraints. In effect, 

they 'live’ only within their data. 

Introduction of the time element, 

when immersed with current and 

historical geospatial datasets, will 

increasingly lead us to consider a 

fourth dimension – that of change 

detection – so that we can more 

easily determine where and how 

to focus our geospatial intelligence 

efforts. By focusing on what has 

changed in place and time, analysts 

will be able to prioritize areas for 

updates, and revise maps and 

feature databases more quickly and 

effectively than ever before.

Exploratory asses

In the simplest terms, changes 

to the earth’s surface can be 

categorized into two forms – 

natural and unnatural. Unnatural 

land surface changes are most 

commonly produced by humaninduced construction activities, 

such as road infrastructures and 

industrial facilities. 

Change detection technologies 

that locate, in varying degrees, 

human-induced changes on 

the ground are finding success 
telling our st

| telling our story |

Pathfinder 2016

programs to industry members who 

may be interested in partnering 

to work on the solution. Known 

elsewhere as an industry day, 

IARPA’s Proposers’ Day includes:

•	 A presentation from the 

contracting agent about the 

contracting process; 

•	 An audience consisting of 

potential research performers 

and other interested parties 

who can ask clarifying 

questions of the program 

manager; and

•	 A chance for potential 

performers to meet and 

interact, which can facilitate 

the formation of teams of 

researchers who will work 

together to solve the problem. 

For program managers, 

Proposers’ Day allows for the 

gathering of feedback to fine-tune 

their concept before issuing a Broad 

Agency Announcement by which 

IARPA will solicit proposals for 

basic and applied research that is 

evaluated by a government panel. 

The CORE3D Proposers’ Day 

presentation slides are available 

on IARPA’s unclassified website, 

http://www.iarpa.gov. 

Scientist HakJae Kim, Ph.D., is on a joint-duty 

assignment from NGA Research to IARPA. He first 

became interested in IARPA as a result of his work 

to incorporate results from an IARPA program into 

a similar one he was building at NGA.

Timely access to geospatially 

accurate three-dimensional object 

data is a significant challenge. 

Without this data, however, it can 

be difficult to maintain global 

situational awareness, provide 

military intelligence or plan 

humanitarian assistance.

The U.S. government has 

invested in developing better ways 

to exploit 3-D data for geospatial 

intelligence. Researchers in 

academia and industry have also 

attempted to develop ways to 

capture the 3-D geometry and 

surface properties of objects on 

Earth more efficiently. Despite 

these various efforts, automated 

methods lag behind manual ones 

for creating 3-D models, extracting 

mission relevant information and 

understanding scenes. 

Manually constructed models are 

accurate and reliable, but making 

them is time consuming. Of particular 

concern, the manual process cannot 

accommodate the provision of 

models to support rapid-response 

military efforts or humanitarian crises, 

especially in areas where up-to-date 

models do not exist.

This is exactly the type of highly 

challenging research problem the 

Intelligence Advanced Research 

Projects Activity tackles under the 

Director of National Intelligence. 

IARPA’s mission is to envision 

and lead research that delivers 

innovative technology for future 

intelligence advantage.

Understanding both IARPA’s 

propensity for pursuing highrisk, high-return innovation and 

the government’s need to devise 

a solution for timely access to 

accurate 3-D data, I pitched the idea 

of CORE3D to IARPA soon after 

joining the DNI activity on jointduty assignment from the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 

CORE3D has the goal of 

providing precise physical and 

functional modeling of 3-D 

objects of any region of the globe 

quickly and accurately. Objects 

modeled in CORE3D are invariant 

and large in size. Examples 

include buildings, roads, bridges, 

towers and dams. The program 

doesn’t stop with showing a 

model of the object, though; it 

also models the object’s material, 

texture and functionality. 

The functional models in 

CORE3D focus on manmade 

object recognition and scene 

understanding. The program 

aims to develop methods to 

automatically recognize, tag 

and update predefined object 

categories from satellite 

imagery. The system currently 

has about 30 different defined 

facilities and hopes to expand to 

50-plus facilities based on NGA’s 

object database. 

I announced CORE3D at IARPA’s 

Proposers’ Day at the end of 

March. The event provides a forum 

for presenting rigorously vetted 

New so

3-D obj

By HakJae Kim, Ph.D., NGA Research/IARPA
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28 NG

By Army Maj. Nicole Bell and Jamie McDaniel, Office of NGA Defense
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

conflict occurring in a megacity and 

within a coastal or littoral zone.

Preparation: Holistic, collaborat

NGA and its partners are 

preparing for the future conflict 

environment by collaborating on 

a Joint Intelligence Preparation of 

the Operational Environment study. 

The JIPOE thoroughly examines 

significant land, sea and air 

challenges that are likely to arise.

“Joint Publication 3-06, Joint 

Urban Operations” outlines the 

holistic challenges and planning 

considerations for the future 

force in joint urban operations. 

By extension, the JIPOE serves as 

planning for NGA. 

First, how will the future force be 

postured? The Army’s Training and 

Doctrine Command – TRADOC for 

short – describes the land force of 

2025 and beyond as being rapidly 

deployable, regionally aligned, 

expeditionary, smaller, decentralized, 

joint, interorganizational, 

multinational and able to respond 

to multiple threats from both state 

and nonstate actors, all while 

maintaining homeland security.

The Army recently held a 

collaboration seminar with fellow 

services, international partners, 

academia and the private sector 

focusing on the future operational 

environment through 2040. 

This dialogue will drive future 

technology investments, Army 

training and tradecraft. Known 

as the Mad Scientist Conference, 

it was held at Arizona State 

University in April and focused on 

the future of warfare in megacities 

and dense urban areas.

In this collaboration, TRADOC 

defined anticipated missions in 

megacities as non-combatant 

evacuations, humanitarian 

assistance/disaster relief, raids, 

denial of adversary objectives, 

operations to counter weapons 

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. 

Perry M. Smith, a noted military 

commentator, says, “Understanding 

future warfare is the most 

important responsibility of those 

who must defend a nation from 

future enemies.”

The task requires careful analysis 

and planning, balanced with 

innovation, adaptability and the 

ability to forecast, among other 

things: Who will the enemy be? 

What will the threat and associated 

challenges be? What information 

is needed to enable military 

operations? When, where and 

why will crises occur requiring 

military operations? How will the 

responding forces be postured? 

NGA can facilitate understanding 

for the Department of Defense with 

respect to where future warfare will 

likely occur and what geospatial 

intelligence the military services 

will need to effectively succeed in 

their missions. But to do so, NGA 

must first have an understanding 

of the future posture of forces and 

the operational challenges they are 

likely to face.

Destination: Coastal c

In 2014 the Megacities Concept 

Team, Strategic Studies Group, 

under the Office of the Chief of 

Staff of the Army, identified that 60 

percent of the world’s population 

will reside in megacities — 

populations of 10 million or more 

— by 2030. Of that population, 60 

percent will be under the age of 18. 

As of 2015 there were 35 

megacities identified in the world 

through multiple sources for 

population statistics. Of these, 86 

percent of them are situated along 

coastlines or in littoral zones, i.e., 

near coastlines. Twenty-five of the 

35 megacities are located in the 

Middle East, Africa and Asia.

These statistics suggest the 

inevitability of future armed 

of mass destruction, military 

engagement and security cooperation. 

The future force will provide a global 

stabilizing presence, supporting 

civil authorities in addition to 

contributing to counterterrorism and 

counterinsurgency missions. Looking 

into the future, “the tasks have not 

changed, only the conditions have,” 

said Col. Jake Conway, Army NGA 

Support Team chief. 

On the s

In parallel with TRADOCs future 

posturing, navies and marines 

around the world are embarking 

on major transformational 

maritime initiatives. As our allies 

and adversaries modernize their 

fleets and operating principals, 

the competition for the United 

States to adapt and adopt rapid 

technology development and 

insertion capabilities is critical for 

preserving U.S. strategic influence 

in key regions, waterways and 

areas near the coastal/littoral zones 

of the world’s megacities. GEOINT 

is essential for safety of navigation, 

as well as for kinetic and nonkinetic 

military operations. To that end, 

NGA and the GEOINT community 

are transforming in response to the 

maritime forces paradigm shift.

The Navy Submarine Force 

finalized a consolidated strategic 

planning document in December 

2015. “Commander’s Intent for the 

United States Submarine Force and 

Supporting Organizations” describes 

the global environment, where 

approximately 70 percent of the 

world is covered in water; 80 percent 

of the population lives within a few 

hundred miles of an ocean coast; 90 

percent of global commerce travels 

by ship; and over 95 percent of 

intercontinental communications 

travel via underwater cable. These 

facts define and influence the 

maritime domain associated with the 

megacities concept.
f

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30 NG

firepower, as noted by TRADOC. 

“JP 3-06” outlines additional 

considerations for air operations, 

such as combat identification, 

propensity for collateral damage, 

preservation of infrastructure and 

line-of-sight obstructions.

NGA has the resources and 

experienced staff to contribute to 

JIPOE development in support 

of DOD in dealing with these 

challenges. “JP 3-06” and its 

companion, “JP 3-02, Amphibious 

Operations,” detail intelligence 

requirements for future warfare 

in megacities and littoral 

zones. Requirements include 

nontraditional terrain analysis, with 

focuses in critical infrastructure, 

service infrastructure, human 

geography, sea base sustainment, 

littoral charting and land-based 

natural/urban terrain features. Each 

broad requirement encompasses 

more specific requirements:

•	 Critical infrastructure analysis

must focus on transportation 

networks — streets, airports, 

seaports, bridges, rivers/

canals, subways, bus/taxi 

systems, highways, railways — 

utilities, government buildings, 

hospitals, schools, food 

processing and distribution 

centers, communication 

facilities, and phone and 

electrical lines — vertical 

obstructions. This includes city 

and street pattern analysis.

•	 Service infrastructure — police, 

fire, government services, food 

and water availability and 

distribution, medical services, 

fuel and electricity, sanitation, 

education, information flow 

— and the electromagnetic 

spectrum — air traffic control, 

emergency communications, 

navigation systems — must 

be analyzed. 

•	 Human geography must 

account for traffic patterns and 

travel analysis beyond typical 

demographics and densities, 

cultural/political/religious/

social lines, criminal activity, 

refugee concentrations, etc. 

•	 Sustaining sea bases — 

maintaining a distributed 

maritime presence to minimize 

destabilization — by providing 

reserves, force protection, 

logistics and administrative 

functions in support of urban 

operations. This will require 

NGA to conduct thorough 

analysis and produce planning 

charts for both the seaward 

avenues of approach and the 

coastal waterways.

•	 Natural terrain features, such 

as coastlines, rivers, lakes 

and mountains, influence 

city designs and patterns, and 

therefore must be analyzed. “JP 

3-06” further specifies that urban 

terrain features include the 

airspace, super surface, interior, 

exterior, surface and subsurface 

layers. Urban functional zones

include outlying high-rise areas, 

industrial areas, residential areas, 

the core periphery, commercial 

zones, the urban core and the 

military area. Further, building 

displacement must be noted.

At 

NGA’s contributions to 

the services’ non-combatant 

evacuation operations provide 

excellent examples of the 

importance of NGA products, 

data and services to the current 

and future success of each of 

the military services, especially 

when operating in a megacities 

environment. NGA’s NEO support 

to the Navy and Marines is 

augmented by NGA-developed 

web-based apps capable of 

operating in both connected 

and disconnected environments. 

Among the most relevant apps are 

Disconnected Interactive Content 

Explorer and GLIMPSE, as well 

as the proven Mobile Awareness 

In the January 2016 strategy 

document “A Design for 

Maintaining Maritime Superiority,” 

Adm. John M. Richardson, the U.S. 

chief of naval operations, describes 

future maritime challenges using 

three global force categories: 

1. Rapid expansion of classic 

maritime navigation 

through burgeoning global 

economic markets, which has 

significantly increased traffic 

on the oceans, seas, waterways 

and the sea floor. 

2. Proliferation of global 

information systems that 

connect the world through 

dynamic technology riding 

on highly capable servers, 

undersea cables, satellites 

and wireless networks, which 

has empowered individuals, 

organizations and nations to 

quickly engage and influence 

national defense and security. 

3. Global development, 

standardization and adoption 

of cutting-edge information 

technologies, including 

hardware, software, web-based 

applications, new data types 

and related technology. 

The nexus of these three 

factors has implications for the 

composition and posture of 

global maritime forces. Maritime 

operations in the 2025 timeframe 

will demand highly capable shipto-shore future warfare systems 

that are designed for flexibility 

and agility to meet these maritime 

challenges. Understanding this 

provides NGA, the Navy, Marine 

Corps, Army and Coast Guard with 

insight to better plan for the future. 

On the grou

For ground forces, challenges 

associated with future armed conflict 

in megacities include constrained 

advantages in detection, standoff, 

freedom of movement and precision 
| feature |

Pathfinder 2016

NGA-developed a

support milita

operati

The following apps are among those available through 

NGA’s open-source GitHub accoun

•	 The Disconnected Interactive Content Explorer a

enables tactical users to interact with feature-rich 

content — including interactive maps, videos, charts 

and data — in a disconnected/offline environment. 

The DICE app fills a key gap for disconnected Na

and Marine planners who are continuously updating

maps and charts used in NEO operation

•	 The GLIMPSE mobile application allows tactical us

such as first responders and security teams, to simply 

and securely share live video streams and broadcasts, 

which can be viewed by multiple users simultaneously 

on Android mobile devices or desktops. G

enables teams to share live feeds of events without 

transmitting across public services. 

•	 The Mobile Awareness GEOINT Environment

full-stack, open-source mobile situational awareness 

capability that allows users to quickly geotag field 

locations and observations directly on photos, video, 

audio and other document attachments. M

helps its users meet mission needs for responding to 

natural disasters or investigations, or for supporting 

major security or special events.

GEOINT Environment, known as 

MAGE. All of these examples are 

available to the services through 

NGA’s open-source GitHub mobile 

application account. [See box for 

descriptions of each app.]

Future warfare suppo

The Army’s Megacities Concept 

Team noted that DOD intelligence 

community “efforts focus not on 

cities but on countries, regions, 

adversaries and other trends of 

concern to decision makers.” 

NGA’s Future Warfare Systems 

Division recognizes an opportunity 

for NGA to support the DOD IC 

with a robust megacity database on 

the unclassified and secure internet 

protocol router network — a.k.a., 

SIPRNet — for both all-source 

military analysts and geospatial 

analysts. According to division 

personnel, such a database would 

have to address the aforementioned 

critical/service infrastructure and 

subterranean analysis, sea base 

sustainment, littoral charting, 

human geography, urban and 

natural terrain analysis, and 

extensive 3-D mapping. It could be 

incorporated into the Map of the 

World GEOINT content tool, along 

with crowd-sourcing capabilities 

from across the IC and joint forces. 

They believe the database would 

be most valuable if aligned with 

locations of increased indications 

and warnings, or in other words, 

places where the future conflict 

or crisis is likely to occur — the 

identification of which is also 

an NGA capability. It also could 

maximize input from the Army’s 

regionally aligned forces units and 

Geospatial Planning Cells. 

Whether creating unique 

databases or open-source apps, NGA 

is engaging on many fronts with 

the joint forces, industry, academia, 

and interagency research and 

development teams to anticipate 

and deliver integrated GEOINT 

capabilities for the future.
f

eatu

32 NG

Along with its military service

partners, NGA is marching doubletime ahead of socio-political

trends and global-scale threats 

that challenge the boundaries of 

traditional intelligence analysis. 

Fueled by the frenetic pace of

21st century communication, the 

shape-shifting of world events has 

launched GEOINT and the peop

who deliver it into the deep end of 

the information age.

The key to staying ahead of 

the intelligence tsunami, not 

surprisingly, is to work more quickly 

and smartly. Underpinning NGA’

irrefutable human capabilities is 

its determination to explore and 

develop forward-leaning technology 

solutions to apply to unique 

customer problem-sets. Delivering

real-time, fused intelligence moving 

forward will depend more and more 

on the agility and tools to rapidly 

access, process, visualize, transmit 

and share key commodities and 

analytical products. 

It’s no mistake that a large portion

of the agency’s tech innovations are 

ignited and incubated as result of 

its forward-deployed, expeditionary 

role. Working alongside military

and other government customers, 

deployer embeds and NGA Support

Team personnel must navigate 

frontline challenges firsthand. In

what are frequently austere and 

disadvantaged environments, 

where low network bandwidth and 

connectivity issues present some of 

the greatest obstacles for our analysts 

and partners, NGA is a crucible

for needed advancement. We have

the unique opportunity in these 

settings—outside the boundaries 

of bureaucracy— to employ new 

and emerging technologies and to 

engineer and test custom solutions 

that enable access to GEOINT da

and services on warfighter and 

coalition networks. 

As deployers return to NGA, “the

obviously bring back the mission 

with them,” said NGA Directo

Robert Cardillo.

This combined onsite and reachback support encourages customer 

adoption of novel GEOINT solution

while challenging OE and

at-large to refine offerings and 

delivery methods that can tackle 

new mission requirements. The 

agency’s highly touted Ship Rider

program, for example, introduces 

NGA’s enterprise GEOINT servi

to a growing number of afloat 

operations, improving GEOI

analysis and safety of navigation. 

During the program’s pilot aboard

the carrier USS Roosevelt, th

OCONUS Data Center’s stream

imagery services were enlisted and 

have significantly reduced the time 

to access new imagery at sea for 

immediate operational impact. 

In Afghanistan, Iraq and acro

Africa, NGA is working to expos

and employ the Protected Interne

Exchange to an increasing number

of coalition partners. PiX offers lowbandwidth geospatial services and is

optimal for coalition sharing because 

of its internet accessibility and 

minimal training required for use.

NGA’s expeditionary construct,

which ensures the ability to deploy 

in response to crises within just 

hours, pivots around the continual 

upgrade of existing equipment with 

new data and technologies. NG

personnel are currently testing a 

service that will enable analysts 

to create 'smart data bricks’ for 

rapid deployments. These GEOI

data-loaded hard drives, along with 

micro SD flash cards, provide quick

access to standard and nonstandard 

foundation data. Smart bricks will 

allow automatic updates for most 

locations, which is especially critical 

during disconnected operations or 

when using mobile devices.

As the demand for military-provided

communications continues to grow 

and outstrip supply, the ability to 

take advantage of commercial 

communications is also becoming a 

substantial catalyst for our success. 

To ensure that the agency is able to 

deploy communication and production 

capabilities worldwide via the lightest, 

most flexible deployment packages 

possible, NGA is leveraging the

commercial Internet to the widest extent

possible. The agency is championing 

the development of deployable 

systems that can tunnel secure global 

communications over commercial 

Internet connections, decreasing the

time to provision communication and 

reducing the NGA deployment footprint

“Where the expeditionary mission

is dependent on the ability to 

access data and services, adapting 

our technology to immediate 

requirements—no matter how 

difficult they are—is a top priority,” 

said Chris Jarvis, director of the 

NGA Expeditionary Operatio

Office. “Our deployed work pushe

us to continually reinvent how we 

deliver geospatial intelligence to 

and from the tactical edge, to get 

it to the right people in the right 

place on time.”

Expeditionary

the tactical edge By Anne Helms, Ctr., Expeditionary Operatio
INSIGHT

| INSIGHT |

Pathfinder 2016

For more than 60 years National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

and its predecessor organizations 

have been the standard-bearers for 

building quality maps to support 

both military and senior decisionmakers throughout the government 

for a variety of missions. 

But the world of map-making is 

changing, and the government is 

playing a less-centralized role, as 

more and more commercial entities 

become dependent on geographic 

information systems — a.k.a. GIS 

— data to meet their business needs. 

As far back as 2012, Business Insider 

reported that Google employs more 

than 7,000 people to work on maps 

that generate dynamic content.

More recently, The Future of 

Maps report, commissioned by 

NGA Research and the Army 

Geospatial Center, highlighted the 

growing role of nongovernment 

entities. It noted that improved 

communication capabilities have 

led to innovative solutions across 

the various sectors of the opensource geospatial community. 

As a result, NGA has been busy 

identifying future investment 

and implementation strategies 

to harness the power of such 

interconnectivity for producing 

foundation geospatial data. 

One of the underlying forces 

driving change within the GIS 

industry has been the adoption 

of the Wikipedia model to GIS 

data production. This trend 

achieved mainstream academic 

acknowledgment by University of 

California Santa Barbara’s Michael 

Goodchild, who is credited with 

defining the concept as Volunteered 

Geographic Information, or VGI. 

The prevalence of VGI has grown 

exponentially through the evolution 

of web technology and social media, 

resulting in the creation of free 

and publicly available geospatial 

information — places of interest, 

transportation networks and geotagged multimedia. Platforms such 

as Wikimapia, OpenStreetMap 

and Google Earth have been key 

enablers of VGI, drastically reducing 

the time and cost for creating, 

managing and updating geospatial 

information traditionally reserved 

for professional cartographers using 

specialized software. 

Recognizing the rise of VGI tools 

and capabilities, NGA Foundation 

GEOINT Group Director Kevin 

Hope established a pilot program to 

determine how VGI could be used 

to support NGA and its partners in 

the future. This program, operating 

since October 2015, has developed a 

collection approach called the VGI 

TRIAD, which is composed of active 

and passive VGI components, and 

a community-sourcing component. 

The active component queries 

the public on questions relating 

to specific features on Earth; the 

passive component provides 

data to the public for further VGI 

enrichment. The communitysourcing component establishes a 

collaborative mapping environment 

where analysts worldwide can 

collaborate simultaneously on 

shared datasets. 

These three components will 

feed what will be known as NGA’s 

NSG Open Mapping Enclave – 

NOME for short – a current work 

in progress. The Foundation 

GEOINT Group based NOME 

on the successes of the nonprofit 

OpenStreetMap Foundation and 

has begun developing an internal 

crowdsourcing environment for 

NGA and its mission partners. 

Together, the NOME services 

allow GIS experts and entrylevel users alike to generate and 

discover foundation GEOINT at the 

unclassified level via a centralized 

repository that is automatically 

accessible across the community. For 

example, a first responder could 

add information about a damaged 

building or road observed during a 

disaster relief mission, and render 

said information immediately 

available to all fellow aid providers 

regardless of where they are.

This new environment has already 

received recognition and praise from 

external partners who value its means 

to conduct outreach and collaboration. 

“In our opinion this is a huge

win for the entire intelligence 

community...the leading edge 

of technology for the IC,” said 

Terry Busch, a DIA division 

chief for integrated analysis 

and methodologies. 

Those involved acknowledge 

that achieving such milestones will 

require a cultural and technological 

change in the way GEOINT data 

is created and disseminated. Sharp 

changes in direction are difficult in 

large organizations such as NGA. 

But as retired U.S. Army 

Gen, Eric Shinseki said, “If you 

don’t like change, you will like 

irrelevance even less.”

The 'in' crowd: NGA a

crowdsourcing model By Will Mortenson, NGA Foundation GEOINT 

COMMUNITY

SOURCING

NOME

ACTIVE

VGI

PASSIVE

VGI
34 NG

Every day as many as one billion 

people use a mapping or navigation 

device to find something. Most 

people know that the GPS (Global 

Positioning System) feature on their 

devices provides their position, 

speed and direction to follow – but 

they may not know that their GPS 

device can’t tell which way they 

are facing.

“That is one problem with 

GPS,” says James Friederich, 

a senior officer in the National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

Office of Geomatics. “It’s great 

at positioning, but it can’t do 

orientation: Here I am, but am I 

facing north, or am I facing east?”

World Magnetic M

To solve this problem, navigation 

devices use magnetometers (hightech compasses) to determine 

direction within the Earth’s 

magnetic field, a technique 

used for hundreds of years in 

navigation. There are several 

complicating factors about the 

Earth’s magnetic field, however; 

the north magnetic pole does not 

coincide with the north pole of 

the earth. It is approximately 400 

miles to the southwest in Canada. 

As a result there will be directional 

offset, called declination, between 

magnetic north sensed by a 

compass and true north defined on 

maps. To further complicate matters 

the north magnetic pole is moving 

approximately 35 miles per year 

northwesterly towards Siberia.

The NGA Geomatics Office 

helps keep navigation devices 

accurate by providing the World 

Magnetic Model. The WMM is a 

representation of the Earth’s largescale magnetic field, including 

the computations required 

to compensate for the north 

magnetic pole’s drift and the 

offset from true north. The WMM 

comes pre-installed on Android 

and iOS devices to correct for the 

magnetic declination.

The Earth’s magnetic field 

arises from many sources, some 

external and some internal, 

that vary with location and 

time. Specialized instruments 

onboard dedicated satellites and 

at ground observatories that are 

capable of measuring the Earth’s 

magnetic field strength and vector 

components collect the data 

necessary to create the model. The 

WMM is produced at five-year 

intervals and is distributed by the 

National Centers for Environmental 

Information on behalf of NGA. The 

current WMM expires in 2019, and 

a new model will take its place.

The utility provided by the WMM 

for navigation is an indispensable 

complement to maps, charts and 

GPS devices used by the Department 

of Defense, the U.K. Ministry of 

Defence and NATO, as well as 

the International Hydrographic 

Organization and a wide array of 

civilian navigation applications.

World Geodetic System 19

The WMM is one of several 

systems within the World 

Geodetic System 1984, also known 

as WGS 84. WGS 84 is the official 

geodetic reference system for the 

National System for Geospatial 

Intelligence, or NSG, and the 

activities of Notice to Mariners 

collections, mapping and charting, 

safety of navigation and targeting. 

The NGA Geomatics Office 

produces and maintains WGS 84.

WGS 84 is an ellipsoid model 

rather than a sphere that defines 

our latitude, longitude and 

ellipsoid height system. A single 

defined ellipsoid ensures that 

military mapping grids in meters 

are properly linked to the latitude 

and longitude degree-minutesseconds system. Different-shaped 

ellipsoids yield different positions 

on the earth.

The WGS 84 reflects our dynamic 

physical earth and takes into 

account geodynamic motions such 

as plate tectonics and the daily 

movement of the spin axis of the 

earth. Although WGS 84 may sound 

30 years old because of its name, 

NGA geodesists update it daily. 

Earth Gravitational Mod

Another system within the WGS 84 

is the Earth Gravitational Model and 

geoid model. The EGM represents a 

highly irregular surface whose shape 

results from uneven mass distributions 

within the earth. Although gravity is 

not an actual physical surface you can 

see or touch, the effects of gravity on 

NSG systems is real.

Similar to the effect that gravity 

from the moon and sun has on 

ocean tides on the earth, the gravity 

forces of uneven mass distributions 

in the earth – mountains, valleys 

and various rock strata in the crust 

– cause what can be described as 

‘permanent tides.’ These permanent 

tides force water to pile up where 

gravity is higher and to be pulled 

away where gravity is lower, to 

form an irregular, lumpy, bumpy 

surface for the oceans. 

If we measure gravity 

everywhere, we can model how 

the oceans will lie and we can 

define a mean sea level. The EGM 

thus serves as the defining vertical 

reference surface to represent 

global mean sea level heights for 

NSG operations.

Beyond its use for mean sea level, 

the EGM is used directly to predict 

and correct for disturbances in 

the regular movement of satellite 

orbits due to the Earth’s gravity 

anomalies. It is also used as the 

basis for more advanced gravity 

correction models for high-accuracy 

DOD inertial navigation systems. 

NGA maintains the world’s 

largest gravity database. The 

agency is currently working with 

several partners to build the next 

model, EGM2020.

NGA helps kee

the world

on cou

By Richard Salman 

and James Brown, Ctr., 

Foundation GEOINT
| INSIGH

Pathfinder 2016

Did you

know

The Global Positioning System,

or GPS, has become the world

standard for geolocation. 

The traditional geodesy and 

photogrammetry skills practiced 

by NGA and its predecessor

agencies made GPS possible

In 1984 one of NGA’

predecessors, Defense Mappin

Agency, participated in creating

WGS 84, a geodetic reference

frame that enabled scientists to 

identify the Earth’s mass and

the location of its center to 

within the size of the average 

postage stamp (a 22 mm by 

19 mm space). The accuracy 

of WGS 84 set the stage for

the emergence of GPS as a

fully operational capability in 

1995.The multi-satellite GPS

constellation remains in its proper 

configuration because of daily 

geodetic support from NGA
collaboration

36 NG

increase interoperability and 

collaboration. In June 2002 the 

National Imagery and Mapping 

Agency, NGA's predecessor, 

awarded a development and 

lifecycle support contract 

for the Commercial Joint 

Mapping Toolkit, or CJMTK. 

This award represented 

the adoption of the ArcGIS 

platform as the recommended 

toolkit for the management, 

analysis and visualization of 

geospatial intelligence for the 

DOD command, control and 

intelligence – C2I – community.

The CJMTK is not a single 

product but a comprehensive set 

of geospatial software components 

that form an integrated GIS 

platform. Developers have been 

able to choose the appropriate parts 

of the ArcGIS architecture that best 

fit their requirements. 

Achievemen

CJMTK, through its nine 

major releases, has provided 

the community with tools that 

support advances in technology 

and achieve the goal of increased 

interoperability and collaboration. 

Operating systems have changed 

and other upgrades have occurred 

at no extra cost to the government 

or user community. At the same 

time, and as a tangible example of 

government-industry collaboration 

at its best, CJMTK users also 

influenced the evolution of 

commercial products used for 

embedded mission products. 

In the past decade, more than 

50 operational C2I programs have 

Over the past decade more than 

250,000 Department of Defense 

warfighters and decision-makers 

have used a commercial joint 

mapping toolkit to devise mapping 

solutions used on aircraft, aboard 

surface warships and submarines, 

in static headquarters, and on 

both mounted and dismounted 

platforms for ground forces. A 

mobile solution also exists for 

handheld and tablet devices.

National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency and its predecessors partnered 

with several commercial partners 

years ago to support the toolkit. While 

the long-term commercial contract 

expired at the end of 2015, NGA 

will continue to provide support to 

DOD customers through a legacy 

sustainment contract.

Histo

In the mid-1990s DOD began 

consolidating several mapping, 

charting, geodesy and imagery 

software components for 

command-and-control systems 

into what became known as the 

Joint Mapping Toolkit. The JMTK 

supported applications that 

ran on the Defense Information 

Infrastructure Common Operating 

Environment used in all the DOD 

command, control, communications, 

computers, intelligence, 

surveillance and reconnaissance 

systems at the national, joint and 

service levels. 

In the 1999 Defense 

Authorization Bill, Congress 

directed that future versions 

of the JMTK be based on 

commercial technology to 

fielded with CJMTK technology, 

for an estimated end-use count 

more than twice the original 

expectation. An additional 60 

programs are working on their 

own implementations of the 

technology. These include the 

Army’s Distributed Common 

Ground System, DOD’s Generic 

Area Limitation Environment, the 

Marine Corps’ Command and 

Control PC [personal computer], 

the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat 

Networks and Enterprise Services, 

and the Joint Mission Planning 

System used by both the Navy and 

the Air Force. 

The program has supported 

multiple exercises, joint-capability 

technology demonstrations, 

coalition warfighter interoperability 

demonstrations and technical 

symposia. Across the enterprise, 

CJMTK assisted the Army 

Geospatial Center as a center of 

excellence for terrain reasoning, 

which has evolved into the current 

Situational Awareness Geospatially 

Enabled program.

Futur

The CJMTK contract ended 

at the end of 2015, after more 

than 13 years of collaborative 

success. NGA continues to provide 

CJMTK GEOINT services to 

the DOD community through a 

legacy sustainment contract. The 

software, acquired through a 

blanket purchase agreement, is 

being provided by the Esri ArcGIS 

Platform, along with regular 

software updates and full technical 

and lifecycle support. 

DOD served by long-term joint mapping too

By Eric Young, CIO and IT Services
collaborati

| Collaboration |

Pathfinder 2016

“Since the development was 

already being done in InnoVision 

[now known as NGA Research], 

it was a natural progression to 

explore GeoNarrative as a plug-in 

for MoW,” said Marti Spaulding, 

the GeoNarrative product owner 

in Xperience. 

Both the GeoNarrative standard 

and plug-in encourage the reuse 

of data, which saves production 

time and increases the quality and 

depth of analysis for customers. 

This focus on the democratization 

of information reflects ICD 208, 

NGA’s strategic call to succeed in 

the open, and MoW’s commitment 

to open standards. 

“The end-state goal for having 

this open architecture is to ensure 

that we can leverage sources from 

everywhere – academia, industry 

and government,” Spaulding said. 

“We don’t want to miss out on 

any capabilities that may lead to 

analytic revelation.”

Intelligence community 

production transformation is 

hardly a new concept; much 

of the thinking behind the 

GeoNarrative standard was 

inspired by Chris Rasmussen and 

the idea of 'living intelligence,’ 

a model where a range of 

information is mixed together in 

a transparent common space and 

the intelligence topic is constantly 

updated. Rasmussen, who leads 

NGA’s GEOINT Pathfinder 2 

initiative, which strives to answer 

intelligence questions using 

only open-source data, saw the 

value in building a community 

knowledge base a decade ago, but 

at the time, the ask was too much. 

“Innovation has nothing to do 

with technology,” Rasmussen 

said. “It’s a people process and 

only works if people stop being 

wedded to legacy systems and 

make the shift.” 

Imagine a way to combine the 

best parts of a discussion – the 

questions, the give and take, even 

the argument – complete with 

imagery and geospatial data. That’s 

the concept of the GeoNarrative 

standard: immersive, digital 

storytelling that is query-able, 

traceable and transparent. 

Intelligence Community 

Directive 208, “Write for Maximum 

Utility,” calls for the distribution of 

intelligence products that “provide 

the greatest use to customers.” 

Information must be easy to discover, 

use and share. ICD 208 also calls for 

“innovative product organization” 

with the goal of enabling “tailored 

reuse of the product.”

In summer 2016 NGA Research, 

the key component within National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

that focuses on exploring emerging 

capabilities, launches its Map of 

the World GeoNarrative plug-in to 

help NGA meet those requirements. 

This homegrown solution is an 

example of cross-agency teamwork 

at its best: NGA Research made 

the sparks, Source provided a 

collection of GEOINT data for 

kindling and Xperience fanned the 

flames. Now, Team NGA can come 

together and make knowledge 

production a social endeavor.

The GeoNarrative tool turns static 

snapshots into a conversation. The 

resulting dialogue, and ultimately 

the end product, thrives when 

people contribute to, interact with 

and challenge the data. Users at 

every level of understanding, from 

decision maker to connoisseur, can 

connect in a way that suits them, 

choosing their own adventure. 

Connecting the GeoNarrative 

to MoW necessitated a change 

in ownership from Research to 

Xperience, but paid off by leveraging 

GEOINT Visualization Services’ 

robust operating environment. 

To realize the geo-narrative 

concept on its own terms and 

avoid settling for whatever options 

industry provided, Team NGA had 

to roll up its sleeves. 

“The build way is hard,” said Josh 

Trampier, Ph.D., an NGA Research 

scientist. “It represents a different 

kind of agency commitment – to a 

standard, to an ideal – and it takes a 

certain amount of courage.” 

When Cort Stowe, the geonarrative technical lead in 

Research, spoke about taking 

the vision from prototype to 

implementation, he kept returning 

to the idea of using the software to 

increase analytic efficiency. 

“If we eliminated a lot of the 

overhead, automated the data 

gathering and had a community 

ready to collaboratively create 

the narrative, you could leverage 

existing stories and simplify 

the tasks analysts usually find 

cumbersome, allowing them to 

instead focus on accurate and 

detailed reporting,” Stowe said. 

This is exactly the thinking NGA 

Director Robert Cardillo called for in 

his September 2010 article for Studies 

in Intelligence titled “Intelligence 

Community Reform: A Cultural 

Evolution.” Cardillo wrote that the IC 

needed to focus its efforts on the future 

state and drive changes accordingly.

“In the IC, our analytic tradecraft 

is our culture....There must be 

some demonstrable change in our 

tradecraft – our actual daily business 

processes,” Cardillo said. “It is the 

responsibility of IC leaders to set the 

conditions that will allow the newest, 

talented generation of analysts to 

help our customers succeed.”

Our pictures are accompanied by 

a thousand words because there are 

lessons in the narrative – just ask 

any analyst. The team behind the 

GeoNarrative tool hopes it provides 

another way to tell that story. 

Choose your own adventu

The future of collaborative analysis By Amelia Cohen-Levy, Ctr., Analysis 
understand the world

38 NG
| understand the world |

Pathfinder 2016
Maracana Stadiu

23 34 40.89 S

46 39 21.29 

Copyright 2016, DigitalGlo

Commerci

anothe

The 2016 Summer Olympics will mark 

another first for the Maracanã Stadium in 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium was 

built to host the first FIFA World Cup in 

1950. This summer it will be part of the 

venue for the first summer Olympics ever 

hosted in a South American city. 

The upcoming Rio Olympics actually 

mark several firsts in terms of location. 

These will be the first summer games held 

entirely during a host country’s winter 

season. They will be the first held in a 

Portuguese-speaking country, and the first 

since 1968 to be held in Latin America.

In addition to hosting the 1950 World 

Cup, Maracanã Stadium hosted the opening 

and closing ceremonies of the 2007 Pan 

American Games, and volleyball matches in 

1980 and 1983 between Brazil and the former 

Soviet Union. Several major musical events 

have also been held at the stadium over the 

years, including performances by Frank 

Sinatra, KISS, Sting and Madonna. Both 

Paul McCartney and Tina Turner attracted 

such large crowds to the venue in the late 

1980s and early 1990s that they made the 

Guinness Book of World Records.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

routinely provides geospatial intelligence 

support during events such as the Olympics. 

The agency partners with commercial 

imagery providers and others to support 

security personnel as requested. NGA 

typically provides support through mobile 

apps, its Map of the World content tool, 

and other data and web-based services 

provided to partners.

To learn more about how NGA supports 

public safety during special events, visit 

http://www.nga.mil


Maracana Stadiu

23 34 40.89 S

46 39 21.29 W

Copyright 2016, DigitalGlo

Commercial imagery support

another first plac

The 2016 Summer Olympics will mark 

another first for the Maracanã Stadium in 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium was 

built to host the first FIFA World Cup in 

1950. This summer it will be part of the 

venue for the first summer Olympics ever 

hosted in a South American city. 

The upcoming Rio Olympics actually 

mark several firsts in terms of location. 

These will be the first summer games held 

entirely during a host country’s winter 

season. They will be the first held in a 

Portuguese-speaking country, and the first 

since 1968 to be held in Latin America.

In addition to hosting the 1950 World 

Cup, Maracanã Stadium hosted the opening 

and closing ceremonies of the 2007 Pan 

American Games, and volleyball matches in 

1980 and 1983 between Brazil and the former 

Soviet Union. Several major musical events 

have also been held at the stadium over the 

years, including performances by Frank 

Sinatra, KISS, Sting and Madonna. Both 

Paul McCartney and Tina Turner attracted 

such large crowds to the venue in the late 

1980s and early 1990s that they made the 

Guinness Book of World Records.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

routinely provides geospatial intelligence 

support during events such as the Olympics. 

The agency partners with commercial 

imagery providers and others to support 

security personnel as requested. NGA 

typically provides support through mobile 

apps, its Map of the World content tool, 

and other data and web-based services 

provided to partners.

To learn more about how NGA supports 

public safety during special events, visit 

http://www.nga.mil
feature

28 NGA.MI

By Army Maj. Nicole Bell and Jamie McDaniel, Office of NGA Defense