M a y / J u n e 2 0 1 0

Technology—

Rendering an 

Ever-Clearer 

Picture

Vol. 8 No. 3
On My Mind

NGA’s Technology Advantage

We face adversaries who can be anywhere and everywhere, not bound by national borders or rules of war. 

They can bring destruction in a myriad of ways—from improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers 

to the sophisticated tools of cyber warfare. Our decision makers and warfighters need to know not only 

where our adversaries are and what they’re doing, but also what they’re planning to do and where those 

plans are being developed. NGA can help provide that information.

NGA and the geospatial intelligence community can meet national security challenges first by consistently 

improving our ability to collect the most reliable data. NGA is leading the strategic planning for an integrated 

collection capability comprising a robust collection architecture, which encompasses national technical 

means, commercial remote sensing, international options and integrated airborne data from across the 

Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.

Because of advances in technology, we are able to collect staggering amounts of data. One major challenge 

presented by this accelerating flow of information is how to turn raw data into useful intelligence in a timely 

way. Collaboration with industry, through focused investments in technology research and development, 

is one important factor in helping us meet this challenge.

We’re working with our industry partners to refine existing technologies and create new ones to automate 

many of the time-consuming functions that pull our specialists away from exploitation and analysis tasks. 

Successes in automated tools include orthorectification, data correlation, change detection and feature 

extraction, with more advanced technologies for data storage and dissemination on the way.

Dissemination is yet another challenge. Our mission partners must have access to our resources. NGA 

is working with our national and allied partners in an ongoing drive to develop technology standards, 

architectures and procedures to ensure this access.

Partnership with industry is also critical in our efforts to customize existing commercial tools to better serve 

NGA, our domestic partners in the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and our international 

partners in the Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence (ASG). These efforts help us bring the power of 

new technology to maritime data analysis, space-based algorithms, data fusion, knowledge management 

and other important efforts.

Collaboration is also key to getting the right intelligence tools into the hands of the people who need 

them. As the functional manager for GEOINT, NGA collaborates with and provides resources to the NSG and 

ASG. An important part of our combined effort is developing open technology standards and procedures 

to support the widest possible distribution of customized intelligence.

A fully integrated system for the efficient collection, exploitation and dissemination of GEOINT is at the 

heart of NSG–ASG vision. To fulfill our responsibility, we must first collect the most reliable data. We must 

then automate the processing of that data to the fullest extent possible, so that our specialists can spend 

their time managing and analyzing it instead of manually ingesting and collating it. Finally, we must give 

our finished intelligence the wide access and distribution required to accomplish the mission, with the 

people that we have deployed across the NSG and with our allied partners.

Robert B. Murrett

Vice Admiral, USN

Director
12 18

Contents

Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 ›› Vol. 8 No. 3

On the Cover

With its substantial reach, NGA routinely plays a part in numerous success 

stories. Many of these achievements may not be disclosed in a public 

forum, but among those that can are found dramatic reminders of the 

value of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). Throughout 2008, the agency 

and its partners repeatedly demonstrated the value of GEOINT and of 

the advances that NGA pursues to maintain and expand its premier 

position within the geospatial community. These noteworthy victories 

are just some of the ways in which NGA fulfills its crucial role in the daily 

intelligence mission. The first image taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite, over 

Kutztown University, Pa., illustrates one such accomplishment—NGA’s 

continuing NextView partnerships with private industry. 

More to the Story?

The online Classified Pathfinder, which is accessible 

by members of the Intelligence Community, may include additional information and expanded sections 

of some Pathfinder articles. The Classified Pathfinder 

provides a forum for reading and discussing topics 

at the level of “Unclassified//For Official Use Only” 

and higher. For information please contact the editor, 

Heather Cox, at 301-227-2290.

1 Pathfinder ›› September/October 2009 

2 Letter to Our Readers

›› E Y E S W I D E O P E N

4 NGA Mounts Unprecedented Support for 2008 

Olympic Games

5 GeoEye-1 Satellite Fulfills Agency Requirements

6 NGA Support Team Bolsters SOCOM’s Special 

Operations Forces 

8 Sidebar: Special Operations Forces Truths

›› E N A B L I N G D E C I S I O N S

10 Successful Terrorist Prosecution Employs NGA 

Terrain Models

11 NGA Magnifies the Value of Open Source GEOINT

12 Advancing GEOINT Standards Across the NSG

›› V I S U A L I Z I N G I N T E L L I G E N C E

14 Military GEOINT Cells Foster Closer 

Relationship

16 Training Increases Google EarthTM Proficiency

17 Agency Extends Information Technology 

Infrastructure

18 Multimedia Communicators Tell the NGA Story 

in New Ways

›› R E A C H I N G F O R W A R D

20 Research and Development Highlight 

Collaborative Partnerships

21 Ethical Standards Reinforce Agency Focus

22 New System Rewards Effective Performance

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

23 Partnerships: NGA Hosts Afghan Mapping 

Agencies for Executive Training

24 New Campus East: NCE Tours Host 2,000 in 

Two Months

›› S P E C I A L G E O I N T S U P P L E M E N T

1 Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

5

Contents

On the Cover

Everyone and everything on Earth can be associated at a particular 

moment with a geographic location, which places geospatial 

intelligence at the center of most intelligence questions. GEOINT 

puts intelligence into context, providing analytic perspective 

by answering “What?”, “Where?” and “When?” When fused 

with other intelligence sources, GEOINT’s power increases 

exponentially. Technology makes this fusion possible. The agency 

maintains ongoing partnerships and research programs to develop 

and apply new and emerging technologies. Each innovation 

expands GEOINT’s ability to visualize intelligence, rendering 

an ever-clearer picture. Satellite image courtesy of DigitalGlobe. 

Cover design by Jason Collins.

Published by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Office of Corporate Communications

4600 Sangamore Road, Mail Stop D-54

Bethesda, MD 20816-5003

Telephone: (301) 227-7388, 

DSN 287-7388

E-mail: pathfinder@nga.mil

Director

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

Deputy Director

Lloyd Rowland

Office of Corporate Communications, Director

Kimberly Thompson

Public Affairs, Chief

Karen A. Finn

Editor

Jason K. Michas

Associate Editor

Laura L. Lundin

Art Editor

Carmella Bender

Graphic Designer 

Jason Collins

GETTING PUBLISHED

All members of the geospatial intelligence community are welcome 

to submit articles of community-wide interest. Articles are edited for 

style, content and length. For details on submitting articles, send an 

e-mail to pathfinder@nga.mil.

The Pathfinder is the medium with which the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency enhances and promotes public awareness and 

understanding of the discipline of geospatial intelligence. The Pathfinder is an authorized Department of Defense publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of this publication are 

not necessarily the official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department of Defense or NGA. Articles in the Pathfinder may 

be reproduced in whole or in part without permission, unless stated 

otherwise. If they are reproduced, please credit the author and the 

“National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Pathfinder magazine.” 

Any reproduction of graphics, photographs and imagery is subject to 

the original copyright.

10 14

3 NGA in the News 

4 Up Front: DOD Designation Advances Reach 

of GEOINT Visualization Services

›› F E A T U R E S

5 Digital Bathymetry Enriches Topographic 

Intelligence

8 NGA Strengthens GEOINT for Future 

Aircraft Carrier 

9 GEOINT for Future Littoral and Riverine Programs 

10 Modeling Natural Surface Motion Mitigates Risk 

12 GeoTASER Offers Online Solution to Geotagging 

13 Aereon Promises Faster Event Detection 

and Notification 

14 Agency Tests GEOINT Printing for the Field 

›› D E P A R T M E N T S

16 Focus Areas: Interpreting Services Affirms 

NGA’s Commitment to People 

18 Our Heritage: Pendulums, Partnerships and 

Geodetic Principles
2 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 May/June 2010 

» When completed, NGA Campus 

East, the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s new 

headquarters, is expected to 

exceed the Leadership in 

Energy and Environmental 

Design Silver Certification, 

making it the largest LEEDcertified government building 

in the world. LEED certification 

recognizes that the project 

integrates energy-efficient 

design, resource-efficient 

construction methods, 

energy and water efficiency 

and more.

NGA Campus East

Photo by Rob Cox
3 Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

NGA IN THE NEWS

Secretary Gates Announces Next NGA Director

On Feb. 22, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced that Letitia Long 

will serve as the next director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 

Long currently serves as deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. 

“Her more than 30 years of engineering and intelligence experience include 

service as the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, deputy 

director of naval intelligence and as a coordinator of Intelligence Community 

activities for the director of central intelligence,” Gates said.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair stated, “Ms. Long’s historic 

appointment reflects her 32 years of exceptional government service, including 

more than two decades in the Intelligence Community. She is highly respected 

throughout the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.”

Long will be the first woman to lead a major intelligence agency when she 

assumes her new post later this summer.

DIA Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess announced on April 19 that Robert 

Cardillo, who currently serves as the DIA deputy director for analysis, will 

become the new deputy director of DIA when Long assumes her post at NGA. 

Previously, Cardillo served as director of NGA’s Analysis and Production 

Directorate and Source Operations and Management Directorate.

Blair announced on April 21 that current NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert B. 

Murrett will take over as the ODNI director of intelligence staff later this year 

following the retirement of Lt. Gen. John F. (“Jeff”) Kimmons.

Extended Learning Site Opens in Tampa, Fla.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence College formally opened its first 

Extended Learning Site at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla., with a 

ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 24. The MacDill site is part of the 

agency’s continuing drive to push GEOINT resources forward throughout 

the National System for Geospatial Intelligence.

The MacDill site will provide tradecraft and leadership training to NGA 

employees and other NSG members in the region. Personnel from many 

commands and agencies who attend training at the site will learn to apply 

GEOINT more effectively to make decisions critical to mission success. 

Additional sites are projected for other civilian and military locations in 

the near future.

Iraq, U.S. Geospatial Agencies Sign Memorandum

On April 7 in Baghdad, the Iraqi Directorate General for Intelligence 

and Security and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency formalized 

their geospatial intelligence partnership. 

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between NGA and its counterpart represents the maturation of an important relationship between 

these organizations and nations. It underscores the tremendous progress 

the Iraqi government has made in advancing its GEOINT capabilities.

NGA has worked with the Iraq Ministry of Defence since 2007 to modernize its capabilities to create maps and charts and perform geospatial 

analysis critical to the safety and security of Iraqi forces. The new MOU 

reinforces the growing strength of Iraqi geospatial intelligence and 

provides the framework to continue NGA’s support into the future. 3 Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

Iraq, U.S. Agencies Sign 

Memorandum

On April 7 in Baghdad, the Iraqi Directorate General for 

Intelligence and Security and the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency formalized their geospatial intelligence partnership. 

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between 

NGA and its counterpart represents the maturation of 

an important relationship between these organizations 

and nations. It underscores the tremendous progress 

the Iraqi government has made in advancing its GEOINT 

capabilities.

NGA has worked with the Iraq Ministry of Defence since 2007 to modernize its capabilities to 

create maps and charts and perform geospatial analysis critical to the safety and security of 

Iraqi forces. The new MOU reinforces the growing strength of Iraqi geospatial intelligence and 

provides the framework to continue NGA’s support into the future.

Extended Learning Site Opens 

in Tampa, Fla.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence College 

formally opened its first Extended Learning Site 

at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla., with a ribboncutting ceremony on March 24. The MacDill site is 

part of the agency’s continuing drive to push GEOINT 

resources forward throughout the National System 

for Geospatial Intelligence.

The MacDill site will provide tradecraft and leadership 

training to NGA employees and other NSG members in the region. Personnel from many commands and agencies who attend training at the site will learn to apply GEOINT more effectively to 

make decisions critical to mission success. Additional sites are projected for other civilian and 

military locations in the near future.

NGA Marks Earth Day With Tree 

Planting at New Headquarters

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers held a tree planting ceremony 

at the NGA Campus East near Fort Belvoir in Springfield, 

Va., on April 22, to celebrate Earth Day 2010. The ceremony marked the first plantings to restore more than 10 

acres with formal landscaping and the planting of more 

than 3,200 trees and shrubs around the site. NGA facilities in the Washington, D.C., area are consolidating to 

the new headquarters.

NGA will also be planting 44,000 tree seedlings across 

the Fort Belvoir North Area, to make sure there is no net loss of trees on the post due to the 

construction. Other examples of green initiatives at the new headquarters include a pond that 

captures stormwater and reuses it for landscape irrigation, green roofs over the tunnels between 

the buildings, low volatile organic compound paints, recycling programs, an energy efficient lighting system and an innovative cooling system.

NGA IN THE NEWS

Secretary Gates 

Announces Next 

NGA Director

On Feb. 22, Secretary of Defense Robert 

M. Gates announced that Letitia “Tish” 

Long, deputy director of the Defense 

Intelligence Agency, will become the 

next director of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency. 

“Her more than 30 years of engineering 

and intelligence experience include 

service as the deputy undersecretary 

of defense for intelligence, deputy 

director of naval intelligence and as a 

coordinator of Intelligence Community 

activities for the director of central 

intelligence,” Gates said.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis 

C. Blair stated, “Ms. Long’s historic 

appointment reflects her 32 years of 

exceptional government service, 

including more than two decades in 

the Intelligence Community. She is 

highly respected throughout the Intelligence Community and Department 

of Defense.”

Long will be the first woman to lead a 

major intelligence agency when she assumes her new post later this summer.

DIA Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess 

announced on April 19 that Robert 

Cardillo, the DIA deputy director for 

analysis, will become deputy director 

of DIA when Long assumes her post 

at NGA. Previously, Cardillo served as 

director of NGA’s Analysis and Production Directorate and Source Operations 

and Management Directorate.

Blair announced on April 21 that 

NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert B. 

Murrett will take over as ODNI director 

of intelligence staff later this year 

following the retirement of Lt. Gen. John 

F. “Jeff” Kimmons.

Photo by Larry Franklin

NGA photo illustration

DIA photo

NGA photo
4 Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

Based on lessons learned from the NGA–MCIA pilot, 

the NGA Office of the Chief Information Officer is working 

closely with the Acquisition Directorate’s eGEOINT Management Office and the InnoVision Directorate to initially 

offer expanded GV-ES capabilities that incorporate 

services and components from NGA’s existing GEOINT 

Visualization Services and NGA’s Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit. NGA has also collaborated with the Naval 

Research Laboratory, U.S. Strategic Command, DISA and 

other partners to improve the GV-ES offering.

GEOINT Visualization Services aggregates the best of 

NGA’s resources to deliver rich geospatial content and 

analysis directly to warfighters, intelligence officers and 

policymakers via Web-based tools on classified and 

unclassified computer networks. In addition to visualization capabilities, the suite includes analytic tools and 

data services.

The Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit distributes 

GEOINT through the Internet by a single scalable and 

adaptable open source system that incorporates industry standards. It has been adopted as the standard 

geospatial production tool for DOD command, control 

and intelligence systems. 

Pamela S. is a contractor supporting the eGEOINT 

Management Office.

 Jessie Lee W. is a contractor supporting the Office 

of the Chief Information Officer. 

Up Front

DOD Designation Advances Reach of 

GEOINT Visualization Services

By Pamela S. and Jessie Lee W.

As part of a continued commitment to streamline 

delivery of geospatial intelligence to the warfighter, 

the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff designated 

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to develop 

GEOINT Visualization Enterprise Services, or GV-ES, 

as a DOD Shared Enterprise Service. The designation 

in October 2009 marked the first time an organization 

other than the Defense Information Systems Agency has 

been tapped to support the development and deployment of software services for the entire DOD community.

The designation makes NGA the primary provider 

for visualization services to the DOD and directs 

that DOD organizations coordinate with NGA for 

visualization services.

On Feb. 19, NGA and the Marine Corps Intelligence 

Activity completed the first GV-ES pilot to test the suite’s 

Google EarthTM functionality. The pilot team’s objective 

was to provide a “simple, situational awareness tool that 

brought together imagery, maps and other data sources 

to achieve a common operational picture for MCIA,” 

stated Chris C., assistant chief information officer for 

applications, who led the pilot for NGA. NGA and MCIA 

plan to validate the suite’s operations in theater to better understand the challenges faced by warfighters.

DOD Photo
5 Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010 May/June 2010 

Digital Bathymetry Enriches Topographic Intelligence

By Gary W.

It is estimated that less than 25 percent of the 

world’s oceans have been systematically surveyed, with 

only 5 percent to a required GPS accuracy. For the last 

several years, the National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency’s Office of GEOINT Sciences has used open 

source technology to build bathymetric data sets that 

bridge the gap between water and land. For the first 

time NGA can now offer a global ocean–land elevation 

product.

Topographic intelligence is a foundation of mission 

tactical models, deployment planning and navigational 

tools that require worldwide elevation and bathymetry 

information. As the geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, 

provider for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, NGA has developed a global, uniform 

matrix of digital bathymetry and elevation information. 

This Digital Bathymetry and Elevation Data Level 0

(DBED0) data seamlessly represents the positive and 

negative heights of the Earth’s physical surface above 

and below the oceans, enabling applications to derive 

slope and surface roughness details. 

Many kinds of GEOINT are based on elevation models, 

and NGA studies how new data sources can improve 

existing data. While updating the geodesy databases 

from Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED®) with higherresolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 

data, NGA noticed a disparity between terrestrial 

and hydrographic data coverage. Initially combining 

bathymetric data holdings from the NGA maritime 

database and the NGA geodesy database produced 

an initial database with 50 million bathymetry records. 

Whereas terrestrial data was recorded well overall, 

far more data points were needed to accurately represent the ocean floor. 

Open Source Data Mining 

Given that NGA’s Maritime Services was already 

working with the U.S. Navy to obtain bathymetry data, 

the Office of GEOINT Sciences explored the availability 

of data stores at other federal agencies and at research 

organizations. Contacts were established with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

National Geophysical Data Center, the U.S. Geological 

DBED0, the first NGA product to represent 

the entire world, land and water, in one 

unified digital data set, provided the 

foundation for this global analysis.

NGA graphic
6Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Survey, and research institutes such as Scripps Research 

Institute, Lamont-Doherty Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several foreign partners. These 

contacts led to international sources, many of which 

provide open, searchable databases of bathymetry data 

at no charge, as well as digital elevation models. After 

just a few years of collection, the agency’s Maritime 

Services and Office of GEOINT Sciences had gathered 

billions of global bathymetry records.

Early on in the open source collection, NGA 

addressed the challenges of managing the vast 

amount of data associated with a typical bathymetric survey. First, knowing that NGA couldn’t 

store and exploit all of the data, the Office of 

GEOINT Sciences decided to keep the vertical, 

or single, beam bathymetry data and thin the 

multibeam bathymetry data to the essential data 

needed. This decision reduced the data volume 

to just over a billion records.

A view of the Arctic Ocean and North Pole based 

on DBED0. Economic zones and exploration 

rights are just two issues affected by 

proper bathymetric representation 

of the oceans.

NGA graphic
7 Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

A second challenge involved merging over 100 

bathymetry survey sources that were unlinked and 

unrelated—a challenge identical to one faced by NGA 

and its predecessors in processing gravity survey data 

from unlinked, unrelated sources for the past 40 years. 

Analysts modified gravity software programs to handle 

the bathymetry data and implemented quality control 

methods for identifying bad data and producing source 

accuracy statements.

Creating a World Model

Though NGA’s bathymetric data holdings 

grew from 50 million to more than 1.5 billion analyzed 

bathymetry records, there were still vast areas of the 

world’s oceans missing data. To aid in filling these gaps, 

NGA exploited a mathematical process developed by 

NOAA and Scripps that uses satellite altimetry sea surface height information to predict large general features 

of the ocean floor. Though not as accurate as bathymetric data, the process yielded general feature information.

The agency is now using this product as the foundation for many regional and other mapping products. 

Additionally, in 2007, the U.S. Navy requested a seamless global set of elevation and bathymetric information 

to support a contractor war games simulation program. 

While the war games simulation world had beautiful 

colored topography representation built from DTED 

and SRTM elevation data, a single blue color depicted 

all oceans, seas, bays, and inlets due to the lack of 

bathymetry information.

The collaborating interagency team decided that a 

global product similar to DTED Level 0 would satisfy the 

needs of the Navy’s war games simulation and match 

NGA’s ability to provide a data set with a reasonable 

level of accuracy. The current NGA DTED0 product is 

30-second-spaced land elevations in one-degree cells. 

Of the 64,800 one-degree cells covering the Earth, 

only about 19,000 are land cells. The other 46,000 

one-degree water cells were never created. Using a 

combined SRTM land-water model and NGA’s World 

Vector Shoreline, NGA populated all of the 30-second 

land posts into the DTED0 format.

Incorporating the bathymetry data was more problematic because the spacing between data points varied 

from less than 30-second spaced bathymetry data to 

Gary W. is a geodetic scientist in the 

Office of GEOINT Sciences.

areas of voids greater than 10 kilometers. Analysts 

applied a variety of mathematical algorithms to predict 

the 30-second point bathymetry and fill the voids. The 

satellite altimetry sea surface bathymetry prediction was 

also applied. Finally, all 64,800 one-degree cells were 

filled with either land elevations or bathymetry information. The DBED0 was complete.

The DBED data is stored in the DTED0 format 

according to military specifications. It allows for a 

full representation of the Earth’s physical surface for 

general modeling, mission planning and assessment 

activities. Such reduced-resolution data is not intended 

and should not be used for automated flight guidance 

or other safety of navigation instruments that require a 

more stringent precision standard.

Available to government users from the Defense 

Logistics Agency, the DBED0 data has been positively 

received by the Navy’s war games project and the U.S. 

Naval Surface Warfare Center. The result of this endeavor 

was the creation of NGA’s first truly seamless model of 

the entire topographic surface of the Earth. By combining open source bathymetry collection, computer 

algorithms, new math models and analysts’ expertise, 

NGA has generated a new picture of the Earth.

Analysis of a multibeam bathymetric survey shows seafloor elevation.

NGA graphic
8Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

NGA Strengthens GEOINT for Future Aircraft Carrier 

By Laura L. Lundin

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is 

working with the U.S. Navy on future programs that rely 

on geospatial intelligence technologies and products to 

support safety of navigation and warfighter missions.

The criticality of GEOINT to so many missions requires that current platforms be compatible with future 

technologies and capabilities so that they address and 

support the mission needs over the life of the system. 

Because warfare systems programs take so long to build 

and experience unprecedented longevity, establishing 

the requirements and standards up front is crucial. 

The Office of Future Warfare Systems is the lead NGA 

component working with Navy developers on a long list 

of emerging and future naval programs, with one of the 

most prominent being the CVN 21. “The CVN 21 program 

is the future aircraft carrier replacement program for USS 

Enterprise and CVN 68, or Nimitz class, aircraft carriers,” 

according to the Navy fact sheet.

These Gerald R. Ford Class 

aircraft carriers, scheduled to be 

delivered in 2015, will serve as 

a premier asset for crisis response and early decisive striking power in a major combat 

operation. Ensuring the right 

technologies are in place to 

sustain the viability of critical geospatial intelligence 

products is key to the success 

of the carriers’ mission.

Commissioned in 1975 and the first aircraft carrier 

of its class, the USS Nimitz departs San Diego. 

NGA is working with the U.S. Navy to fully meet 

the GEOINT needs of the next class of carriers 

currently in production. 

U.S. Navy photo

“The office supports the development of the CVN 21 

program by establishing connections with the program 

manager and system developers to ensure that their 

GEOINT needs are fully understood as the program works 

its way through the defense acquisition process,” said 

the project lead for NGA’s involvement.

This interaction is further extended to the Department of Defense, where the NGA team guarantees that 

necessary standards and requirements are in place to 

meet future compatibility requirements between NGA’s 

GEOINT products and Navy systems.

The CVN 21 program will use GEOINT in several ways, 

such as supporting the ship’s electronic navigation 

system with the agency’s Digital Nautical Chart. These 

products allow the CVN 21, as well as the rest of the 

fleet, to safely navigate on oceans worldwide.

“One benefit of our working relationship is that NGA 

receives early and continuing visibility into the CVN 21 

program requirements and characteristics,” the NGA 

project lead, said. “This visibility helps NGA leaders 

decide and set GEOINT priorities.”

As a result, NGA is set to provide aeronautical data, 

detailed topographic data imagery, imagery intelligence 

and targeting data products to the Navy’s carrier battle 

group in support of U.S. and coalition operations.

”The CVN 21 program receives an in-depth understanding of NGA plans for future availability of different 

types of GEOINT, and this involvement allows all stakeholders to identify potential GEOINT requirements and 

gaps early in the life of the program, while solutions are 

still affordable and implementable by all parties,” said 

the NGA project lead.

For the CVN 21 program, 

NGA supports the 

Navy’s Distributed Common 

Ground System, 

or DCGS-N, and the 

Electronic Chart Display and Information System, 

or ECDIS-N. The DCGS-N is the 

Navy’s intelligence, surveillance, 

reconnaissance and targeting 
9Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

provide the opportunity to develop strategies to incorporate GEOINT technologies needed for success.

The Future Warfare Systems office is closely involved 

in identifying and addressing GEOINT areas of need and 

improvement in a variety of emerging systems. By working with the Navy and the National System for Geospatial 

Intelligence, which serves as an integrated, collaborative 

community of GEOINT professionals embedded with 

operational and national partners, the office ensures 

military and intelligence mission needs are met.

The office continues to work with other major 

defense acquisition systems that depend on GEOINT 

to ensure that NGA data is available and accessible for 

all mission requirements. 

system, which consists of multi-intelligence dissemination to a variety of enterprise segments. The ECDIS-N 

is used for electronic navigation and includes platform 

display application software and electronic chart data.

The first class of the CVN 21 program, USS Gerald R. 

Ford, is expected to deploy in 2016, and NGA will support the carrier with GEOINT throughout its operational 

life. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Newport News 

has been building the carrier since late 2008, but NGA’s 

involvement began in the development phase in 2005.

“We recently traveled to the Virginia Advanced Shipbuilding and Carrier Integration Center in Newport News, 

Va., to meet with lead engineers on the program,” said 

the NGA project lead. Now, the team engages with the 

Northrop Grumman chief engineers on functions such as 

navigation systems, electronic charting and carrier mission planning systems. Regular interaction and updates 

Laura L. Lundin is a public affairs officer in the Office 

of Corporate Communications.

The Littoral Combat Ship is another example of NGA’s 

Office of Future Warfare Systems involvement in 

an emerging naval system. The LCS is a relatively 

small surface vessel intended for operations close 

to shore and in shallow water, otherwise known as 

the littoral zone.

“These vessels rely on GEOINT data to safely navigate 

in shallow water,” said Lt. j.g. Justin Sever, with NGA’s 

Future Warfare Systems. However, “Like some other 

warfare systems, the LCS is also used as a source 

of collection, as it can collect bathymetry data from 

LCS sensors while underway, benefiting the entire 

GEOINT and National System for Geospatial Intelligence community.” 

Bathymetry involves measuring and collecting data on 

the depth of ocean floors to determine bottom topography. These depths are depicted as contour lines on 

nautical charts and on an Electronic Chart Display and 

Information System.

Continuing a process of collaboration, NGA’s Maritime 

Services, assisted by the Future Warfare Systems 

office, addressed shortfalls in these littoral areas, and 

GEOINT for Future Littoral and Riverine Programs

the Littoral/Riverine Steering Group is leading the development of a production program for collecting and 

producing GEOINT data in littoral and riverine areas to 

support future naval system programs requiring shallow water data, such as the Expeditionary Fighting 

Vehicle, Virginia Class Submarines, and the LCS.

“Recently, the NGA’s Safety of Navigation Working 

Group recommended the NSG leverage technology to 

update safety of navigation data and produce actionable GEOINT,” Sever said. Since the NSG serves as an 

integrated, collaborative community of GEOINT professionals, its leveraging of these technologies is vital 

to planning and meeting maritime operational needs.

The working group also recommended modernizing 

global safety of navigation maritime databases to 

comply with NSG standards, improving the collection, 

storage, maintenance and dissemination of safety of 

navigation data.

Coordination based on knowledge and information 

sharing between NGA, NSG, Navy and other mission 

partners will ensure the best data is available for 

GEOINT products in the future. 
Modeling Natural Surface Motion Mitigates Risk

By Dr. David B.

Many people view the natural environment 

as essentially unchanging, giving deference only to seasonal differences and periodic meteorological events. 

However, those who interact with the Earth by studying 

rocks, soil and vegetation understand that the natural 

environment is constantly in motion, at times shifting 

and adjusting with potentially deadly outcomes. 

Such an outcome was witnessed recently in Haiti, 

where the devastating environmental effects of the 

January earthquake are still being assessed. A National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency team has been modeling 

changes in the Earth’s surface to enable more rapid 

responses to potential crises in the Caribbean and 

elsewhere. By 2012, the agency plans to have modeled 

the entire globe.

Depicting Haiti’s Environmental 

Vulnerabilities

In response to NGA’s 

support to the ongoing 

relief efforts in Haiti, a 

team of geodetic scientists from the agency’s 

Source Operations and 

Management Directorate, Office of GEOINT 

Sciences, used geotechnical modeling to depict 

environmental situations 

that could compound 

problems in the region. 

The team provided soil 

data, used for engineering and agriculture, for 

the island of Hispaniola, 

and products characterizing the terrain by flood 

potential and the percentages of sand, silt, 

clay and gravel.

Using scientific methods and mathematical 

models to predict the behavior of the Earth, the team’s 

geotechnical modeling helped organizations planning 

relief efforts to determine population mobility patterns, 

locate makeshift camps and analyze natural and environmental hazards. For example, the team assisted the 

National Center for Medical Intelligence and other NGA 

analysts to identify areas vulnerable to erosion, landslides and floods during the approaching rainy season. 

Camps identified as vulnerable could then be moved to 

other locations to mitigate risk.

Understanding the value of geotechnical modeling for 

predicting, preventing or mitigating damage caused by 

natural hazards associated with the Earth’s terrain and 

movement, the NGA team equipped decision makers 

with geospatial intelligence tools to determine current 

and future needs to assist in relief efforts.

10Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Geological Survey of the Republic of Haiti.

From Geology of the Republic of Haiti by the Geological Service of the Republic of Haiti, 1924
Creating Effective 

Geotechnical Models

While maps depict a geographic area 

at a single moment, crisis operations 

demand current, in-depth data that 

account for dynamic environments, 

making imagery and other remote platforms ideal for monitoring the changing 

ground conditions over a sequence of 

time. The team took these capabilities 

and fused them with all-source information and spatial elements to create 

a multidimensional understanding of 

what was taking place on the ground.

For example, looking individually at an area’s sedimentation, local 

temperature, precipitation trends and 

vegetation limits the overall perspective of what changes are occurring as 

well as what could occur. However, 

combining those elements with imagery and complementary all-source information results 

in a geotechnical model that allows for a more in-depth 

analysis and greater understanding of what the future 

needs of an area might be.

Effective geotechnical models assess what is known 

about an area as well as what can be inferred. The team 

uses all available resources, including open-source data, 

to describe the environment. These resources are combined with other information, such as elevation data, 

imagery and terrestrial geophysics, to form a mathematical model. Global data sets, which represent climate, 

soils, geology and vegetation, are then established as a 

base from which products are developed.

To create a model, the data used must first be 

evaluated and translated into the universal language of 

mathematics. The resulting data sets are applied to an 

X, Y, Z data series where the Z component consists of the 

data of interest, with X and Y representing geographic 

coordinates. Using this process, hardcopy data can be 

readily converted into any desired format and reprocessed to conform to fundamental principles of physics 

and natural systems.

The fusion of all-source data within a spatial domain 

is both flexible in application and adaptable in scope. 

The process can be tailored to the GEOINT objective for 

any given area or mission, effectively contributing to the 

knowledge base necessary to address an issue through 

a geographic information system and provide a comprehensive GEOINT solution.

Demonstrating the power of geophysical surface 

modeling through GEOINT has proven invaluable to many 

of NGA’s partners over the past two years. In addition to 

models for those operating in Haiti, the NGA team has 

built and enhanced geotechnical models of Afghanistan, 

Iraq, the Korean Peninsula and other areas.

Understanding the effects of changing environmental 

patterns helps NGA to prepare its partners to meet global 

humanitarian needs and address potential operational 

issues related to the Earth’s surface. NGA stands ready 

to help, whether the need is predicting or responding to 

natural disasters or answering related GEOINT questions 

for those in theater. 

11Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Dr. David B. is a geodetic scientist in the 

Office of GEOINT Sciences.

Geotechnical soil modeling based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture soil textural classification.

NGA graphic
For analysts with the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, being able to visually reference 

geographic locations that are identified in documents 

ranging from raw to finished intelligence is a vital 

piece to creating valuable, effective geospatial intelligence products. 

But the traditional application of this process, 

known as geotagging, is typically tedious and cumbersome, often taking away valuable time resources 

needed for analysis. 

Imagine an analyst sitting at a desk, pen and reference 

materials in hand, reading massive amounts of information, searching for clues about various locations, which 

can often include obscure city and street names, finding 

those references, looking up the geographic name in a 

directory or gazetteer, and manually assigning geocoordinates. The analyst then transfers that information into 

another application to create visual reference points and 

analyze the potential connections. 

Repeat those same steps for every location identified 

in the document. 

Now envision that same analyst pulling that information digitally by simply clicking a button and having 

the names of locations in the document automatically 

convert to visual plots. 

The NGA InnoVision Directorate’s Knowledge Management Web 2.0, or KWeb, team, has created GeoTASER to 

make this online solution a reality.

Short for Geospatial Tagging and Extraction Service, 

GeoTASER combines several knowledge managementrelated capabilities and data sources. These include text 

extraction, database services, gazetteer services and 

place name data from NGA, Defense Intelligence Agency 

and U.S. Geological Survey sources. 

While analysts come across location names daily as 

they read media articles, websites and intelligence reports, coordinates are not easily available but are necessary to ensure intelligence products are understood and 

used to their maximum extent.

By making the geotagging process semiautomated, 

GeoTASER frees analysts to spend more time on 

analysis and aids in identifying intelligence connections 

based on locations that might have been previously 

overlooked.

GeoTASER is the first KWeb online service for use by 

analysts and operators working anywhere in the National 

System for Geospatial Intelligence. Users include deployed military personnel, analysts at partner agencies 

and NGA support teams. 

InnoVision strives to develop technologies to automate or streamline some of the many analytical processes employed by NSG analysts. Developing GeoTASER 

was no exception to this vision. By collaborating with 

customers and mission partners, the team used research 

and development experience to answer this critical analytical need while incorporating feedback from the users 

throughout the process.

Demonstrating how combined commercial software 

and government databases can improve the efficiency 

of the analytic process, GeoTASER is currently an InnoVision operational prototype and is in transition to become 

a program of record. 

For geospatial intelligence analysts, products like 

GeoTASER are invaluable tools to understanding what 

is happening on Earth and why. This understanding 

increases confidence in the GEOINT products provided 

to ensure the success of humanitarian, national security, 

defense and intelligence missions across the globe. 

12Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

Jean-Pierre M. is a retired U.S. Army 

colonel working as a contractor 

supporting the KWeb team 

as a senior staff analyst.

GeoTASER Offers Online Solution to Geotagging

By Jean-Pierre M.

Satellite image courtesy 

of DigitalGlobe
Aereon:

» Ensures that appropriate information is easily 

shared with individuals or groups at various security 

classification levels

» Supports the preservation of knowledge and 

experience by allowing analysts to share search 

criteria throughout the agency and across the 

DOD and Intelligence Community

» Identifies unique relationships occurring across 

multiple data sources to identify unforeseen 

conflicts or crises

» Provides alerts that support core geospatial 

questions to allow a flexible response drawing 

from the agency’s diverse geospatial resources

» Discovers Web feeds, such as RSS or GeoRSS, 

and data files, such as KML, that can be used 

by other software programs

Comprehensive and user-friendly for nontechnical 

personnel, Aereon is proving a valuable tool for NGA’s 

analysts. No matter the event, the service makes analysts more efficient and effective at exploiting a variety 

of data from today’s Web-centric world. 

Debbie H. is a system engineer in the Acquisition Directorate.

13Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Aereon Promises Faster Event Detection 

and Notification

By Debbie H.

Aereon, the National Geospatial-Intelligence

Agency’s event detection, data correlation and alerting 

service, will soon allow users throughout the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to 

automatically correlate and identify critical domestic 

and international activities across a vast number of data 

sources. This service helps analysts increase productivity, improve accuracy and fulfill the agency’s mission 

more efficiently by placing the management and control 

of search criteria in the hands of analysts.

Aereon detects and automatically transfers relevant 

all-source information across multiple secure systems to 

support geospatial intelligence analysis. Using keyword 

and temporal searches, Aereon constantly tracks and 

updates whatever an analyst is seeking.

In conjunction with NGA’s PalanterraTM Web application, an agency analyst used Aereon during the Nuclear 

Security Summit held April 12-14 in Washington, D.C. The 

service tracked live events and monitored news services 

and other feeds, as required with many National Special 

Security Events. Aereon then sent this information directly to the analyst’s workstation.

The service automatically sends the information from 

unclassified to classified systems without intervention from the analyst. This enables the analyst to view 

geographically referenced activities or geospatial intelligence via the 2-D browser-based PalanterraTM and 3-D 

tools like Google EarthTM and ESRI’s ArcGIS Explorer.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, analysts used Aereon’s suite of tools to record day-to-day events to form 

a common operating picture accessible by anyone who 

needed the information. These events were captured as 

real-time sources and event feeds and pushed to the 

relevant systems. This capability significantly increased 

cross-community collaboration.

Aereon continuously observes and evaluates data 

events from traditional sources such as databases and 

message queues, as well as from Web services, RSS 

feeds, geospatial resources and other sources. Analysts 

can set up criteria to monitor and analyze multiple event 

feeds for specific patterns or correlate event activities 

across time windows.

Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy
Agency Tests GEOINT Printing for the Field By Craig F.

Analysts and partners of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency may soon have a new tool for printing maps and geospatial intelligence products under 

stringent specifications in the field.

The NGA Enterprise Operations Directorate Mission 

Management Division is developing a method to produce hardcopy printing that does not compromise the 

quality NGA’s customers expect. The division provides 

these products and other services through the Forward 

Based GEOINT–Remote Services unit formerly known as 

Remote Replication Services.

Getting information to warfighters and deployers in a 

timely manner has been NGA’s goal since its inception. 

GEOINT is available in both digital form and hardcopy. 

Because of weight, bulk and logistical issues, hardcopy 

has always been the most difficult to deliver to the field. 

With the advent of digital maps, charts and imagery, 

delivery of GEOINT became more efficient, and in-theater 

hardcopy printing became practical. However, all of the 

military specifications could not be met.

Lithographic technicians from the Mission Management Division started looking at available technologies 

that would allow hardcopy printing for specific areas of 

interest. Technicians reviewed requirements for paper, 

ink and color visual efficiency and determined a way to 

incorporate those specifications into existing technologies. These results helped produce the first military 

specification large-format plotter, used for printing vector and raster graphics, now under beta testing within 

NGA’s Arnold, Mo., facility.

Technicians are in the final phase and hope to deploy 

the capability later this year. The system will consist of 

a workstation containing an area-of-interest specific 

PDF database of maps and charts with a raster image 

processor (RIP), which converts a PDF’s spot color separations into pixels or bitmap files, and a set of plotters 

optimized for printing to military specifications.

Capability testing has shown that the quality level 

mirrors what can be produced from a lithographic press. 

This is achieved by using simple technologies incorporated within PDF files, RIPs and spot color inks. The PDFs 

contain color place holders in separate layers. The RIP 

identifies and directs specific layers to a spot color ink 

cartridge within the large-format plotter. This allows 

a particular layer, or separation, such as drainage, 

contours or aeronautical features to be printed to 

NGA visual standards.

Directing each of the graphic’s individual features to 

a specific color reduces printing time on the plotter by 

nearly a third over four-color printing. Ink consumables 

are also reduced as most features are printed by one 

color instead of a series of colors. Printing line art graphics, such as maps and charts, on the same plotter with 

today’s four-color configurations forces the consumer to 

spend more than necessary on ink.

Another benefit of optimizing a large-format plotter 

to print maps and products as PDF spot 

color separations is that color 

management is built in, eliminating the need for stringent 

color management controls. A 

deployed analyst will not have 

to be concerned with whether 

the color of the graphic will be 

accurate for the printing of a 

standard chart, allowing the analyst 

to focus 

14Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

DOD Photo
Craig F. is a technical 

representative within the 

Mission Management 

Division.

15Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

on customer support rather than maintaining printer calibrations. Since the PDFs 

contain separate color layers, an analyst would only be required to locate the file 

from within a database and drag it to a folder that automatically starts the RIP 

and printing process. This also saves time since the analyst will not have to 

launch the print process from a third-party graphics program.

This new method of digital printing illustrates NGA’s commitment 

to advancing technology to better enable the broader GEOINT 

mission. When the capability to digitally print large-format 

GEOINT in the field is delivered, it promises to greatly enhance the agility of NGA and its partners in fulfilling their 

missions and responding as quickly as needed to whatever 

situations may arise. 
Focus Areas

Interpreting Services Affirms NGA’s 

Commitment to People 

By Katherine Whitaker

Achieve: Invest in, and Challenge, 

a more Diverse and Expert Workforce.

NGA invests heavily in technology. Geospatial

intelligence relies on it and always will. However, of far 

greater importance are the people behind the innovations. Even the best technology is of little worth without 

those who research, develop, implement and exploit it.

This agency values its personnel above any technical 

advances, relying on its people to build and manage 

each generation of new technologies. NGA strives to hire 

and retain an expert work force, indiscriminate of race, 

gender, background or disability. The agency is committed to meeting the needs of those within its work force 

who require special accommodations.

For example, NGA employs one of the highest percentages of deaf and hard of hearing employees throughout 

the federal government, according to the NGA Interpreting Services Program manager. 

The Interpreting Services Program provides sign 

language interpreters as a reasonable accommodation 

to NGA employees, visitors and applicants. In fact, 

the demand for sign language interpreting services 

is the highest of all reasonable accommodation 

requests at NGA.

“NGA’s sign language interpreters, as a group, 

are tasked with an average of five to eight interpreting 

assignments per day,” said the agency’s Reasonable Accommodation Program manager, who works closely with 

Interpreting Services. Interpreting assignments include 

everything from one-on-one meetings to conferences.

16Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

The American Sign Language fingerspelling for “NGA.”

Photos by Thinkstock
The Office of Diversity Management and Equal 

Employment Opportunity manages both the 

Interpreting Services Program and the Reasonable 

Accommodation Program. 

“NGA has a large population of deaf and hard of 

hearing employees; therefore, interpreters do a lot of 

running around to meet the needs of the community,” 

said one of the agency’s sign language interpreters. 

“It is often fast-paced, but exciting.”

“The Reasonable Accommodation Program has a huge 

EEO impact; it allows NGA to recruit and retain talented 

employees with diverse perspectives to better support 

the mission,” stated the Reasonable Accommodation 

program manager.

The sign language interpreter added, “Interpreting 

Services remove the barrier of communication, having 

a direct impact on a deaf or hard of hearing employee’s 

ability to succeed in the workplace. We work hand in 

hand to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing employees 

have the resources needed to advance and meet the 

agency’s mission.”

The interpreter, who has been with the government 

full-time for over a year, learned to sign while growing 

up in order to communicate with his grandfather, who 

is deaf.

“I didn’t sign a lot, nor well, so I took some sign language classes at the Scranton State School for the Deaf. 

I then majored in ASL [American Sign Language] and 

English Interpreting at Bloomsburg University,” he said. 

“I thought interpreting sounded like a cool career, so I 

decided to give it a try. And here I am.”

The effective development and application of 

technology require exceptional people. The Reasonable 

Accommodation and Interpreting Services programs 

demonstrate the agency’s determination to hire 

and employ the best talent NGA can find, despite 

perceived limitations. 

17Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Katherine Whitaker is a public affairs officer 

in the Office of Corporate Communications.
Our Heritage

Pendulums, Partnerships and Geodetic Principles

By Dr. Gary E. Weir

During the long, hot summer of 1936, young

professor Maurice Ewing of Lehigh University sat in a 

humid U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Washington, 

D.C., trying to repair and reassemble a rusted and damaged instrument critical to the science of geodesy, the 

field of geophysics that seeks to measure and represent 

the Earth, including its gravity. One of the pioneers of 

geophysics in the United States, Ewing had to restore 

to working condition the gravity measuring apparatus 

invented by the Dutch geodesist Felix Andries 

Vening-Meinesz.

The latter had used the device to make seminal measurements of the Earth’s gravity while on board Dutch 

submarines in 1923 and 1926 and then more recent observations in the Gulf of Mexico on board the submarine 

USS S-21 in 1928 with American colleagues Fred Wright 

and Elmer Collins. They used submerged submarines to 

control roll, pitch and yaw at sea, providing a very stable 

surface for the instrument, which relied upon mirror-clad 

swinging pendulums to record their motion on photographic film.

Ewing finished his work with help from Vening-Meinesz 

by correspondence just in time to join Princeton’s Harry 

Hess, Lt. A.J. Hoskinson of the U.S. Coast Guard and the 

U.S. Navy’s Capt. Lamar Leahy on board the submarine 

USS Barracuda to take gravity measurements in the 

Caribbean Sea and West Indies. This successful venture, 

called the Navy–American Geophysical Union Expedition 

of 1936, demonstrated the early and mature partnership 

between the American defense community and gravity 

research in the United States.

In the American experience, geodetic research and 

discovery have frequently occurred in collaboration with 

the military. The latter needed an understanding of the 

Earth’s gravity to plan everything from general navigation to the effective use of ballistic weapons, accurate 

surveying and the best and safest use of aviation assets.

In the first half of the 20th century, international scientists sought to understand fundamentally the variations 

in the Earth’s gravitational field, thus the areas chosen 

for exploration. In the case of Ewing, Hess and their colleagues, the anomalies near Puerto Rico and its neighboring submarine trench presented some fascinating 

challenges. With World War II and the Cold War era that 

followed, a comprehensive geodetic picture of the entire 

planet became critical, both for a scientific understanding of the world and for national defense.

During the 1950s the need for a World Geodetic 

System (WGS) became obvious in the face of the bipolar 

tensions and the possibility of war between the United 

18Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

Published in 1935, this map by Felix 

Andries Vening-Meinesz and others 

may be the first to hint at the correlation 

between gravity and bathymetry.

Map courtesy of the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration
19Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010

States and the Soviet Union. 

These conditions created a 

pressing need for global maps 

to provide geographic knowledge and to support targeting, navigation and aviation. 

Add to these requirements 

the advent of the space race 

and ballistic missiles after 

the launch of Sputnik in 1957, 

and the inability of the larger 

existing geodetic systems to 

provide a truly accurate global 

picture made the development of a new WGS a natural 

next step.

As the decade ended, the international scientific 

community, in collaboration with the U.S. Department 

of Defense, began the process of combining existing 

systems and re-referencing them to an ellipsoid model, 

which represents the Earth’s land surface as essentially 

smooth, rather than the geoid, which represents the 

Earth’s surface as the mean sea level. This effort led to 

the World Geodetic System of 1960 (WGS 60).

In subsequent years, the addition of new data sets 

from around the world and new systems of geodetic data 

collection from satellites and other platforms made improvements possible and occasionally altered the WGS 

and the gravity model upon which it rested, eventually 

resulting in the current WGS 84. On April 17, 2008, the 

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency implemented 

Earth Gravitational Model 2008 to improve the use of 

Felix Andries Vening-Meinesz and others showed the locations of gravity profiles in the world ocean in this map published in 1935.

Map courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
20Pathfinder ›› May/June 2010 

Dr. Gary E. Weir is the NGA historian.

WGS 84. The new gravity model can operate independently of the Global Positioning System if required and 

has improved knowledge of gravitational behavior many 

times over.

While concerned with gravity and the shape of the 

Earth, geodesy also touches on the most fundamental 

ways to represent the Earth. Can someone rely on the 

accuracy of a Mercator projection map, a polar stereographic map or a conic projection? Since a geodetic 

globe would present difficulties for navigators on board 

ships and aircraft as well as for simple classroom examination of a general or particular area, images of the Earth 

with greater utility necessarily represent compromises 

from the ideal. The latter would offer absolutely correct 

distances and directions. All areas would retain their 

natural shape and relative size. Parallels and meridians 

would always intersect at right angles, and both great 

circles and rhumb lines would appear as straight lines.

Since all of these attributes cannot coexist on 

a flat rectangular surface, maps and charts 

must permit compromises well known to 

the user. For example, the Mercator 

projection map, developed in the 

16th century by Gerard Mercator, 

remains very popular because 

its conformal character 

displays most of the ideal 

map’s characteristics. 

Mercator even managed to calculate 

mathematically an 

alternate spacing for 

the parallels of latitude to compensate in 

part for the distortion 

of the relative size of 

some land masses. 

Many different types of 

maps, including NGA’s 

contemporary Digital 

Nautical Chart, address particular needs or employ 

different representational formulae to attain the best 

image of the Earth.

Geodesy’s quest for fundamental principles and 

basic understanding informs all of NGA’s tradecrafts. 

Geodesists seek both to discover the Earth’s most 

basic attributes and to contribute to the effectiveness 

of national defense in the same way Maurice Ewing and 

Harry Hess did in collaborating with the Navy nearly 

75 years ago. This offers a classic example of working 

together for the general welfare. The national defense 

becomes stronger while the well-being of the world 

community improves through a more intimate 

knowledge of the planet we inhabit. 

Geodetic Earth 

Courtesy of the NASA 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
21Pathfinder ›› March/April 2010

Team members with the 

National GeospatialIntelligence Agency 

deploy around the world 

to provide geospatial 

intelligence for a variety 

of missions.

GEOINT shows in new 

and innovative ways what 

is happening on the Earth, 

foreshadowing future needs 

as well as demonstrating the 

effects events have on U.S. 

national security and other 

countries, cultures and people.

While on recent assignments, 

NGA team members captured 

the two photographs 

featured here. Each image 

reflects the faces of a culture 

from a personal perspective, 

shedding light on the human 

element behind GEOINT.

The photographs were chosen 

by the NGA work force as the 

winners of the agency’s 

2010 Expeditionary Operations 

Photo Contest.

Winner, Best Photograph

Winner, Best of Mission

This photograph shows a sheik in the Al Dora 

district of Baghdad, Iraq. 

Photo by Scott L.

This image shows two girls perched on a rock 

in the Farah province in Afghanistan. 

Photo by Wayne D.

D EPLOY ER

Photo Contest

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NATIONAL GEOSPATIALINTELLIGENCE AGENCY

www.nga.mil
www.nga.mil