Aa  <****,  .  <->^>-4 
v/ 
PA 
DMA  Defense    '88 
by  Maj.  Gen.  Robert  F.  Durkin 
Director,  Defense  Mapping  Agency 
That  long-heralded,  ultra-sophisticated  computerized  future  of  the 
1990s  is  here  now  at  the  Defense  Mapping  Agency,  where  a  massive  conversion 
to  all-digital  operation  is  underway.   When  operational,  DMA's  thousands 
of  map  products  will  be  provided  to  operational  commands  in  digital  form, 
suitable  for  on-site  manipulation  and  addition  of  real-time  intelligence 
and  battlefield  analysis. 
This  effort  will  not  succeed  without  complete  understanding  and  intensive 
coordination  between  DMA  and  users  of  DMA  products.   The  Military  Services 
will  have  access  to  a  myriad  of  commercial  and  special  hardware  which  will 
consume  enormous  quantities  of  DMA  data.   Matching  this  hardware  with  digital 
mapping,  charting  and  geodetic  (MC&G)  data  from  DMA  will  require  extensive 
education  and  significant  effort  by  DMA,  the  Services  and  weapons  systems 
developers. 
DMA  has  inaugurated  a  "Rapid  Demo"  effort  to  acquaint  users  with  DMA 
capabilities  --  and  limitations  --  and  the  critical  requirement  for  standardization 
of  data  and  ancillary  software.   A  series  of  in-house  work  sessions  and 
on-site  briefings  at  various  commands  is  being  scheduled.   This  effort  is 
^•'directed  at  preventing  detrimental  duplication,  loss  of  interoperability, 
and  impractical  requirements.   The  massive,  almost  unfathomable  amounts 
of  data  required  demand  an  understanding  of  the  problem  and  efforts  underway 
to  meet  these  demands. 
Some  five  years  ago,  DMA  entered  into  a  decade- long  conversion  effort, 
known  as  its  "Exploitation  Modernization  Program."  This  program  is  designed 
to  phase  out  its  highly  labor-intensive  method  of  production  of  maps,  charts
and  data  in  favor  of  an  all  digital  production  plant.   The  program,  supported 
at  all  levels  of  OSD  and  by  the  Congress,  will  revolutionize  both  the  generation 
and  distribution  of  the  numerous  MC&G  products  required  by  today's  armed 
forces. 
The  most  revolutionary  development  in  mapmaking  since  the  advent  of 
photogrammetry,  this  effort,  which  we  have  designated  as  Mark  90,  will  place 
massive  amounts  of  digitized  information  from  DMA  data  bases  directly  in 
the  hands  of  military  elements  at  all  levels  --  from  command  posts,  to  aircraft 
cockpits,  to  combat  control  centers  of  warships,  to  the  turrets  of  tanks 
and  operational  elements  of  combat  commanders  at  in  the  field. 
It  is,  clearly,  vital  that  these  digital  maps  and  charts  "match  up" 
in  all  respects,  in  scale  and  degree  of  detail,  and  accuracy  --  as  well 
as  in  "registration,"  or  pin-point  location  of  geographic  coordinates  of 
points  on  the  surface  of  the  Earth. 
DMA's  Mark  90  program  will  reduce  our  response  time  by  about  75  percent. 
That  is,  we  will  be  able  to  produce  or  update  standard  map/chart  products 
in  about  one-fourth  of  present  production  time. 
Rapid  dissemination  of  this  detailed,  digital  data  is  particularly 
critical  given  the  Defense  Mapping  Agency's  increasingly  significant  role 
in  crisis  support.   Today,  operational  commands  rely  on  DMA  maps,  charts 
and  digital  data  to  plan  and  execute  rapid  response  to  unexpected  challenges 
--such  as  the  Libyan  raid,  operations  in  the  Persian  Gulf  in  the  face  of 
Silkworm  missile  and  minefield  threats,  and  other  less  visible  crises  in 
re 
the  past  year. 
The  risk  of  another  Granada  type  situation  is  greatly  reduced  --  where 
military  elements  could  not  communicate  because  of  incompatible  radio  frequencies, 
or  where  paper  maps  of  limited  utility  were  not  available  for  the  first
72  hours. 
Consider  a  situation  where  ground  forces  are  working  from  digital  map 
information  displayed  on  an  "Army"  set  of  hardware  and/or  software.   Air 
Force  supporting  aircraft  are  using  different  frames  of  reference,  while 
off-shore  Navy  directed  artillery  support  coses  from  yet  a  different  set 
of  specifications. 
Unreal?   No.   Such  a  scenario  is  only  too  possible  in  today's  environment, 
where  the  exploding  development  of  highly  sophisticated  off  the  shelf  hardware, 
in  dozens  of  forms,  is  already  at  the  disposal  or  even  already  acquired 
by  military  system  operators  --  often  with  unfounded  assurances  from  the 
vendor  that  this  gear  is  capable  of  utilizing  digital  data  generated  by 
the  Defense  Mapping  Agency. 
Following  Granada,  where  the  Defense  Mapping  Agency  was  not  put  in 
the  picture  until  Che  operation  was  virtually  underway,  new  procedures  formalized 
DMA  participation  in  early  planning  for  all  future  operations.   It  is  now 
vital  to  ensure  that  DMA's  expertise  is  included  on  the  drawing  board  for 
tomorrow's  weapons  systems,  all  of  which  must  use  DMA's  digital  data  to 
ensure  effective  positioning,  guidance  and  pin-point  targeting. 
The  Air  Force  is  developing  systems  to  display  digital  maps  in  cockpits, 
as  well  as  digital-based  training  simulators.   There's  potential  for  TERCOM 
(terrain  matching)  navigation  systems  --  such  as  now  used  in  cruise  missile 
guidance  --  in  cockpits  for  low- level  flight  operations.   Navy  aeronautical 
systems  as  well  are  rapidly  moving  into  the  digital  arena,  while  digital 
navigation  charts  are  upcoming.   Digitized  versions  of  terrain  analysis 
data  as  well  as  a  wide  variety  of  other  digital  map  data  are  high  on  the 
Army ' s  agenda . 
Additionally,  some  intelligence  systems  that  use  reconnaissance  imagery
require  digital  map  backgrounds  to  underlay  the  digital  imagery.   They  also 
require  these  digital  backgrounds  on  which  to  apply  intelligence  data,  mission 
planning  information,  logistics  tracking  data  and  real  time  target  positioning, 
once  points  of  interest  have  been  identified. 
These  growing  requirements  of  the  services  are  staggering.   Within 
the  last  18  months,  the  Air  Force  has  requested  digital  high  resolution 
products  that  would  require  more  than  1,000  manyears  of  DMA  effort.   The 
Army  projects  requirements  for  extensive  coverage  at  1:50,000  scale  that 
could  result  in  more  than  30,000  manyears  of  DMA  effort.   The  Navy's  growth 
projections  are  similar  to  those  of  the  Air  Force. 
Even  though  these  initial  requirements,  obviously,  need  examination 
and  refinement,  the  implications  are  clear:   DMA  must  evolve  a  new  suite 
of  digital  products  designed  to  satisfy  these  emerging  requirements  and 
direct  its  development  and  production  energy  towards  producing  them,  rapidly. 
For  it  is  apparent  that  today's  Armed  Services  are  moving  from  a  future 
limited  by  hardware  technology  to  a  "data  limited"  future.   With  today's 
high  speed  storage  and  processing  capabilities,  it  may  very  well  be  that 
availability  of  comprehensive  data  bases  produced  by  the  Defense  Mapping 
Agency  will  be  the  pacing  factor  in  weapons  system  design,  navigation  system 
development  and  implementation  of  scores  of  systems  now  in  process. 
It  is  to  meet  this  very  real  and  immediate  challenge  that  we  have  broken 
down  implementation  of  DMA's  "modernization"  effort  into  two  phases  —  Mark 
85  and  Mark  90.   Digital  products  developed  for  DMA  "customers"  from  these 
conversion  efforts  will  be  distributed  in  two  designations  —  Mark  85.1 
and  Mark  90.1.   The  Mark  85  conversion  phase,  currently  moving  on  schedule, 
incorporates  near-terra  upgrades  to  our  production  system.   It  has  brought 
installation  of  some  150  stereo  feature  extraction  workstations  and  another 
u
60  multifunctional  workstations  arc  already  delivered  and  on  line. 
However,  Mark  85  production  is  still  generated  largely  from  traditional 
photographic  source  information  —  on  paper  or  on  film  —  which  is  then 
digitized  to  match  the  newer  production  processes  now  coming  on  line.   Mark 
90,  in  turn,  will  be  entirely  digital,  from  source  acquisition,  through 
manipulation,  storage  and  dissemination  of  this  data  to  the  field. 
Of  immediate  concern  to  users  of  DMA  products  and  data  is  what  we  term 
the  Mark  85.1  program.   MC&G  information  in  the  time  frame  between  now  and 
the  end  of  this  decade  will  be  distributed  on  varied  media,  such  as  magnetic 
tape,  floppy  disk,  video  and  optical  disks.   At  the  same  time,  DMA's  annual 
production  of  some  50  million  paper  maps,  charts  and  other  information, 
will  continue  --  but  with  upgraded,  computerized  distibution  and  accounting 
systems . 
However,  under  the  Mark  85.1  initiative,  a  new  family  of  both  digitized 
and  digital  products  will  be  distributed.   Existing  DMA  paper  products  will 
be  digitized  or  "video-ized"  and  various  storage  media,  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  user  community,  will  consist  primarily  of  videodisk,  high  density 
tape  and,  most  significantly,  optical  disks  such  as  the  CD  ROM. 
The  latter  affords  the  most  effective  practicable  capability.   Today's 
normal  distibution  media,  the  1600  bpi  magnetic  tape,  contains  approximately 
ten  60  by  60  nautical  mile  cells  of  digital  data,  while  the  CD  ROM  can  store 
more  than  225  cells. 
While  DMA's  two  primary  data  bases  —  Digital  Terrain  Elevation  Data 
(DTED)  and  Digital  Feature  Analysis  Data  (DFAD)  --  are  digital  products, 
most  additional  near-term  production  will  be  digitized  versions  of  existing 
paper  products.   These  will  b'e  of  the  same  scale  and  accuracy  as  the  original 
maps  or  charts.
An  exception  is  for  the  Terrain  Analysis  mylar  overlays,  where  direct 
digital  production  is  being  developed  for  Army  use.   Similarly,  we  are  studying 
direct  digital  production  for  Air  Force  and  Navy  high  resolution  data  requirements 
A  prototype  Tactical  Terrain. Data  (TTD)  product  is  now  being  demonstrated 
to  the  Services.   Point  Positioning  Data  Bases  (PPDB),  comprised  of  digital 
imagery,  are  in  development.   These  imagery  based  products  are  vital  to 
targeting  and  other  operations  requiring  extremely  accurate  coordinates. 
The  TTD  prototype,  which  covers  an  area  around  Ft.  Hood,  Texas,  goes 
beyond  the  Digital  Land  Mass  System  (DLMS)  data  base  now  produced  by  DMA 
to  provide  a  "baseline"  map  rendition  upoi\  which  battlefield  commanders 
may  rapidly  overlay  the  additional  local,  tactical  information  vital  to 
support  the  mobility  and  quick  reaction  inherent  in  today's  Army  doctrine. 
Another  DMA  initiative  has  put  some  30  videodisks  on  its  product  list. 
These  include  one  world  map  disk  with  small  scale  coverage  and  36  regional 
disks  with  large,  medium  and  small  scale  coverage.   The  disks  may  be  used 
in  the  field  on  several  different  hardware  systems. 
It  is  this  distribution  of  maps  and  charts  in  digital  and  electronic 
(video)  form  that  is  the  heart  of  the  Mark  85.1  effort.   DMA  proposes  to 
distibute  raster  versions  of  these  products  with  eight  bits  each  of  red, 
green  and  blue  information  on  CD  ROM.   This  process  captures  a  map  as  a 
digital  raster  image  in  its  original  projection  and  coordinate  system. 
DMA  transforms  the  raster  images  at  predetermined  geographic  coordinates, 
yielding  a  seamless  gridded  product,  where  edges  match.   Continuous  moving 
map  displays  on  CRTs  are  supported  by  these  products:   overlaps  between 
paper  maps  have  been  eliminated,  tick  marks  have  been  aligned,  and  the  world-wide 
system  is  gridded  to  the  World  Geodetic  System  84.   An  initial  user  of  this 
so  called  "ARC-based  Digital  Raster  Graphic"  data  is  the  moving  map  display 
L
display  display  for  the  AV-8B,  F-18  and  V-22  aircraft. 
DMA' s  Mark  85.1  initiative  acknowledges  that  DMA  "customers"   are  increasingly 
aware  of  the  current  revolution  in  hardware  availability,  that  customers 
have  growing  needs  to  work  with  higher  resolution  products  in  some  areas 
and  that  these  users  of  DMA  data  are  already  becoming  ever  more  involved 
in  auxiliary  MC&G  tasks  in  the  field,  such  as  critical  point  positioning, 
prediction  and  simulation  support. 
DMA  has  underway  a  wide  variety  of  efforts  to  ensure  an  appropriate 
transition  into  the  Mark  90  mode.  With  initial  Mark  90  producted  anticipated 
in  1992,  the  Mark  85  and  Mark  85-1  initiatives  satisfy  immediate  requirements 
for  digital  information.   More  importantly,  they  will  lay  the  groundwork 
for  an  orderly  transition  into  the  Mark  90  era  of  all-digital  source,  product 
generation  and  disemmination  of  digital  products  into  the  field. 
The  emerging  Mark  90  data  base  to  be  developed  by  the  Defense  Mapping 
Agency  will  be  huge,  in  the  order  of  one  hundred  million  gigabits,  or  10 
to  the  17th  power  —  or,  more  graphically,  will  contain  more  information 
than  is  stored  in  400  million  college  textbooks.   Information  from  this 
base  then  may  be  extracted  selectively  by  DMA  to  meet  unique  requirements 
of  individual  weapons  systems  or  DoD  operational  elements. 
In  the  mid-'90s,  DMA's  Mark  90.1  initiatives  will  transmit  high  volume 
digital  data  with  rapid  retrieval  software  on  CD  ROM  or  other  high  density 
media  for  field  utilization  and  manipulation.   This  data  can  be  updated 
by  local  tactical  intelligence  supplemented  by  additional  updates  as  applicable 
from  DMA  via  high-speed  landline  or  satellite  transmission. 
A  significant  element  of  the  Mark  90.1  concept  is  the  concept  of  "value 
adding,"  which  can  enhance  tremendously  the  utility  of  digital  MC&G  products 
by  user  commands.  Operators  in  the  field  have  a  growing  capability  to  enhance
basic  DMA  geographic  data  with  additional  detail  —  auch  as  acre  accurate 
feature  detail  and  positioning,  and,  of  course,  local  intelligence  information. 
Return  of  the  updated  MC&G  information  to  DMA  will  be  vital.   Upon  verification 
and  rectification,  the  upgraded  information  may  be  rapidly  transmitted  to 
other  users  around  the  world. 
Here  again,  the  standardization  is  critical  —  the  ground  commander, 
his  air  support  and  his  intelligence  resources  must  be  playing  from  the 
same  sheet  of  music  at  all  times.   This  can  only  be  assured  through  adoption 
of  and  conformance  with  rigorous  data  specifications. 
At  the  same  time,  DMA  will  design  a  deployable  integrated  scheme  for 
regionally  organizing  MC&G  information  and  imagery  for  user  applications 
in  the  field  with  ease  of  access  for  the  operator. 
As  a  subset  of  the  available  Mark  90.1  data  dissemination  effort,  a 
major  new  Deployable  Digital  Data  Base  (D3B)  will  incorporate  layering  and 
regionalizing  resource  material,  including  both  stereoscopic  and  monoscopic 
imagery  in  digital  or  digitized  form  on  high  density  media,  again  most  likely 
the  CD  ROM.   The  "layers'*  in  the  D3B  product  may  include  digitized  DTED 
and  DFAD,  Digital  PPDB,  place  names  data  and  Symbolized  Graphics  Data  (SGD) 
data,  which  includes  symbolization,  graphic  text,  and  other  information 
necessary  for  rapid  human  visual  interpretation  of  map  and  chart  representations 
Any  or  all  elements  may  be  called  up  on  demand  in  the  field. 
Additional  software  will  permit  interactive  geographic  information 
display,  generation  of  perspective  scenes  and  additional  elevation  extraction 
software  --  such  as  Vertical  Obstruction  Data  (VOD)  and  others. 
To  print  out  paper  versions  of  this  data,  a  deployable  version  of  a 
Quick  Response  Multicolor  Printer  (QRMP)  is  being  designed  by  the  Army's 
Engineering  Topo  Lab  to  take  digital  data  and  rapidly  produce  full-sized 
X
"xerographic"  color  copies  of  maps  or  other  large  produces,  for  local  distribution, 
Other  printing  capabilities  are  being  explored. 
Most  importantly,  DMA  will  provide  guidance  for  emerging  products  and 
prototypes  and  standards,  with  specifications  for  the  digital  hardware  and 
softrware  of  the  90s. 
DMA  has  conducted  an  initial  symposium  for  military  department  users 
of  our  MC&G  data  and  further  dialogue  in  this  area  was  a  major  element  of 
the  1987  DoD  MC&G  Conference  last  fall. 
Additionally,  I  have  written  all  major  commanders  with  a  two-part  request: 
First,  I  offered  to  send  DMA  briefers  into  the  field  to  discuss  Mark  90.1, 
issues  involved  in  standardization  and  high  resolution  data,  and  DMA's  overall 
R&D  efforts.  Second,  I  have  proposed  that  DMA,  the  Services  and  the  CINCs 
establish  a  Senior  Officer  Steering  Committee  to  review  Mark  90.1  development 
at  DMA,  coordinate  related  developments  in  the  Services,  and  ensure  that 
both  encompass  the  needs  of  the  ultimate  users. 
While  Mark  90  will  at  least  double  DMA's  output  of  our  most  critical 
products,  a  mismatch  between  requirements  of  the  Services  and  the  capabilities 
of  the  Defense  Mapping  Agency  will  continue  into  the  late  '90s.  The  degree 
of  this  mismatch  depends  upon  the  appetite  of  new  weapons  for  DMA  data. 
All  indications  are  that  their  appetite  will  be  considerable. 
We  are  undertaking  several  efforts  to  alleviate  the  requirements  mismatch. 
These  include  a  general  requirements  scrub.   We  have  asked  the  user  community 
to  give  their  needs  a  thorough  scrub,  even  to  the  extent  of  starting  from 
a  zero  baseline.   Results  are  encouraging:  while  1986  requirements  grew 
some  $170  million,  this  year  requirements  dropped  $25  million  from  the  prior 
year's  level. 
Further,  we  have  emphasized  the  need  for  all  military  users  of  DMA 
c*
products  to  prioritize  carefully  their  real  seeds.   DMA  will  produce  to 
those  priorities. 
Third,  and  perhaps  most  significantly,  we  have  urged  all  military  users 
of  DMA's  products  and  data  to  employ  digital  MC&G  exchange  standards.  Any 
new  data  base,  even  with  moderate  levels  of  detail,  can  cost  several  hundred 
million  dollars.   Data  beyond  DMA  standard  sets  will  be  required  for  emerging 
smart  and  brilliant  weapons  systems.  We  must  collectively  define  the  minimum 
number  of  new  data  bases  capable  of  supporting  many  systems  within  the  DoD 
community.   We  must  look  at  our  requirements  in  a  global  sense,  from  which 
DMA  distills  the  minimum  data  needed.   We  just  cannot  afford  to  create  and 
maintain  system-unique  data. 
This  past  August,  the  Joint  Requirements  Oversight  Council  of  the  JCS 
gave  its  go-ahead  to  Military  Standards  as  a  tool  to  control  proliferation 
of  digital  MC&G  solutions,  and  the  first  of  these  MIL-STDS  should  appear 
shortly. 
A  revision  to  DoD  acquisition  directives  issued  last  September,  caused 
programmatic  steps  to  be  inserted  to  assure  closure  between  MC&G  data  bases 
and  parameters  of  systems  under  development.   System  managers  will  have 
to  use  standard  data,  formats  and  media,  or  demonstrate  the  need  for  -- 
and  fund  --  unique  solutions. 
Certainly,  difficult  and  even  disagreeable  decisions  are  facing  both 
the  Agency  and  military  users  of  DMA  products.   As  director  of  the  Defense 
Mapping  Agency  I  am  charged  with  making  many  of  these  decisions  --  and  will 
do  so. 
But  we  are  all  in  this  together.   Effective  communications  between 
DMA  and  supporting  and  supported  organizations  are  key  to  decisions  that 
mesh  our  mutual  interests.
Within  constrained  resource*  and  ever  increasing  requirements,  we  at 
DMA  are  incorporating  increasing  knowledge  of  the  user  community,  better 
use  of  the  total  MC&G  support  system  and  every  technological  trick  at  our 
disposal  to  provide  timely,  tailored  information  to  our  combat  commanders, 
who  must  have  this  data  to  effectively  employ  their  forces  and  associated 
navigation,  weapons,  and  command  and  control  systems. 
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