The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) is an educational foundation that supports the Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) industry. In late May, USGIF hosted the 20th GEOINT Symposium. This symposium brings together his GEOINT community from government, academia and private enterprise to collaborate and discuss the most relevant topics of geospatial intelligence.
Whether you’re anticipating the impact of new technologies like SAR or facing the challenges of a changing workforce, there’s a lot to talk about. Although the geospatial intelligence community is primarily space-based, the challenges they face parallel many other aspects of the geospatial industry as a whole, as well as future technologies.
SAR is a rising star
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a remote sensing technology that uses radar to create high-resolution images of the earth’s surface. Unlike optical sensors that rely on clear daytime visibility, SAR systems can operate day or night and can pass through clouds, rain and fog. SAR works by sending microwave pulses toward the ground and measuring the echoes that are reflected back. By analyzing the time delay and amplitude of these echoes, SAR systems can reconstruct detailed images of the terrain. (Want to know more? Here’s a great article.SAR 101” Capella Space commentator).
SAR can produce high-resolution imagery with detailed information about the surface of the earth, allowing it to detect subtle changes in terrain, identify small objects, and accurately measure features such as elevation, surface roughness, and vegetation density. Private companies such as Umbra and Ursa space that work with government agencies to provide imagery already started collaborating Regarding provision of SAR images for government use.
While these new image sources are very attractive, they come at the cost of adding yet another information stream to the distributed system. Geospatial intelligence analysis requires sophisticated algorithms and techniques to extract meaningful insights from data. Analyzing diverse geospatial data sources such as imagery, SAR, lidar, and geospatial databases is complex and requires advanced tools and expertise. Developing and maintaining analytics capabilities that handle data complexity and deliver accurate and timely intelligence remains a challenge.
Security is becoming more urgent
As the rest of the world continues to develop technology, new threats such as hacking and cybersecurity emerge. Geospatial intelligence systems are vulnerable to cyber threats such as data breaches, system intrusions, and denial of service attacks. Protecting sensitive information, ensuring data integrity, and securing communications networks and infrastructure are key challenges for the geospatial intelligence community.
Additionally, geospatial data often comes from a variety of sources, formats, and standards. Integrating and interoperating data from different government agencies, organizations and platforms can be complex and time-consuming, and each “handover” can pose security challenges. Ensuring compatibility and seamless sharing of data across various systems is essential for efficient geospatial intelligence operations.
Though the idea of these vulnerabilities may cause anxiety, it has also resulted in accelerated research into quantum technologies that could provide a more secure form of encryption than current methods.
Private industry is key to greater agility
Several speakers at the conference frankly said that governments face major challenges in terms of timely or continuing funding for activities such as launching new satellites and pioneering new geospatial intelligence technologies and capabilities. I touched on the fact that I was facing. We can accelerate this pace by partnering with private industry, either by purchasing imagery and data directly or by relying on private industry for launch services and new satellite development.
Commercial companies operate a variety of platforms such as satellites, aircraft, and drones that can collect geospatial data using a variety of sensors at high resolution. Partnering with commercial companies gives governments access to a wider range of data sources and collection capabilities. This expands the data available for analysis, allows for more frequent updates, and enhances your ability to monitor and respond to dynamic situations.
During a panel discussion on GEOINT in the global economy, former NASA Administrator and Congressman Jim Bridenstine succinctly summarized the relationship:
“To this audience: You are our only hope, because innovation really comes from industry.”
“I also think it’s a little sad, because in earlier times in American history, governments could do more than write checks. Today we are seen primarily as a source of funding, but I What we really need is not just to be able to ”When we’re in government, we can buy what’s in the catalog, but we need to invent new and better catalogs. Yes, we need to be 10, 20, 20 years ahead of our possible adversaries… so we need your brains and your energy. your flexibility. ”
Recruiting talent outside the general network is critical
Another key challenge for geospatial agencies, and one that is far from familiar to those in other geospatial disciplines, is finding, recruiting, and retaining the skilled workforce required for these missions. is an important and difficult issue. One area of focus for GEOINT was recruiting talent from outside the traditional talent pool typically sought by governments, including neurodiverse talent.
Neurodiverse individuals, such as those on the autism spectrum, often have unique cognitions and alternative ways of thinking. They can excel at pattern recognition, attention to detail, logical reasoning, and spatial thinking, which are valuable skills in geospatial intelligence. Recruiting nervously diverse individuals allows communities to tap into a diverse workforce and benefit from their different perspectives and problem-solving approaches.
The geospatial intelligence community often faces a shortage of skilled professionals with expertise in data analysis, geospatial technology, and critical thinking. By actively recruiting nervously diverse individuals, the community can tap into a talent pool that may have unique skills and competencies that are well suited to the demands of geospatial intelligence. . This helps fill skill gaps and bring valuable expertise to address workforce shortages.
However, this is not without its challenges, and many of the hiring practices, such as face-to-face interviews and confidentiality measures, are misleading as signs of being nervous or avoiding when some behaviors are tense. It has been pointed out by the committee that there is a possibility that the flag will be raised appropriately. For example, it is normal for applicants.
It’s an exciting time for geospatial
Like many tech industries, there is an explosion of innovation in the GEOINT community. Geospatial intelligence is no longer limited to a single data source. The industry is increasingly integrating data from various sources such as satellites, aviation platforms, ground sensors, social media and open source intelligence. This integration provides a holistic understanding of complex situations, enhances situational awareness, and supports decision-making processes.
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques is also transforming the geospatial intelligence industry. These technologies enable automated analysis, pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and predictive modeling of vast amounts of geospatial data. AI and ML algorithms improve the speed and accuracy of geospatial intelligence analysis, allowing analysts to focus on higher-level tasks and strategic decisions.
Geospatial intelligence can sometimes seem isolated from other geospatial domains due to the sensitivity of some of the work, but many of the themes revealed by GEOINT are applicable, and LIDAR , GIS, etc. It’s definitely a “space” that deserves attention.
