Tag: GeoIntelligence Insider

TITAN: The Geospatial Babel Fish
About 10 years ago PBS aired a very funny science fiction comedy called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams. The serial radio programs, which originated in Great Britain, were about two characters who traveled the universe by bumming rides on spacecraft. One curiosity highlighted in the second episode was the Tower of Babel-inspired “Babel fish,” which was described as (spoken with an authoritative British accent):

Small, yellow, and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language.

We’ve all been looking for a Babel fish for geospatial data. In the early years of GIS, sharing data was very painful. The most glaring difficulty was the issue of projections. You had to know the datum and projection the data were created in and modify it — or your GIS environment — to match. More recently, thanks to that uncomfortable word “metadata” and more advanced GIS software such as ArcGIS, users were able to import GIS data and re-project it on the fly.

This was a much easier method, but still messy on occasion. ArcGIS opened the door to importing and sharing spatial data across networks, and even the Web. You could actually create GIS projects that accessed data layers from remote servers and sources, ensuring that you had the latest version every time you opened a project. But this was still an environment for GIS professionals and not easy to do.

Recently, Google Earth changed the picture by creating a very easy-to-use spatial viewing environment. This really opened the eyes of the world and introduced non-GIS people to the world of spatial data. The Google environment was simple to understand, but somewhat limited to viewing spatial data and imagery with no real spatial analysis capability. It was especially good at organizing spatial data for visualization.

ESRI soon followed, offering a more robust viewer that could be best described as a professional version of Google Earth with spatial analysis capability. However, one still had to suffer through the zoom-in globe. As good as life became with both Google Earth and ArcExplorer, there was still room for improvement. Then, several months ago, I saw a demonstration of ERDAS TITAN (formerly known as Leica TITAN).

TITAN takes spatial data sharing, viewing, and publishing to a new level. It seems to magically ingest almost any spatial data format, read it, use it, and publish it back out in any format — and do so quickly. It does for spatial data what the Babel fish did for language and speech. A universal translator designed for sharing and the sharing environment is completely controllable via permissions, so you don’t lose data ownership. TITAN delivers data via geospatial Web services, such as Web Map Services (WMS), permitting you to view spatial data without actually getting access to the source dataset.

Most early adopters seem to be data providers and emergency response organizations, because this new globe solves their most critical problem: publishing data with permissions while retaining digital ownership rights (data providers) and ingesting, organizing, and using spatial data from many disparate sources very quickly (emergency management). With TITAN, emergency management organizations and workers have ready access to real-time data appropriate for situational awareness and response management. Communication using chat and collaboration via 3D interactive presentations is easily implemented for disaster participants. Key decision-makers have access to the same common operational picture with up-to-date information.

The datasets are searchable, accessible, and viewable by a broad spectrum of disaster workers using a broad array of applications. Data creators can publish geo-products with permissions from the field for direct and rapid delivery without format translation problems. Licensed data is controlled with participants accessing current content as well as historic and pre-disaster data.

A screenshot of the TITAN environment, showing the Geospatial Instant Messenger chat window. Image courtesy of ERDAS.

Amy Zeller of ERDAS shared some of the features and applications of TITAN, specifically:
- TITAN is a scalable, dynamic, rapidly deployable, online, real-time data sharing solution, supporting data publishing and delivery into many geospatial applications.
- TITAN enables “real-time” shared viewing of a common operating picture vital to effective communication during an emergency response.
- Users can create and share a “MyWorld,” a geographically enabled space to upload data, set permissions, and share content with other network users. This “geospatial presentation space” means sharing crucial geospatial data, notations, images, and other location-based content in a collaborative, interactive 3D space with thousands of users across the globe. This feature, plus instant messenger chat, enables real-time, effective communication and collaboration among disaster participants within a common operational picture.
- By using TITAN, authors of data become servers of data, publishing geo-products immediately with permissions and from the field.
- Data publishing is facilitated while digital ownership rights are protected. TITAN enables ingestion of data in various file formats and delivers data via different means, including geospatial Web services (e.g., WMS), which means that only a portrayal of the data is distributed and the data owner still has full control over the actual dataset.
- Data consumers can rapidly pull data from unlimited public and private sources, directly into a variety of applications including Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, ERDAS IMAGINE, ArcMap, ArcGIS Explorer, MapInfo, GeoMedia, and AutoCad.
- TITAN is interoperable and can be used in conjunction with static, centralized data stores and solutions — but it does not need to rely only on static, centralized data stores!
- A TITAN GeoHub enables internal and external permission-based data distribution for disaster management. With a GeoHub, stakeholders can rapidly be enabled to participate in publishing and consuming data. A GeoHub is ideal for implementation at a local government operations center or state EOC, yet flexible and sturdy enough to be set up and configured quickly and run from a field office.
- The TITAN solution is a scalable solution and provides support for large numbers of users over a broad geography.
- Users can connect to ERDAS TITAN via a cell phone, aircard, and laptop.
You may remember that my February article was about Virtual Alabama, which is a Google-based state emergency response spatial visual collaboration environment. Virtual Alabama has received national interest, and the evolution of VA will be a plenary session topic at the DOJ, DHS, and DOD-sponsored Critical Incident Preparedness Conference in October. Virtual Alabama was the first application that came to mind when I saw the potential of TITAN. In addition to enabling access to current, rapidly developing content in disaster situations, TITAN ties into historic and pre-disaster data and content that is already made available via various data management and delivery solutions.

This entire data sharing and delivery environment is very complex, with connectivity issues, security concerns, and nuances of performance. I know that there are many software products and custom applications that accomplish what TITAN does, but I haven’t seen an off-the-shelf product that matches TITAN’s capability. Let me know if you have seen one, so I can share it with our readers. In the meantime, TITAN deserves a serious look.
July 9, 2008
Grid Cell Modeling: The Other GIS

Most real-world datasets are continuous, and therefore more accurately displayed in a grid cell-based GIS than as points, lines, or polygons.

By Art Kalinski, GISP

Back in the mid-1980s, when I established the U.S. Navy’s first GIS, we used mapping software from a company called National Planning Data Corporation (NPDC). In the process, I had several interesting GIS-related discussions with NPDC’s founder, Peter Francese. His observation was that as we’ve grown in knowledge and sophistication, we’re actually substituting information for resources. He used the telephone as an example. If you’ve ever handled a ’20s-era telephone, you may remember that it weighed a very heavy 10 to 12 pounds because it was made from copper, brass, steel, and lots of Bakelite (one of the first synthetic thermosetting resins).

There were only three things you could do with that phone: dial, talk, and listen. By comparison, in the ’80s phones had evolved into one-pound devices made of lightweight copolymers and integrated circuit chips that featured memory, autodial, and speakerphone. What Peter observed is that we substituted our growing knowledge of plastics and integrated circuits for traditional materials. Today’s four-ounce cell phones continue that evolutionary model.

GIS has evolved in a similar way. With GIS, we are substituting spatial knowledge and analysis to use resources more efficiently, whether it is military effectiveness, forest management, mining, oil exploration, or transportation. Despite the growth of GIS and spatially enabled applications, surprisingly few people have augmented their traditional point, line, and polygon GIS with more sophisticated spatial tools and applications, such as grid cell modeling or raster-based GIS.

Most are familiar with raster image processing software such as IDRISI or ERDAS but few realize that they also contain strong modeling and analysis tools. The majority of GIS users operate in an ESRI environment but only a few take advantage of grid cell modeling found in ArcInfo GRID or Spatial Analyst.

Polygon GIS vs. Grid Cell GIS.

I agree that the original ESRI software GRID was not easy to use. I continue to be thankful to Chris Cappelli of ESRI who helped me learn ArcInfo 6.0 GRID when I was working on my master’s degree at UNC Charlotte back in ‘92. Likewise, if you ever had to read Dana Tomlin’s book Cartographic Modeling, which was a key publication developing the rules of grid cell modeling and Map Algebra you may remember how deceptively simple it seemed and how the learning curve shot into the stratosphere half way through the book.

Why bother? you say. The big reason is that most information you work with doesn’t have discrete borders. We constantly display demographic data, noise footprints, trade areas, soils, elevation, medical, environmental, biological and atmospheric and data sets as Points, Lines or Polygons. Yet in the real world the only certainty is death, taxes and the political boundary that defines the taxable footprint. Most datasets are continuous and don’t have clear discrete boundaries. I can show you the edge of my property but I can’t show you a clear boundary of moisture content in my lawn.

Want to see the value of displaying continuous data as continuous data rather than a generalized polygon? Look at these polygons, now roll over the polygons to see the data as a continuous dataset. You can see how limited your understanding of the data is with simple polygons. Continuous data fills in the gray areas between and paints a more understandable picture.

Roll over the blue/green polygon to reveal the continuous gray tone eye.

Roll over the blue/green polygon to reveal the continuous gray tone eye.

Why can’t I use Points, Lines and Polygons to do my analysis? You can, and using tools such as joins, unions and intersects will do simple spatial data analysis. If you need to work with an area of continuous data the best you’ll be able to do is a series of buffer polygons that approximate the data. But even more important, if the interaction of the datasets is a complex mathematical model, then a traditional GIS will reach its limit quickly.

Remember that in a traditional GIS not only is a polygon defined as a series of vertices and arcs but the software also has to keep track of the topological relationship of the features. That’s a lot of overhead to maintain. By comparison, a grid cell based GIS is made up of a large matrix of cells that are consistent in size and location. Just like the computer screen you are viewing the only thing that changes are assigned values of each cell. This makes processing extremely fast, especially on large datasets

This is the critical difference between a polygon based GIS and grid cell based GIS. Several years ago I remember seeing a community planning software called Index that appeared to use grid cells. The hope was that it could be used for MPO regional transportation planning. The problem was that it was a traditional polygon GIS that only looked like a grid based GIS because it used square polygons. Since each cell had to carry all the topological baggage of a polygon, it was extremely slow and crashed on all except the smallest size city.

A true grid cell GIS is very fast and capable of digesting some very large datasets. I’ve seen some very effective site selection programs that take multiple layers of grid data to determine the optimal characteristics of successful sites and search a new region for locations that meet the same criteria. John Calkins, ESRI’s expert in GRID and Spatial Analyst cited numerous examples ranging from site suitability work for oil and gas exploration to an ingenious effort to combat terrorism using “Human Terrain” modeling that identifies locations of populations by religious, political and ethnic background. A similar effort was very successful in identifying drug traffic sites in US cities almost as soon as established.

Drilling through multiple layers: ESRI.

2D or 3D “surface” from a mathematical function.

But where grid cell modeling really shines is the ability to get the cells to react to adjoining or nearby cells based on simple or very complex mathematical functions. The bottom line is that if you can describe what you want to happen as a mathematical formula, grid cell modeling can do it. Simple formulas like gravity models used in location analysis or very complex relationships such as the behavior of forest fires are examples of grid cell modeling work currently being done.

So don’t be stuck in the Point, Line and Polygon GIS. Dust off your old GIS text books and I’m sure you will find a chapter on grid cell or raster based GIS. The good news is that with programs like ESRI’s Model Builder the process is now much easier. As GIS users become more numerous and sophisticated we need to stay ahead of the curve. Grid cell based GIS may be one way to do that add new visibility to your GIS operation.

June 1, 2008
The Whys of Oblique Imagery

An investigation into the nature of perception reveals fascinating details about brain function — and could even earn you some free beer.

By Art Kalinksi

About eight months ago, I was attending a conference in Philadelphia. Right after lunch, I went to my room and turned on the TV to check the news; that’s when I happened across a program that mentioned oblique imagery. Since I work for an oblique imagery vendor, the word “oblique” always catches my attention. The more I listened, the more fascinated I became, because the program was scientifically explaining the reactions that I — and many others — have experienced with oblique imagery. In brief, the imagery is more than just pretty pictures taken at an angle: it really helps perception.

Currently, there are three companies collecting oblique aerial imagery: Pictometry International, Rochester, NY (the firm I work for); MultiVision USA, Orlando, FL; and a recent newcomer, GeoSpan, Minneapolis, MN. While I was the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), we used Pictometry imagery, along with the company’s free software for viewing imagery and GIS data. We also used the imagery with the ArcGIS extension and the ArcIMS integration. During the years that I employed it at the ARC, I observed a response to the oblique imagery overlaid with GIS data that seemed disproportionately positive, relative to the seemingly small improvement over traditional ortho imagery — but I couldn’t explain it.

For more than eight years my ARC colleague, Jim Bohn, and I taught ArcView classes through an ESRI ArcView Learning Center that we set up. Of the hundreds of students that we taught, some used the three-day course as the genesis of a much bigger and more sophisticated GIS, but for some the training lead nowhere. I just couldn’t understand why; it was baffling. I had high hopes that ArcView would take off with police and fire departments, but that traction never occurred.

Then, about four years ago, we were exposed to high-resolution oblique imagery, and everything changed. Police officers and firefighters were captivated by this new imagery and the easy-to-use software. But why? I thought the oblique imagery was neat, but I didn’t yet appreciate that it represented a quantum leap over traditional ortho imagery for most non-GIS users.

One afternoon, Clayton County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell walked by my ARC office. Eldrin Bell was the former chief of police for the City of Atlanta, and when he retired he was easily elected as chairman. I remember him stopping in front of some sample oblique imagery overlaid with GIS data that I had on the wall outside my office. In a “Eureka!” tone of voice, he said, “That’s exactly what we need in Clayton County, that’s exactly what we need!”

In this ortho view, it’s difficult to identify the structure in the red oval.

In this oblique view, it is apparent that this is a multi-story parking garage, and that the land slopes away from the street.

I went out to talk with him, and the next question he asked was, “What street is that?” pointing to a main road. With that I snapped my fingers and said, “That’s why you need GIS data: without it, this is just a pretty picture.” That day Chairman Bell saw the potential of GIS for his county, and realized that with oblique imagery, GIS could be brought out of the back room into mainstream use.

But what was the magic of oblique imagery? Why was it so compelling to non-GIS users? I came to the conclusion that those of us who work with abstract GIS maps and data are used to looking at the world from a top-down perspective, and ortho imagery follows that model very well. Just as a builder can look at a blueprint and picture the finished building, we are accustomed to looking at an ortho world and can easily make sense of it. This is not the case for the average person. But there was much more to it than that, as I realized in my own “Eureka!” moment.

That Discovery Channel TV program I happened across eight months ago explained the reason why oblique imagery is so compelling. A researcher featured in the program was using MRI scans to measure brain activity and perception. He determined that if one views text that spells a word, the brain activity occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain, and perception is quick and easy. If, however, the text is reversed or upside down, activity occurs first in the right hemisphere, then the left hemisphere.

Click on this image to see what it says…

The researcher noticed that the same effect occurs when one looks at an oblique view of an object. The brain activity occurs in the left hemisphere for oblique views, but in the right hemisphere first for ortho views. His conclusion was that if a familiar object is seen, processing is quick and easy. But if an object is not in a familiar frame of reference or view, perception is slower and more difficult because the right brain is called upon to reorient and make sense of the object.

That finally resolved the mystery and explained why non-GIS people find oblique imagery overlaid with GIS data more compelling than ortho imagery with the same data. To the untrained eye, there was no need for mental reorientation, and the whole process was quicker and easier.

This ortho image shows a glass object…but only the oblique view shows the shape. Click on this image to see what it is.

The other factor was the viewing software. When we were teaching ArcView it took two to three days to learn the basics, and weeks to become proficient. The added problem was that if you didn’t use it regularly, the knowledge evaporated. By comparison, oblique viewing software can be learned in about two hours. Of course, it doesn’t have all the functionality of a GIS application like ArcView or ArcGIS, but it is easy — and it doesn’t evaporate. In fact, the increase in new users was absolutely phenomenal. In Atlanta-area counties, the number of GIS users jumped 10- to 20-fold. I attribute it to two key factors: ease of use and, most important, ease of perception.

You’re probably wondering about the beer part. When I saw the left-brain/right-brain TV segment, I didn’t see the beginning of the show and I couldn’t stay for the end, so I missed the credits. I thought for sure that I could use Google to find the researcher, but so far I’ve been drawing a blank. I called several doctors doing research in similar subject areas, with no leads. I even contacted the folks at the Discovery Channel to get their help, but unfortunately they don’t maintain a database of show content that could help identify the program and source. To complicate the search further, it is possible that this research was just one topic addressed during the show, rather than the subject of the entire program.

I want to invite the left-brain/right-brain researcher to FutureView 08, the October oblique imagery users’ conference in San Antonio. So in desperation, I’m asking for your help. I know that there are many readers with better Internet searching skills than I have; perhaps your social network may lead you to someone who knows what I’m talking about and can help me contact the researcher. The search parameters I have used so far include: Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, spring 2007, oblique imagery, reversed text, mirror text, MRI brain activity, left brain, right brain, learning, perception.

To make it worth your time, I’m offering a prize: a case of Heineken to the first person, over 21 years of age, who can identify the researcher who did this study. If you solve this quest, contact me at [email protected].

April 8, 2008
The 2008 ESRI Federal User Conference

By Art Kalinski, GISP

Several weeks ago, I attended the ESRI Federal User Conference, held February 20-22 in Washington, D.C. I wish I could report on some earthshaking new technology that is going to change everything, but as with most mature technologies, what I saw were mostly refinements of existing technologies such as ArcGIS 9.3.

In 9.3, scheduled to ship in June, Web connectivity and integration have been improved, as have 3D tools and applications. An automatic Send Crash Report to ESRI notification has been added, along with very easy integration and connectivity with Google and Microsoft. Other improvements include working under the Vista operating system and enhancements to Model Builder.

I’ve been a strong advocate of Spatial Analyst and its use with Model Builder, which has greatly simplified this aspect of GIS. Too many GIS users have been stuck in a “point, line, and polygon” GIS, but not all GIS data have discrete borders. Most environmental and social data have fuzzy boundaries and can only be modeled accurately as continuous functions. The beauty of Spatial Analyst (GRID) is that if you can mathematically describe what is happening, Spatial Analyst can model and display the phenomenon.

I know that grid cell modeling can get difficult, but the grid cell environment is a powerful tool that can take some GIS projects to the next level of accuracy and completeness. Grid cell modeling is also significantly faster than trying to force polygons into a large dynamic model.

I did see one new dataset that could be very valuable to certain users: Robert Renner of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development demonstrated a free dataset from the U.S. Postal Service on address vacancies. It can be used to identify neighborhood changes showing emigration (vacated homes) or new neighborhoods (not-yet-occupied homes). This dataset is an early indicator that could be very useful for economic development, crime prevention, and public safety applications.

Although most attendees didn’t observe any major developments in GIS, it was a good opportunity to network and see what peers in other agencies are doing. Over years of attending conferences, I’ve found that unless you’re new to the business, 95 percent of the information presented is old news. What makes the events worthwhile is discovering that little gem, that new piece of information or technology that you would have missed otherwise.

It’s tough putting on a conference for such a diverse group of attendees, whose interests and experience levels run the gamut. With that in mind, and remembering the story of the blind men describing an elephant, I asked several of my fellow attendees what gems they uncovered at the 2008 FedUC.

William Gray and Tony Ferguson of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency are long-term users of GIS, and neither saw much that was new other than the refinements shown in ArcGIS 9.3. On the flip side, Beth Dorch and B. Schumacher of the FBI got great benefit from some entry-level sessions, such as GIS basics and GIS definitions. They also touted the value of a simple, yet real-world demonstration of how ArcGIS was used for law enforcement analysis.

Jim Mars of the Army Corps of Engineers liked the workshop demonstrating Model Builder, which showed how he could use the information for state shelters. Annette Miller, Montana Department of Labor, was new to GIS, so everything in the expo and all the sessions was new information and a major revelation.

Brian Sterling, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maryland, learned more about ArcExplorer and was happy to find out about TerraGo’s GeoPDF format — especially the publishing and collaboration tools. Craig Oaks of ProLogic appreciated being able to form a big picture of how customers are using GIS and how ProLogic fits in.

An unscheduled — but valuable — session was presented by Anne Miglarese, who is leading the effort to establish the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. This is a newly formed group composed of key public and private geospatial professionals that will use the public-private partnership to advance GIS and promote data sharing. This could provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Miglarese explained the genesis of the committee, and highlighted the fact that all meetings will be open to the public, and the material discussed will be available through a Web site that all can access. I know several members of this committee, and I believe it will have a significant and positive impact on GIS and geospatial efforts.

The closing session was a very interesting presentation by David Kinley of SPAWAR. David explained how NORTHCOM and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had learned lessons from Katrina response and created interoperable systems to respond quickly to natural and manmade disasters, civil disturbances, and special events such as pending political conventions. NORTHCOM and NORAD use a system called SAGE, while DHS uses a system called iCAV. He also discussed TRITON, a Web-based critical infrastructure protection system used by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Through a combined effort, data stovepipes were eliminated, and data sharing is now the norm. David addressed the difficulty in finding trained and qualified people to support these systems and noted that the agency is turning to the service academies to train new personnel.

I found the last 30 minutes to be the most interesting part of the conference. Jack Dangermond announced that by popular request, ESRI was going to establish an Intel User Community that will be facilitated by Mark Schultz, ESRI’s director of intelligence. Jack then had an open-mic question-and-answer session with the audience. Unlike the current array of politicians, he didn’t have pre-screened and pre-approved questions. Some of the questions were very penetrating, and I almost cringed for him when I heard some of them. But he answered all the questions with great candor.

Jack has built a worldwide organization that almost has a cult following. One only needs to experience the annual User Conference, attended by 13,000, to get a sense of that culture. From a federal perspective ESRI, ArcGIS, and all the related software programs have become a critical national resource. GIS is now fully integrated in all aspects of federal operations, as shown by this year’s speaker and attendee list. So people are understandably curious to see how developments at Google and Microsoft are affecting GIS.

One member of the audience asked Jack why Google and Microsoft seem to be building such strength in GIS-related efforts such as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth, whether this poses a threat to ESRI, and why ESRI didn’t dominate this area. The ESRI president answered in a way that only someone who is really confident in his work and organization can.

He replied that the goals and funding of ESRI, Google, and Microsoft are directed toward different purposes. ESRI is a company whose resources of roughly 600 million dollars per year are reinvested to expand the body of GIS knowledge, further the use of GIS, and support GIS customers. Google and Microsoft have billions to devote to the key goal of driving customers to advertisers. They are interested in search engines, base maps, and mapping to capture 8 to 10 billion dollars in ad revenue, not the smaller technical niche of GIS. On the other hand they could decide to take over GIS and then we’d be out of business, Jack said with a wink.

One last question dealt with concerns about the openness of our society and the accessibility of information by terrorists, especially GIS data. Jack indicated that this also concerned him, but he was comforted by the thought shown by history that open societies ultimately are more successful than closed ones. On that note, the conference concluded.

After the conference I was able to talk with Jack, and I shared with him common feelings and conclusions I’ve heard from many first responders, planners, and DHS personnel regarding access to data. Most believe that it would be impossible to get the information genie back in the bottle. Additionally, determined terrorists can get information they need even without high-tech tools because they have the advantage of choosing and researching a specific target, even with simple ground-level photos and personal observations.

First responders, however, must be in a position to respond quickly and effectively to all possible targets, since they don’t have the advantage of knowing a target ahead of time. That tips the scale in favor of having accurate and complete datasets and imagery readily available for our first responders. Jack was comforted by that information, and indicated that he would use it in other discussions. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with a different point of view who would like to share the reasoning behind it; please contact me.

Overall, it was a good conference that met the needs of a very diverse group of attendees. I believe that everyone who attended came away with at least one new piece of information or insight that made the conference worthwhile.

March 17, 2008
The Holy Grail of GIS in Alabama?

Virtual Alabama, a system for sharing homeland security data, serves as a model of success for other states to follow.

By Art Kalinski, GISP

One weekend a few years ago, like most good GIS professionals, I was randomly reviewing USGS topo maps for fun. No, I’m not that far gone; I was actually searching for a retirement location. I noticed a region of northeast Alabama that featured a large lake surrounded by good-sized foothills. My wife, Connie, and I drove out to Lake Guntersville and fell in love with the place.

The peninsular town of Guntersville, which was still fairly undiscovered at that time, reminded me a little of Newport, Rhode Island. Lake Guntersville was twice the size of the landlocked Lake Lanier near our home in Atlanta, not to mention uncrowded and always at full pool. It offered superb sailing, fishing, and navigable water to Knoxville, the Gulf of Mexico, and even up to Lake Michigan. We bought a place and finally moved there permanently in December.

Now Alabama is certainly not the first state that comes to mind when one mentions technology, but little did I know that 30 miles north of Guntersville, in Huntsville, that stereotype was being shattered. Alabama was working on a system to communicate and share data for homeland security, creating a model that other states are now emulating.

The effort was initiated by Governor Bob Riley, who was frustrated by the lack of information he experienced while trying to respond to Hurricanes Dennis and Katrina in 2005, as well as tornadoes in 2003 and 2007. He instructed Jim Walker, his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) director, to fix the problem. As a retired Army lieutenant colonel, Walker tackled the issue with the same determination that had served him so well on active duty. He formulated the concept for Virtual Alabama; then, for implementation, he turned to the technical talent that was prevalent in Huntsville at the research park, the Redstone Arsenal, and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

For decades, at GIS conferences and in classrooms across the country, we’ve heard the ultimate dream repeated: GIS would become a universal data integrator; it would provide all users with a common operating picture while mining data from many different sources. Finding this holy grail of GIS has been an uphill struggle, with seekers achieving varying degrees of success.

Virtual Alabama is unique among the myriad of efforts to reach this goal — unique in both its approach and its results. The system was developed by Norven Goddard, the assistant director for science and technology of Alabama DHS, and Chris Johnson, the vice president of geospatial technologies for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Goddard is on loan to DHS from the Army Space and Missile Command’s Future Warfare Center, where he serves as assistant director for science and technology. His technical staff includes Amy Robison and Justin Novak.

Goddard researched and tested every possible GIS viewing system, some common and some less well known. His search of systems included ESRI, Intergraph, Google Earth, NASA’s World Wind, Falconview, Skyline, Battlescape, and others. Goddard had several criteria that he wanted to meet. The system had to be cheap, easy to use, robust, able to ingest all data formats (vector, raster, and tabular), scalable, capable of supporting many simultaneous users, and sustainable. The one system that floated to the top was Google Earth — Google Earth Enterprise, in particular. With Google Earth the system could ingest the primary GIS data sets built in ESRI or Intergraph environments, it could serve the data to many users, and it was simple to use. In addition, the system is secure using Google Earth Enterprise, since it doesn’t touch Google Earth.

It’s interesting to note that the Google Earth technology was originally created by a company called Keyhole, under contract to the CIA. Google bought the rights, but the “K” in KML still points back to the file format’s origins. Even more interesting is that the wheel has come full circle, with more than 21 states — and several federal agencies involved in homeland security — carefully reviewing the success of Virtual Alabama as an example of “best practices” and rediscovering the old Keyhole effort, enhanced by the people at Google and in Alabama.

The statewide data sets include all available county GIS data, such as political boundaries, roads, rivers, streams, lakes, highways, parcels, floodplains, etc.

The system has evolved into a very sophisticated spatial data integration and viewing system that is accessible by every state agency. In addition to the standard vector data (points, lines, and polygons), the system has been expanded to include ortho-imagery, scanned USGS topo maps, and now photo-realistic 3D models built from high-resolution oblique imagery.

An example of 3D models built from high-resolution oblique imagery. Image courtesy of PLW ModelWorks/Pictometry.

The system can be used to drill down through multiple data layers or view 3D fly-through models, and it can even show detailed CAD floor plans and building interiors created in SketchUp. The system can also show the effects of floods and display plume footprints from Cameo/Aloha.

Floodplain data displayed in Google Earth shows the scope of buildings affected by a potential flood.

Those of you who have tried to establish such a system may have already guessed that some of the toughest hurdles were institutional, not technical. Virtual Alabama couldn’t be a system that relied on creating all the data; the cost of doing that would have been a showstopper. Instead, if there was to be any chance of success, the data had to come from local sources. But with the prevailing attitudes toward data ownership, cost recovery, and people jealously guarding their data, any statewide system was going to be a challenge.

The Virtual Alabama team enlisted the aid of county sheriffs who, in Alabama, are the second-highest-ranking public officials in their counties. Since this was a homeland security issue, the sheriffs were very willing participants, and they had the clout to make it happen. Additionally, as the system was growing, no one wanted to be the only holdout county that wasn’t part of this “mutual aid” resource.

Being Google-based helped with quick learning and adoption, as many users had already learned the basics of Google Earth on their home computers. At first the GIS community felt threatened, because this was not a “true GIS,” and it was much too easy to use. After all, most GIS people felt that they were the gatekeepers of mapping.

Soon, however, the reality changed perceptions. The number of users viewing data and creating maps exploded, as did the demand for better and more up-to-date GIS data. The GIS shops found themselves doing the higher-level work of building, updating, analyzing, and serving GIS data, rather than just cranking out maps. Virtual Alabama started as a DHS effort, but its use has spread to 34 state agencies with about 2,200 users — most without GIS backgrounds.

Each county continues to create and maintain its own data. The updates or expanded data sets are uploaded to Virtual Alabama continuously. New capabilities are being added weekly, including the ability to inset and register photos of disaster locations taken from news or police helicopters. Another advantage of the system is that counties that may not have the resources to create their own sophisticated GIS can still benefit by using the ready-built system and available data as a starting point for their own operation.

Everyone wishes that Virtual Alabama was a fully fleshed-out system with the same level of detail for all data layers, but it’s not. It’s still a work in progress that now has momentum and a broad array of motivated individuals building data elements to expand and increase the level of detail. As non-GIS-trained users learn more, they want more, and are willing to help. For instance, firefighters who in the past created paper ledgers of data relating to buildings and their contents are now creating floorplan CAD files or SketchUp models.

These SketchUp models were built by local firefighters using Alabama orthoimagery.

Now here is the real shocker. Are you ready? The total cost of setting up Virtual Alabama was just $150,000.

As I’m writing this article, several southern states are recovering from a huge weather event that spawned many tornadoes and killed, at last count, 55 people. I know that Alabama DHS is making good use of Virtual Alabama to respond to the storm and aid recovery efforts.

Tornado-damaged buildings are visible in this image, which was taken from a police helicopter.

This does highlight the fact that these disasters know no political boundaries, and that “mutual aid” and “interoperability” are not just buzzwords. If your agency needs to have access to GIS data and to create a common operating picture, take a serious look at the success of Virtual Alabama. This is a critical — and practical — high-tech system from the home of real rocket scientists.

February 1, 2008
What Can You Do for Your Country?

Editor’s Note: As Geospatial Solutions rings in a new year, we’re pleased to welcome Art Kalinski to the helm of the GeoIntelligence Insider newsletter. Please e-mail him with your questions and comments about the use of GIS in military and homeland security applications.

By Art Kalinski

I felt honored to receive an invitation to write this monthly column for Geospatial Solutions. I guess when you get to my age, people assume that you finally know something. The only thing I know for sure is that I realize how little I know — and that the learning process never stops.

When my GIS career started, I was a career naval officer who was tasked with performing the U.S. Navy’s 1987 Base Closure study. The complexity of determining which of the 326 Naval Reserve Centers should be closed led me to a new technology: geographic information systems. Once I set up the Navy’s first GIS, I was able to effectively execute ring studies to determine the geographic distribution of reservists and how closures would affect travel times (and the resulting impact on costs and retention).

GIS proved to be such a powerful tool that I pursued a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studying under Dr. Dennis Lord and Dr. Wei-Ning Xiang. After completing the degree and retiring from the Navy in 1993, I became the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). Several years ago, we started using oblique imagery with our GIS. It spawned an expansion of GIS use that I had never seen, especially among first responders.

Last year, when I was approached by an oblique imagery company to manage military applications, I was surprised that the technology was not already being used by the armed forces, but thrilled by the opportunity. So now I manage a Marine Corps-wide imagery contract, and get a chance to rub elbows with the nation’s finest.

It’s those experiences that lead me to ask the rhetorical question, “What can I, as a GIS professional, do for my country?” As GIS professionals, we tend to think of GIS operations as limited to back rooms populated by computer geeks. Sometimes it seems that the impact of our work doesn’t make it out of those back rooms. Consider the following events, where maps in the field made a big difference to a country in crisis.

September 11, 2001: The New York City GIS operation — housed in Building 7 of the World Trade Center — was destroyed. Luckily the GIS staff was unhurt, but they had no equipment, nor a facility in which to do their work. Many volunteers came together to restore and expand a GIS operation in a west-side pier warehouse. When I spoke with GIS Director Alan Leidner, I was stunned to learn that in the weeks after 9/11, the makeshift GIS operation produced some 7,000 E-size plots and 8,000 smaller plots in response to more than 1,800 requests for support. I told Alan that I couldn’t even imagine that number of requests. He replied that was also surprised, but that fulfilling each request answered a real need, and was greatly appreciated by the recipients.

January 6, 2005: In Graniteville, South Carolina, a train derailment caused a chlorine spill that killed nine people. During the following weeks, the Aiken County GIS Division operated around the clock and produced more than 1,200 GIS plots for the 100-plus agencies that came to “help.”

Labor Day weekend, 2005: Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Local GIS capabilities were eviscerated. The GIS Corps was mobilized and even in Atlanta, ARC’s GIS Division helped by producing more than 200 E-size plots of aerial imagery overlaid with GIS vector data and GPS reference grids. The plots were delivered to the National Guard, where they were used in rescue and recovery efforts.

2006 Atlanta midtown apartment fire.

During the fire, police and firefighters worked together, thanks to GIS.

On a much smaller scale, Atlanta experienced a midtown apartment fire in 2006. Upon seeing the smoke and hearing the news, my GIS staff immediately printed hard-copy plots of the location and delivered the plots to the on-scene commander. The imagery and overlaid street data helped the commander coordinate the plans to cordon off the area. I’ve been told that the picture at right is historic, because it shows police and firefighters actually working together. Such is the power of GIS.

Other than being burned to the ground during the civil war, Atlanta has avoided major disasters — so far. With a regional population of 4 million, one of the largest airports in the world, thousands of truck and rail miles traveled every day, and a major rail yard located next to downtown, Atlanta is fertile ground for potential damaging events. As ARC’s GIS manager, it became clear that it would be a dereliction of duty if we didn’t prepare to support first responders in the event of a major regional emergency. After all, we had the hardware, software, orthorectified and oblique imagery, data, and most importantly, a well-trained GIS staff.

We inventoried our resources and realized that we only needed a few items to build a portable operation that could be trucked to any location in the region to provide GIS support. Our final system consisted of two laptops running ArcGIS, 2 terabytes of portable hard drive storage, two desktop printers, an HP plotter, LCD projector and screen, and an E-size laminator. The laminator permitted us to provide maps and imagery for use in wet field locations. We already had most of the hardware, so our additional purchases were limited to two folding tables and chairs from an office supply store, and a $600 pop-up tent in case we had to set up outdoors. We considered getting a generator, but since we planned to set up shop in schools, churches, public buildings or, most likely, next to a mobile command vehicle, power was not a concern.

We quickly learned some surprising lessons. Although E-size plotters don’t look very large in the office, most of them won’t fit inside a minivan or SUV. Since those vehicles were the most readily available transportation for us, we had the legs of our plotter shortened by 10 inches so that it would fit. Unfortunately, the HP 1055 plotter’s legs have special fittings on each end, so the 10 inches has to be taken out of the middle instead of off the end. I found an auto body shop that “chopped” the legs, welded them, and finished them to look like new for $150. We renamed the plotter “Stumpy.”

Another key lesson was supplies. During our Katrina support we ran out of ink and plotter paper, and had a hard time getting additional supplies during the Labor Day weekend. We subsequently instituted a policy to never fall below a baseline of supplies. For us, that minimum was 10 rolls of plotter paper, two sets of inkjet cartridges, and 10 boxes of E-size foam-core lamination pouches. Rotating our stock ensured fresh supplies at all times. We also obtained emergency contact numbers for several suppliers if the need arose.

Setting up the ARC Portable GIS for UASI Exercise.

Inside the ARC Portable GIS tent.

Some GIS operations may make the decision not to go portable. Each locality is a unique situation, and going portable may not be feasible. Those who do decide to build a portable system must test and exercise the system. It’s easy to assume that you can go portable, but until you work out all the kinks, “Murphy” will be your partner. We took advantage of several training opportunities to set up and demonstrate our system, including an Urban Area Security Initiative command and control exercise observed by DHS. Not only does this type of exercise test the system, but it exposes first responders to its capabilities and what they can expect from the GIS team.

ARC Portable GIS set up next to Atlanta Police Mobile Command Vehicle.

There is a potential to step on the toes of local GIS divisions, so we made it clear to all that we’re not in the business of competing with other GIS operations, but we will go where needed if the local capabilities are overwhelmed. To prevent confusion, we coordinate the requisition of our system through the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Georgia Mutual Aid Group.

I don’t want to overplay the importance of GIS support during a crisis. After all, computer maps and data are just one cog in the emergency response wheel. But GIS can provide the information and tools to give our first responders that little edge that makes a difference. To me, that added support is worth my time. As GIS professionals I feel that we owe this support to our community, taxpayers, and most important to the first responders at the tip of the spear.

January 8, 2008