Tag: GeoIntelligence Insider

Talking to GIS managers over the past several months, I’ve heard a lot of hand wringing from many regarding the future and I share much of the concern. We seem to be at loggerheads on the budget or lack thereof, taxes, energy, gun control and many other issues that make optimism difficult to maintain. For those of you that haven’t faced lean budgets, the next few years may get difficult. GIS operations are especially vulnerable since many politicians don’t really understand “that technical stuff” like GIS, and that GIS doesn’t cost money — it saves money, and even more important, it saves lives.

There is a general misconception among non-GIS people and politicians that we don’t need our own geospatial operation, we can just use Google. In some cases, like planning a trip, that may be true, but for many of your organizations that may not be enough. One example that struck close to home when I was the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) was a failed drug raid in one of our counties. The drug dealers were clever enough to switch house numbers with the house next door. When the SWAT team raided the wrong house, based only on Google Maps and the house number, the resulting lawsuit of the innocent family cost the county thousands even though no one was hurt.

People have to be educated that Google’s key purpose is to drive traffic to its website and sell advertising. Google is not intended to be an authoritative source, and reading the terms of use, one finds special Federal Use Restrictions and “FAR and DFARS provisions.” Google is intended for “planning purposes only” and “makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content.”

Many of you are involved in creating the content that others, including Google, use. Google uses data from more than 12 federal agencies and augments them with commercial data. However, only your staff can determine your exposure to inappropriate use or incomplete data. At ARC, we spent considerable effort constantly updating our street base so planners and 911 call centers had the latest data. Many of those updates took over a year to make to Google Maps.

I learned through countless budget and reorganization battles that you have to be prepared with hard numbers, data and documentation to back up your position. There is nothing more gratifying than to pull out a stack of documents that completely shuts down your opponent’s unsubstantiated “opinion” during one of these battles. But this takes forethought and preparation. GIS professionals must constantly work to build data that shows a “return on investment (ROI).” ROI may be a common concept in the business world, but it’s not used as frequently in government service. We need to be ready at all times to show in real terms how GIS impacts our organization and how it helps improve efficiency. The easiest way is to accumulate and remember needed documentation, to collect it as you operate day to day by placing emails or other information into a physical or electronic drawer. That way you can pull out needed documentation on short notice and not miss key points.

As depressing as this potential damage control may sound, I’m very optimistic long term for the country, the planet and GIS. The real numbers seem to fly in the face of the “doom and gloom media” who only sell content covering plane crashes rather than successful landings. Recently John Stossel had a program in which he featured the noted author Matt Ridley who introduced his newest book, The Rational Optimist. Reading his book I was very encouraged by his research. Put in a nutshell, he cites that despite the depressing picture painted by the media, life is better for more people than it has ever been in history. Inflation-adjusted prices for goods and services are lower in all categories with the exception of health care and education. In his analysis he uses labor as cost measure. In the 1900s, an average person spent 76 percent of his income on food, clothing and shelter. In 2012 that number is down to 37 percent. That means more disposable income for fun stuff.

The environment is generally cleaner and life expectancies continue to rise. The chance of a world citizen dying in a war, disease or famine continues to fall. As a senior citizen I can confirm many of his points through personal experience and observations. Take transportation: In 1960, gas was 32 cents a gallon and my dad bought a brand new fully loaded Chevy Impala for a whopping price of $3,000. Today, both are 10 times higher but so are salaries. With regard to the environment, in 1950 I remember my mother having to scrub my dad’s white shirt collars and cuffs after only a few hours of wear in a coal-dust and soot-infused Chicago atmosphere. I know of no U.S. city that dirty today. When I was Naval Officer on a destroyer going through a 1974 overhaul in Brooklyn, New York, my sailors would have daily wagers as to the number, type and size of sewage objects that would float past the ship as they worked. Two years ago when I was in New York near the East River, I was surprised at the clarity to a depth of several feet of that same water.

Note this dramatic photo from the New York City Municipal Archive of Grand Central Station taken in 1930. It’s a beautiful photo, but it also shows the heavy particulates in the 1930 air reflecting the sunlight.

We in the GIS community can point with pride to the work we’ve done to make life better for everyone. When I was building street center-line files in the early 90s, I never dreamed that those simple files combined with GPS and cell-phone technology would be providing me with surprisingly accurate maps and imagery, including street level photos and turn-by-turn voice navigation, all delivered to my small cell phone. I no longer struggle with phone books and maps trying to find businesses. I just talk into my smartphone to get phone numbers and least cost routing, including traffic jam avoidance to businesses. It would be interesting to calculate how much fuel the GIS community has saved FedEx, UPS or public schools running a fleet of buses with optimal routing.

Google Earth has become a universal tool to find what you need along with directions, user opinions and alternate choices. I no longer go anywhere without reviewing the route, business hours and imagery. Today, buying a home and learning about neighborhoods, prices, schools, transportation is a breeze compared to 20 years ago. Regional planning including environment, agriculture and providing county services has been significantly helped with GIS. Just consider the effectiveness of police and fire responding to 911 calls.

The intelligence community has moved from analysis of static low-resolution ortho imagery to integration of multiple imagery, full motion video and incorporation of “big data” / social media to create pattern-of-life analysis. We can only speculate how many lives have been saved with this advanced intelligence and how the technology will evolve and improve over the next 10 years.

And that was the key point of Ridley’s book. That it takes a collective human intelligence and division of labor to raise the standard of living for all citizens. He used as an example a simple computer mouse. That small device that you are probably holding in your hand is the result of the intelligence and work of thousands of people ranging from the oil rig workers getting the oil to make the plastic, to mathematicians, engineers and chemist to design the parts and create the IC chips, to assembly-line workers putting the parts together, to a ship’s crew, truckers and retailer that got it to you and all that at a price of only a few dollars. Imagine building one from scratch with no outside assistance.

Even more amazing is how fast the learning curve has become. In just a few decades we’ve made more progress than the previous 50,000 years and the curve seems to be increasing. GIS has been part of that process and I look forward to an even better decade ahead.

I’m going to attend the ESRI Federal User’s Conference Feb 25-27.  Please introduce yourself if you see me (my bald head is easy to spot) and let me know how we can improve our publications.

By  Art Kalinski, GISP

Now that the London Olympics are completed, I can write about one geospatial tool that enhanced security. That effort was the creation of an extensive 3D model used by London security personnel to track activities and serve as a collaboration environment.  The very detailed geospatial model was built by a team of people working for Aegis Technologies in Huntsville, Alabama.  This was not a new effort for Aegis.  It was in fact the third time AEgis was contracted to develop a high resolution 3D databases including cultural features of interest for use in operational planning and situational awareness in both preparation for and execution of the games. Previous projects include the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

AEgis Technologies is a privately held small business of about 250 professionals headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, that provides advanced technology and consulting services to industries throughout the world. AEgis specializes in modeling & simulation and micro/nanoscale technology development. As a third time selectee, Aegis was understandably pleased as related by David King, VP of Simulation Development “AEgis is proud to continue our support of the Olympic Games by providing our geospatial solutions to this global event. We look forward to the excitement of the London Olympics and are pleased to have again been selected for this project.”

Staffers of the Geospatial Programs Division of the AEgis Simulation Development Group like to refer to their effort as art meeting science and technology. That’s because the model creation process is not just a rote mechanical process. They believe that it takes a sophisticated blend of mathematics and critical artistic eyes to create models that are accurate, detailed and visually appealing.  Aegis has built 3D models simulating reality for years supporting the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and commercial customers.

Development of London 2012 was a significant effort that required multiple 3D modelers, texture artists and geographic information system (GIS) analysts. Using satellite imagery and open source data, the team produced accurate and detailed models of the London metropolitan area, including landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abby and the Tower of London. Also part of the virtual environment were new structures such as the Westfield Mall and train station which served as the entrance to Olympic Park. The historic architecture and dense urban landscape made the project especially challenging.

The project took over 4 months to complete using commercial 3D modeling software, GIS, CAD with a significant degree of manual artistic and technical efforts.  Modelers were able to obtain about 65% of the needed data directly off the internet. They also used textures, cloned imagery and some ground level photographs to produce the models.

Few people realize how much manual intervention is required to produce top notch 3D models.  Most of you know that digital elevation models are needed to accurately display ortho imagery to account for the angular displacement of objects from the camera lens that are not on a flat plane. But that correction when applied to bridges passing over ravines can result in some bizarre distortions. The problem is even worse when constructing 3D models using automated 3D creation tools and if there are anomalies in the elevation data. This was especially evident in the recent release of the IPhone 5 and Apple Maps which I’m guessing used automated tools to build their oblique views.  This was spectacular priaulx that also included numerous misplaced data point and spelling errors.  Although this will take a while to live down, Apple is big enough to survive.  This clearly demonstrated the need for trained human eyes to do quality control.

For the London model, Aegis built approximately 300 high and medium fidelity 3D models populated the database of more than 2,600 square kilometers. As part of the final project delivery, AEgis also provided several days of hands-on training for London personnel as well as ongoing support. The training was primarily in the use of their viewing software, LightINT used with the database they created.

LightINT was developed in-house by Aegis to take full advantage of their detailed models. The Open Scene Graph (OSG) format is very efficient at managing memory and resources so navigation is quick and seamless. Unlike early 3D viewing software that was cumbersome because entire models had to be loaded into memory, OSG is “pageable”, taking away size and fidelity limitations. With the LightINT viewing tool, AEgis provided high fidelity, smooth navigation with very robust tools.

Although I didn’t get a chance to play with the system the list of tools and capabilities is quite impressive including:

• A 3D view of the area of interest
• 2D map correlation with the 3D view
• Multiple measurement tools such as length, width, height including slant ranges between objects in the 3D model
• The ability to import/drag and drop Shapefiles and extrude the 2D data into 3D space
• Falconview integration
• Integration and display of observer locations
• Creation of routes
• Time of day lighting including weather conditions
• Line-of-sight tools and analysis including separate viewpoints and red line/green line intersections
• Geo-marker placement including go-to/fly-to markers
• Route creation for video creation/playback
• Terrain database formats – Terra Page(.txp), OSG (.ive), OpenFlight (.flt)
• 3D model formats – OSG and OpenFlight
• Multiple coordinate systems

Although Aegis’ 3D models are not the most sophisticated in method of creation or photorealistic detail, they have built a strong history of quality execution and delivery. As I wrote in a previous column you only get one chance to make good first impression when it comes to data quality and I believe that’s been the key to Aegis’ success and selection for multiple Olympics.  That’s good lesson for all businesses to remember, it’s easier/cheaper to keep good customers than it is to grow new ones.

By Art Kalinski

Few of us fully appreciate the significance of the Qur’an burning in Afghanistan by our troops several months ago. The best analogy I can think of is burning of an American flag. As any Boy Scout can tell you, the proper way to dispose of a worn American flag is to burn it in a dignified manner, however burning that same flag at a protest launches quite a different reaction. The same occurred when our troops burned Qur’ansthat had been desecrated by prisoners. Writing in a Qur’an is considered a desecration and the desecrated Qur’an is supposed to be burned. Our soldiers didn’t understand that there is a ritual associated with the burning, similar to American flag disposal, and thus the uproar heavily fueled by activists throughout the Mideast.

Between emails and phone calls, I personally haven’t had the time northe interest in Tweets, Facebook or texting, so I didn’t appreciate the impact that social media has in many Mideast countries. Most third world countries haven’t gone through the technology progression of newspapers, phone lines, broadcast and cablewe have but instead jumped directly to cell phone and wireless technology. In many countries wireless social media is a dominant method of communication although in many rural areas the high illiteracy rate and limited number of wireless users place those users in strong positions to limit or distort the information they receive.

Soon after the social media fueled Qur’an burning incident, two small US businesses were able to have a surprising impact calming tensions by using human geography and personal action. The effort was possible thanks to the work of retired Air National Guard Brigadier General Edwin (Skip) Vincent. Throughout his military career, including 23 combat missions in F4’s, KC 130’s and 135’s, General Vincent was constantly at the “tip of the spear” involved in combat or support missions. He also built strong personal relationships with military leaders throughout the Pacific Rim including retired Pakistan Army General Azam Effendi.

General Effendi and General Vincent had been working together for a while on economic development and disaster preparedness issues through General Vincent’s business, Soft Power Solutions (www.soft-power-solutions.com). Their efforts included discussions of GIS support for disaster response and recovery efforts along with efforts to stage emergency response supplies and equipment in the event of natural disasters.

Soon after the Qur’an burning incident, General Vincent and General Effendi decided to see what they could do as a grass roots reconciliation effort. They teamed up with Catherine Dunlap, President of a Virginia based firm, Halcyon Group International (www.halcyongroupinternational.com) to formulate a simple but effective plan.Halcyon Group International provides expertise in counterinsurgency, stability, and influence operations in regions of conflict or transition for the United States Government and partner nations to achieve strategic, operational, and tactical level objectives. They used their knowledge of cultural geography and local contacts to identify and analyze the situation.

Soft Power Solutions used geospatial tools such as GeoCOP and TACTweet (www.GeoCOP.com) to analyze thousands of social media messages. The software scanned public access social media that addressed specific topics and identified the source locations. These tools permitted them to get a clear picture of the spheres of influence and their specific geographic locations. Understanding the “human terrain” they were able to formulate a relatively low key response to the massive protests.

Although the burning occurred in Afghanistan and the protests originated in Bahrain, geospatial analysis determined that northern regions in Pakistan and adjoining Afghan regions were the key areas of influence and starting point to hopefully quell the riots. Together, the Generals formulated a relatively simple reconciliation plan to provide 5,000 Qur’ans with letters of condolence to be delivered to local tribal leaders and clerics. Using the many friends and contacts that they had previously made the effort turned into a public/private partnership that involved over 220 leaders with 22 presentation ceremonies in 16 regions. The regions included four in Pakistan and 12 in Afghanistan. Using her extensive knowledge of Pashtun culture and local customs, Catherine Dunlap helped draft a letter of condolence. Letters, regarding the misunderstanding of the proper way to burn Qur’ans, were worded in a way to open doors and quell resentment.

Shown here are hundreds of the gift Qur’ans. On 29 February visits to distribute the 5,000 Qur’ans and letters of explanations were started. Although this was a non-governmental effort, word of the action spread and the participants received safe passage through the Khyber Pass escorted by both Pakistani and Afghan troops. Despite threats of retaliation from the Taliban, all the meetings were peaceful and warmly received by local leaders.

By March the 2^nd there was growing participation of local leaders and clerics including radio and TV coverage. One of the clerics was a very well-known and respected imam who was a direct descendent of Muhammad. He responded enthusiastically to the gesture by issuing a Fatwa calling for peace and forgiveness. This was a significant game changing event since a Fatwa issued by the imam carried significant weight in the world Muslim community.

By March 7, monitoring of social media indicated a positive reaction from local populations and as of the publishing day of this article, no further protests or killings related to the Qur’an burning had been reported.This effort ultimately spawned a massive grand assembly or “Loya Jirga” of tribal leaders. This was the first Loya Jirga in 167 years that originated at the grass roots leveland not government initiated. Discussions ranged from the war, to economic development and even included women in the discussions. One can hope that this leads to bigger and better things.

As a GISP, I’ve neglected one aspect of my GIS continuing education, human terrain and human geography. I’ve seen increased use of “crowd sourcing” from social media for marketing, disaster response and even politics. Programs such as GeoCOP made the effort by the two Generals possible. The impact of this public private effort with a total cost of only $25,000 has focused my mind sharply and I’m going to work to fill this education gap.

When one considers the size of the vehement protests and deaths of over 23 NATO forces and demonstrators, it’s quite amazing and should be a source of pride that two small companies and two retired Generals could accomplish so much using their knowledge of the culture, geospatial tools, social media analysis and the simple distribution of 5,000 Qur’ans. We’ve all heard the term “asymmetric warfare” but this was a clear example of an “asymmetric peace effort.”We’ll never know for sure, but I can only imagine how many of our soldiers would have come home in flag draped coffins had it not been for this rapid grass roots peace effort.