The explosion of information in almost all quarters of our lives has changed the way we make decisions. In a world that is rapidly evolving, how can modern day defence organizations take advantage of the latest technology in geo-spatial intelligence? What are the unique challenges that Asian defence organizations face and how are these challenges being addressed, now?

1. The Changing Face of Asia’s
Geospatial Intelligence
Darwin Jayson Mariano
www.GeospatialDefenceAsia.com

2. Key advances in Asia’s geo-spatial intelligence
The Changing Face of Asia’s
Geospatial Intelligence
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Many defence geospatial agencies around the region
are rapidly adopting Enterprise GIS capabilities. These
are whole-of-defence systems which enable information
sharing and collaboration across organisations. These
initiatives are being driven by a clear need to provide
actionable information and intelligence to operators
as they need it in all types of environments and across
multiple platforms. It’s also a recognition of the speed,
breadth and complexity of operations geospatial agencies
now support. Defence geospatial agencies in Asia and
globally are moving away from long production cycles
and product-centric development, to systems which can
be updated in near-real-time and provide on-demand
geospatial intelligence.
Establishing this enterprise geospatial capability is an
incredible challenge and it isn’t just about technology.
Some of the greatest advances across the region are the
many initiatives being established to address the broader
organisational, governance, resourcing, standards and
information management issues associated with these
capabilities. There is a fundamental realisation that for
multi-agency geospatial capabilities to be successful,
there must be a comprehensive framework in place to
enable it. And to the credit of many military organisations
in Asia, they are actively addressing this.
Another trend which is slowly emerging in Asia is the
movement away from large-scale IT system acquisitions.
There is a vocal movement behind acquisition processes
which demand incremental capability development. These
incremental processes provide a more logical and lower
risk approach to IT acquisition and the movement toward
this process by many militaries will benefit all end-users.
Esri is working with many customers who are looking
at new, innovative and efficient ways to implement
geospatial technologies.
The explosion of information in almost all quarters of our lives has changed the way we make decisions. In the defence
community, the need for real time data is even more apparent as sophisticated geotechnical intelligence can translate to
great tactical advantage. In a world that is rapidly evolving, how can modern day defence organizations take advantage
of the latest technology in geo-spatial intelligence? What are the unique challenges that Asian defence organizations face
and how are these challenges being addressed, now? Brett Dixon, who handles the Asia Pacific Defence portfolio for Esri,
a trusted name in the defence community and the leading provider of Geographic Information System (GIS) software and
geodatabase management applications, shared substantive insights in this highly important topic.

3. The Changing Face of Asia’s
Geospatial Intelligence
How GIS benefits organizations
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provides numerous
benefits to organizations, specifically, in the areas of:
Multi-agency collaboration, Force Optimisation and
Situational Awareness.
A. Multi-agency Collaboration
The power of GIS has always been in its ability to integrate
multiple datasets, conduct advanced spatial analysis and
provide actionable intelligence. Interoperability of data
(standards-based) and sharing through data services is
also a key feature. GIS today is about providing those
benefits not just to individuals, but to all users across
multiple agencies. GIS technology today provides
capabilities to share information on secure networks to all
types of end users through web-based, desktop or mobile
clients. GIS is about collaboration, whilst still enabling
individual organisations to manage and maintain their
own data.
The power of GIS has always been
in its ability to integrate multiple
datasets, conduct advanced spatial
analysis and provide actionable
intelligence.
B. Force Optimisation
The intelligence cycle at the tactical level is now measured
in minutes. GIS is capable of fusing near-realtime
information from multiple battlespace and environmental
sensors. It really has become a multi-int capability
that is beyond just mapping. Our customers are now
integrating traditional geospatial data with FMV, open
source information and many forms of unstructured data
to provide a comprehensive operational picture. GIS
provides a capability to then make sense of that data
and disseminate it to operators who can employ that
intelligence to plan and conduct operations. GIS provides
information which allows commanders to make better
informed decisions so that they can more effectively
deploy their resources.
C. Situational awareness
GIS technology today enables collaboration across
multiple levels of command by sharing timely, accurate,
and actionable geospatially referenced information. One
of the great advances in this capability is the ability for
users in the field to provide value-added information
from the battlespace, in near-realtime. The ability for a
soldier to contribute handheld imagery or comments
on geospatial data straight from the field enhances the
operational and environmental picture with dynamic
updates for decision makers. GIS is contributing to shared
situational awareness and unity of action, as all users
are now able to visualise and understand the changing
battlespace picture.

4. The Changing Face of Asia’s
Geospatial Intelligence
The question of interoperability
The ability to exchange information between disparate systems is an
absolute fundamental principle of modern defense systems and of
GIS. The geospatial community has a number of mature standards
bodies across Defense and the international community such as
DGIWG and OGC. These standards bodies are absolutely essential to
interoperability and will continue to be so into the future.
Whilst the geospatial community has led the way in terms of
standards-based interoperability, it is a continuous journey.
Geospatial organisations in Defence and industry must make an
ongoing commitment to standards development to ensure they
remain relevant and effective.
There has been much debate about the creation of single, enterprise
data models to enable interoperability. Data models are created to
optimise the data’s application in particular environments, operations
and systems. In the realm of geospatial intelligence we are dealing with
data models for a variety of environments and, military and intelligence
activities. So, I think we will be dealing with multiple data models for
a long time to come. In many ways, it is now less of an issue when you
consider the many exchange standards, technologies and practices in
place to support the dissemination and fusion of disparate datasets.
We only need look at the evolution of web services and their ability
to normalise differing datasets into a single view. A good example of
this is the fusion of hydrographic, topographic and meteorological
information to support amphibious operations. Multiple, disparate
datasets published as web services and fused to provide a recognised
environmental picture.
Whilst the geospatial
community has led the way
in terms of standards-
based interoperability, it is a
continuous journey.
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5. The Changing Face of Asia’s
Geospatial Intelligence
The Future of GIS:
Game-changing trends in Asia
As mentioned earlier, multi-agency collaboration capabilities are
being implemented in numerous countries across the region.
The ability to access, share and exploit geospatial information
provided by many government agencies certainly enhances the
national security effort. It’s the obvious benefits of organisational
collaboration which are driving this trend. NATO’s Core GIS built
on Esri technology is a great example of this. We’re seeing these
capabilities also being established to support maritime security,
national intelligence efforts and in support of conventional
operations. Esri’s Portal for ArcGIS technology and ArcGIS for Server
are technologies being implemented to provide this capability.
There are a number of projects underway that look to enhance
Enterprise Data Management within and across geospatial agencies.
Specifically, the fusion of foundation datasets for the maritime,
littoral, land and air domains to provide a single, authoritative picture
of the battlespace. Esri technology is unique in this sense that it is
able to collectively manage datasets from all environments in a single
database or integrate that data from multiple, disparate databases.
We are working with customers on fusing that information to produce
custom, on-demand geospatial products to support operations in all
environments.
The third trend is clearly the implementation of mobile applications.
ArcGIS Runtime is being utilised by a number of customers to
develop a variety of custom mobile applications for use in C2, ISR
and field data collection systems. One of the most exciting mobile
developments has been through Hornet Defence Technologies in
New Zealand who are utilising ArcGIS Runtime as the GIS component
of their indirect fire control systems. The Runtime SDK has enabled
Hornet developers to rapidly develop and deploy a comprehensive
fire control system. The US Army’s next generation of FBCB2-JCR,
vehicle mounted C2 capability, is now being rolled out on Esri’s
ArcGIS Engine technology. These are just a few examples of how
Esri’s developer and mobile solutions can provide lightweight,
customisable deployable applications.
The ability to access,
share and exploit geospatial
information provided by
many government agencies
certainly enhances the
national security effort…
NATO’s Core GIS built on Esri
technology is a great example
of this.
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Hear more from Esri’s Brett Dixon and other important figures from
Geospatial Defence & Intelligence community at the
6th Annual Geospatial Defence & Intelligence APAC 2013 conference.
REGISTER NOW! enquiry@iqpc.com.sg ¡ +65 6722 9388
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Darwin Jayson Mariano is the Digital Content Manager and Regional Editor for IQPC Worldwide. You can contact him on
Twitter @whoisdarwin or email darwin.mariano@iqpc.com.sg