By Dawn Eilenberger, director of the Office of International Affairs and Policy, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (www.nga.mil), Bethesda, Md. Rapid access to unclassified imagery to support disaster response allows the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency...
What's So Hard About Stopping Piracy?
By Laurence Smallman, defense research analyst, RAND Corp. (www.rand.org), Arlington, Va. The recent killing of American hostages by Somali pirates perhaps has set aside any Robin Hood-like notions that some may have had about the intent, determination, and...
Satellite Images Reveal Earthquake/Tsunami Damage in Japan
Satellite imagery provided dramatic before-and-after perspectives after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s coast on March 11, 2011. The imagery provided an assessment of the damage seen at the two Fukushima nuclear power plants...
Rapid Mapping Bolsters Security and Disaster Response
High-Resolution Airborne Imagery Security and disaster mapping specialists have an insatiable appetite for imagery; fortunately, there’s an ever-expanding menu of sensors to meet the demand. From large-format digital aerial photos to sub-meter-resolution satellite...
Sensor Fusion Benefits Complex Coastal Mapping
By Molly Reif, Lauren Dunkin, Jennifer Wozencraft and Christopher Macon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Joint Airborne LiDAR Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (www.jalbtcx.org), Kiln, Miss. Sensor fusion advancements are being used to develop and enhance...
Transforming the Geospatial Landscape: Creating a Common Level of Understanding with Technology, Policy and Programs
   Practically overnight, access to terabytes of geographical information, much of it in three dimensions, has changed the way people work, live and play. Now is the time to create a common level of understanding related to geospatial technology, policy and...
Homeland Security Challenges Create Geospatial Opportunities
By Michael F. Goodchild, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara (www.geog.ucsb.edu). Although traditional geospatial applications often have proceeded at a fairly leisurely pace, applications in emergency management almost always stress the...
Homeland Security Starts at Sea
By Guy Thomas, science and technology advisor, U.S. Coast Guard (www.uscg.mil), Washington, D.C. If oil is the world’s lifeblood, then oceanic commerce is its backbone. Since the 9/11 attack on the United States, many national and international organizations have...
Searching for Seafaring Needles in a Huge Haystack
The most critical part of an ocean or sea in terms of a country’s economic prosperity is its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which basically is the area of water extending 200 nautical miles outward from a nation’s coastline. A host of economic activities,...
Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russian Federation
Snow cover highlights the calderas and volcanic cones that form the northern and southern ends of Onekotan Island, part of the Russian Federation in the western Pacific Ocean. Calderas are depressions formed when a volcano emptiesits magma chamber in an explosive...
