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Post Show Report

Geospatial Intelligence
Summit

29 - 30 September 2010
Vienna InterContinental, Vienna, Austria
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Chairman for Day 1
Professor Mike Jackson
Centre for Geospatial Science, University of Nottingham
Director

Mike is Professor of Geospatial Science and Director of the Centre for Geospatial Science (CGS) www.
nottingham.ac.uk/cgs at the University of Nottingham. Previous posts include: Director of Space Division,
QinetiQ 2002-2005; Head of Location Platform at Hutchison 3G (“3”) with design responsibility for
the 3-G location-based services for Hutchison Wampoa’s 3G telecommunications companies; CEO of
geospatial software developer Laser-Scan Holdings plc.; Principle Scientific Officer, NERC (during which
time he was a PI for NASA); the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell and the Department
of Environment. Mike has a 1st in Geography and a PhD in Civil Engineering (Univ. of Manchester) and
an honorary doctorate from Kingston University. He is a non-executive director of the Open Geospatial
Consortium Inc (OGC), Chairman of OGC Europe, Chair of Commission 5 (Networks) EuroSDR, an AGILE Council Member, a
member of the UK Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) GI Board and a member of the UK Location Council Information
Interoperability Board. He has presented and published widely on location-based services, digital mapping, GIS, SDI and
geospatial intelligence.

Chairman for Day 2

Commodore Pat Tyrell
OBE Royal Navy

Pat served in the Royal Navy from 1976 to 2002. He saw service in submarines, the intelligence
service, including as the Commandant of the Defence Intelligence and Security School, and in the higher
echelons of the Ministry of Defence. He retired as a Commodore in 2002 and set up a small consultancy
with a colleague specialising in the field of knowledge exploitation and data integration specifically
targeted towards business agility and the application of intelligence techniques to the commercial sector
including the emerging imperatives associated with corporate governance. Pat is involved with setting
up a US based company dealing with effective data management involving a number of leading US
companies and the US Federal sector. Pat is also chairman of a company working with the Chinese and
Namibian governments to look at the more effective management of uranium mining and the possible
construction of nuclear power stations in Namibia. He has alo worked with the UK’s NDA on the clean-
up of nuclear residues from the earlier generations of UK civilian nuclear reactors. Pat has recently been involved as a member
of an international peer review group of senior officers working with the US Institute of Defense Analysis to review general officer
training and overall US operational doctrine under the Capstone programme. Pat is a Director and long-standing member of
AFCEA. Pat holds a chemistry degree from Oxford, a law degree from London and a Diploma of Management Studies. He is a
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management and a Member of the Institute of Engineers and Technologists. He is regularly
invited to speak at conferences and seminars, both in the UK and abroad and has written widely in specialist journals. He is
married to Debbie, a former captain in the US Navy. They live in Cornwall in the far South West of England.
Chairman’s Summary
The conference was held at the Intercontinental Vienna on 28–29 September 2010. There were approximately 100 attendees
signed up with a good programme of speakers. This was Jacob Fleming’s first foray into GIS so that there was no previous
conference upon which to build. As was to be expected as a first, there were one or two minor administrative hiccoughs
compounded by the EU transport strike! The video link with the US was an ambitious project which, to everybody’s credit finally
worked. However, in the auditorium, we should have had a split screen so that the speaker and his slides were visible at all times
and the camera should have been mounted in a more appropriate place.

1. Professor Mike Jackson, Chairman for day one opened the conference by looking at the wider global security picture with
threats that are both broader in their nature and, at the same time, much more insidious with perpetrators willing, and often
positively eager, to sacrifice themselves for some particular goal. In this environment, Professor Mike saw Geoint as a vital
component and an urgent need to integrate data from multiple sources more effectively and to develop an understanding
of the quality of that data. Standards were an important issue but GIS must retain the flexibility to move seamlessly into the
next technological wave whenever it might appear.

2. Air Commodore Mark Ashwell explored the building up of an intelligence picture and enabling the monitoring of
change within a chosen area. He discussed the importance of “connection” and the development of end-to-end solutions
with the emphasis on the effective integration of data. Mark demonstrated how WorldView 2 would allow much greater
discrimination and agility.

3. John Tate described the work of the Common Geospatial Tool Set. He reminded us that many users enjoyed very limited
bandwidth (especially submariners!) He discussed “information incoherence” and the need to understand and recognise
what we already know (the “known knowns”) John stressed the importance of open standards and the crucial need to
manage data more effectively. The “warfighter” is key – security is important and there is much to be achieved if we are to
move to a more datacentric approach. Much of what needs t be done focuses more on human traits than technological ones
and effort must be made in the areas of governance, leadership and policy.

4. Ian Readhead a former senior police officer, turned our attention to the mobile environment and the crucial importance of
an “informed decision” – an absolute imperative where police officers are asked to operate in often dangerous and potentially
destabilising conditions. One of the key requirements is to engender a “Culture of Change”. He stressed the importance
of “identity” and “location”, emphasising that mobile services remain an enabler but must be easy and reliable to use. The
organisation must have a clear idea as to why such a capability is required. He talked about the quality of data and the need
to avoid false or misleading data – whether in the collection of names from a cemetery or the well positioned exhaust pipe
on the back of a double-decker bus (those of us who were there will remember it well – Ed)

5. Hugh MacKay introduced us to radar mapping for use in Geoint. He demonstrated the technique using data obtained from
both satellite and airborne collection platforms. Using both X and L band, highly effective terrain elevation data could be
recovered and analysed to give both regional and national images.

6. Dr Omar Al Emam explained the premise behind the Arab Science and Technology Foundation and the need to raise
awareness of the utility of geospatial data collection within the Middle East and Maghreb regions. He suggested that the
provision of such a regional satellite centre need not rely exclusively on expensive optical assets in polar orbit but could be
effectively supported by low-cost SAR satellites in near-equatorial orbit. This could give excellent cover, particularly in the
sensitive areas of the Gulf. He demonstrated the efficacy of such SAR images using examples showing tracks made by people
crossing the Iraq/Syria border.

7. Professor Bhupendra Jasani continued the theme of national security in Middle East and the requirement to monitor both
long term trends (either natural or man made) as well as the fast moving situation you might get in an emergency such as
a large conflagration or a missile launch. He felt that there cheaper options available than going for a specific ME satellite
constellation which might include the use of old meteorological satellites to look at the fast moving scenarios, possibly linked
into a Middle East Satellite Monitoring Agency. This would allow the monitoring of indicators and warnings (I & W) and
provide the necessary transparency to develop confidence building measures across the region.

8. Dr Gabor Remetey Fulopp described the history of the Hungarian Geospatial Information Association (HUNAGI) and
its prevalence in every facet of Hungarian life: in academia, the military and national security, the commercial world and in
government. He stressed the importance of availability, accessibility and usability – a reflection on the attributes that Ian
Readhead demanded for his police officers.
9. Colonel Vaclav Talhofer explored how we might better understand geospatial data using sophisticated analysis tools. His
department exists solely to service Army decision makers – at all levels. He sees his role as that of providing clarity to the
battlespace – the Recognised Environmental Picture (REP), by being dynamic to reflect both environmental changes, brought
about by weather for example and human changes, wrought by enemy action, infrastructure building or destruction. He
focused on the issue of the quality of data, whether technical, functional, safety, etc and needing to know its validity, when
last updated, positional accuracy, completeness of data, etc. He then introduced some delightful equations to give objective
rigor to otherwise subjective guesswork. He showed how he could bring a degree of robustness of analysis to the selection
of a route by measuring the complexity of the terrain and the ability of the Czech Army trucks to navigate such routes.

10. Colonel John Fitzgerald from the International Military Staff, NATO, looked at some of the challenges faced by NATO
when dealing in the Geospatial Intelligence world. NATO is now very much engaged in active operations and, consequently,
requires a constant stream of reliable intelligence to keep the operational tempo going. Afghanistan has been a particular
driver for change. Most data comes from national intelligence collection agencies but NATO does need to co-ordinate
the data flow into the NATO Core Geographic Information System (GIS). As an initial development in this field, NATO has
produced Full Motion Video (FMV), Google Earth (with some 200 overlays) and a 3D dynamic visualisation tool. NATO
does have an issue with the effective integration of data across multiple silos and is pressing ahead with the development of
effective standards.

11. Pascal Legai, Deputy Director, European Union Satellite Centre joined the conference in mourning the death recently of
Brian Routledge who was a great friend and a steadfast colleague of the Geospatial Intelligence community. Pascal outlined
the role of the European Satellite Centre as a major support to the decision making within the EU in the field of Common
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Using data from commercial satellites as well as national assets, the Centre responds to
the EU giving Crisis Support and situational awareness in all current areas of operation, including the current anti-piracy op off
the east coast of Somalia. They also have a role in Treaty verification and mapping. Pascal’s key issues chimed with those of
the conference: data fusion, agility of product, responsiveness to new circumstance, quality of bot the data and the analysed
product and in the education of their customer base to ensure that their requirements can be met.

12. Lieutenant Colonel Helmut Nasler described his role within the German Armed Forces as being dedicated to Network
Enabled Operations. His department helps to build the information backbone upon which the Bundeswehr depends,
especially with the current operational deployments outside the NATO area. He sees GeoInt as an integral component of
the Recognized Environmental Picture (REP) and described some of the challenges of disseminating the product to the user
community. One of their most recent developments has been to integrate both land and sea (bathymetric) data on a single
chart. He demonstrated the effect of wave height on pirate operation in the Arabian Sea and the development of overlays to
show a myriad of different intelligence.

13. Lieutenant Colonel Neil Marks of the EU Military Staff talked about the problems of putting a military perspective on
a political and economic organisation. Established under the Common Security and Defence Policy initiative to tackle
terrorism, failed states, organised crime and similar issues, it has changed once more with the implementation of the Lisbon
Treaty. The EU now has active operations and Mark is part of a team giving support, ultimately, to the High Representative.
He saw a key role in ensuring that his user community understood what geoinformation could do for them (and, indeed it
could not achieve). His major challenges, by now familiar refrains, are effective dissemination to the active user, limitations
of bandwidth, security and the delivery of an informed and responsive common operating picture.

14. Jeff Bird used an elephant to describe perspectives and its importance in looking and using geospatial data. The MoDUK
is developing “Geospatial Intelligence 2 Go” as a stepping stone towards a true systems oriented architecture (SOA). It is
reconciling what people think they want with what in fact they want, but do not know they want until they find it! He
explained Google’s 186 layer model and the complexity that such a model engenders. He was a strong proponent on risk
management rather than the very prevalent risk avoidance. He wants to demolish data silos and enable data to be published
once but used a thousand times. In such a dynamic environment, there must be tight feedback loops with the user and
the provider to refine requirements and, where necessary, identify completely new ones. Jeff stressd the need for trust,
ambiguity, responsiveness – another familiar refrain. Standards are important but, equally, so is the need to be able to adopt
new ones and discard old ones when the time is right; the need for inbuilt flexibility.

15. Colonel John Kedar built on his recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan to give the tactical front line the Clausewitzian
understanding of the terrain. Often people in the intelligence communities forgot that it was the soldier who needed to
know how deep ditches were, or where there were structures an enemy combatant might be using as cover. He demanded
the use of common data otherwise confusion and ambiguity would lead to the unnecessary death of one of his men. He
called for the intelligence community to be predictive rather than just look back over someone else’s shoulder! Sometimes the
particular piece of data might not be available but much can be done using other data to allow a prediction. In dealing with
short notice requirements, you may need to extemporise, use a plethora of other organisations’ data and look at the issue
from slightly differing perspectives to build up as accurate a picture as possible in the timescale available. “Poor information
management kills” is the chilling message from these conflicts and we need better geospatial governance, information
management, data resolution and data fidelity.
16. Dr Joe Fontanella from the US Army Geospatial Centre likened the provision of geospatial intelligence to the introduction
of fire to cavemen! He stressed the need to have common data but share it often. In order to bring about the new systems
of governance to enable GIS to be used effectively, the US had set up a Geospatial Governance Board to smooth the
development of policy and process. They had to acknowledge that the new system must recognise old ones and allow their
data to be incorporated. Relationships needed to be horizontal as well as vertical. The requirement of current operations
in the counter insurgency role was for greater detail and the need to provide the information to the individual soldier in a
manner with which he is happy – often commercial, hand held devices! The information supplied must be usable rather than
require GIS specialists to make the interpretation. They were also working to develop the user feedback loop so that the user
was integral to the design and function of future GIS products.

17. Dr Raffaele De Amicis talked about the BRISEIDE programme which uses GIS to look at natural disasters. His message
was that the information needs to be a tool to help people at the local level and that there must be the ability to move
seamlessly from the global to the local view. Real time processing is important as these situations are, almost by definition,
highly dynamic. There needs to be the ability to look at the situation on a temporal basis, switching between the “before”
and “now” to identify blocked roads, unstable buildings, areas suitable for location of refugees, etc.

18. Don Self – Chief of the Assimilation Sensor Division at NGA, made a guest appearance via a video link once the technical
gremlins had been sorted out. He talked about the changing role of the NGA over the last 10 years and the need to look
outwards towards the commercial media sector where their ability to provide near real time products for news reports, etc is
ahead of anything that the military currently enjoys.

19. Donatella Giampaolo gave a short brief on EGEOS and demonstrated the ability of the satellites GeoEye and Digital Globe
to give very high resolution and undertake complex tasks for end users. Their product was available for integration into
national intelligence agencies and she called for more expertise in the interpretation of radar imagery.

20. Luca Pietranera then described the COSMO constellation which will have 4 satellites by 2011. It gives good SAR coverage,
and frequent update when taking side lobes into consideration. SAR allows a good indication of human activity – the “activity
mapping” capability and you can use the coherence between two or more images to “tell a story”. They are beginning to
look at ship wakes at sea.

21. Francesco Pisano described the importance of the geo information product in UN missions. It is used in the humanitarian
support throughout the trouble spots of the world. Using only commercial imagery they produce terrain maps and an
increasing the imagery they used, and the products they produced to support work in Haiti. How the UN based capability
might develop in the future is a highly sensitive issue but Francesco is keen to work with the GIS community to see where they
might go. Francesco described the importance of geo-information and satellite analysis for the work of the UN, especially
in humanitarian assistance and human security matters. The work of UNOSAT helps the UN be more effective in the trouble
spots of the world. Using only commercial imagery UNOSAT produce terrain analysis maps and an increasing number of
analytical reports. Pisano showed the imagery they used and the products they realised over Haiti and a number of other
crises. How this centre of excellence of the UN might develop in the future is a highly timely issue for discussion and
Francesco is keen to work with the GIS community to see where they might go.

22. Brian Loggins from Northrop Grumman focused on the need to produce actionable Geoint. He discussed the issue of data
overload which became critical with some of the new generation UAVs. Data sharing, based on common data, is a high
priority issue. Brian stressed that Open Source material can provide some excellent data but is often ignored, particularly by
the classified agencies. NG are doing a lot in the development of the analytical tools to permit better analysis of imagery
data. The integration of data from multiple sources is clearly of great benefit but the synchronization of those data sets is not
always straightforward.

23. Commodore Pat Tyrrell turned his attention to the issue of data and data overload likening the search for key data to
looking for a needle in a needlestack rather than in the traditional haystack! The provenance of data, where did it come from,
who entered it into the system, when was it last updated, becomes a critical path in the process, especially where there might
be issue of data manipulation. Traditional intelligence skills are still important: think like your opponent, understand their
languages, their culture, their mores. Remember the temporal issues – data that is out-of-date is useless. Remember that an
intelligence officer is there to predict what the future may bring, not to tell you what happened! Finally, he extolled everyone
to remember that the human brain is still uniquely qualified to undertake analysis, to see where flaws might be and to think
in a lateral, maverick way!
Key Themes (as identified by the Chairman):
• Data Centricity
• Quality and Provenance of Data
• Culture – of the organisation and your opponent
• Governance/Policy/Process
• Standards – and whither next?
• Understanding the development of technology – the next “big thing”
• Data fusion and integration.
• Sharing data
• Enabling decisions
• Security and information assurance

Summary of the Conference:

• Considerable emerging technologies – often driven by commercial demand – Google, apps on iPhone, etc
• Human issues are key.
• Geospatial information is becoming ubiquitous.
• Data fusion is a key requirement.
• Critical requirement to share data.
• User requirements drive the technology but new technology will change the way we do our business – feedback loop!
• Need to move seamlessly from a global perspective to the detail of a local area.

Future Outlook – key themes for the future:

• Role of UN in GIS – IAEA etc
• Development of more “What-if” scenario gaming – and training of forces.
• Killer Apps (from iPhone etc) – future technologies
• Seamless security?
• Interoperability and sharing of data.
• Developing real – time capability – effect on operators?

Commodore Pat Tyrrell

OBE Royal Navy

1 October 2010.

„It was a pleasure participating in your event. I congratulate again for the selection of speakers. It was useful and dynamic.“

Francesco Pisano, UNOSAT, Manager

„First of all I want to THANK YOU for the excellently organised Geospatial Intelligence Summit in Vienna. I appreciated it.“

Dipl. Ing. Franz Huber, Kartographie Huber, Owner

„Thank you for organising a most enjoyable conference. The range and quality of speakers and their presentation was excellent.“

Jeff Bird, Defence Geographics Centre, MOD UK, Geospatial Requirements Manager