Geospatial Academy
GEOSPATIAL ACADEMY
At the U.S. Military Academy, Geospatial Information Science
majors are learning to leverage technology tools when
leading soldiers in the digital Army of the future.
By Harrison Donnelly
At the U.S. Military Academy, Geospatial Information Science
majors are learning to leverage technology tools when
leading soldiers in the digital Army of the future.
By Harrison Donnelly
During the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944, U.S. commanders directing the defense against a powerful German offensive had only paper maps to guide the movement of units over the rugged terrain of the Ardennes.
These days, a group of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is doing similar analyses of force mobility during that desperate struggle, but with the aid of the latest in geospatial software-in this case, ArcGIS from ESRI. The students will also use the popular software to do a line-of-sight and movement study of West Point's important role in the Revolutionary War, as well as look at historic battles such as Chattanooga and Dien Bien Phu.
The projects, included in a course this semester on military geography, represent just one part of a significant ongoing effort by the academy to instill geospatial awareness in the Army leadership of the future.
At the heart of that effort is the Geospatial Information Science (GISc) degree program, one of five majors within the Geography and Environmental Engineering Department. The goal of the GISc program, according to its Website, is to give "future Army officers, regardless of branch, the knowledge set to leverage these tools when leading soldiers in our high-tech digital Army."
Students majoring in GISc take introduction and advanced courses in geographic information systems, remote sensing, cartography, surveying, photogrammetry, and military geospatial operations.
Seventeen cadets graduated from the academy with GIS majors last year, and 12 are expected to do so this spring. Spurred in part by the growing prominence of geospatial technology in both the military and civilian worlds, that number will rise to 27 or 28 in the next two years, according to Lieutenant Colonel Michael Hendricks. Hendricks is one of six professors and instructors in the program, which is led by Dr. John A. Brockhaus and also includes Lieutenant Colonel Steve Fleming, Major Allison Day, Major Ian Irmischer and Major Hannon Didier.
Unlike the warfighters trained in GEOINT at the National Geospatial-Intelligence College, or GIS majors graduating from civilian institutions such as Penn State, the young officers who complete the GISc program at West Point are not likely to start off as full-time geospatial specialists, being destined instead for the small-unit leadership roles that traditionally begin an officer's career. Even so, the geospatial graduates-along with a larger number of geographers, engineers and IT specialists who also take courses in the program-are becoming a valuable resource in a field at the center of military planning and operations in the 21st century.
"To a certain extent, the GISc majors' first jobs as platoon leaders will all be pretty much the same, focusing on small-unit leadership" said Hendricks. "But we would like them to be the 'go to' person in the battalion whenever there is a geospatial question."
Technology Base
Although its focus is on educating officers who can think geospatially, rather than training users of GIS software, the GISc program boasts of a solid technological base offering the industry's latest and best.
The foundation of the program is the ample technology resources of the academy itself, which include massive computing and networking capabilities, laptop computers for all students and campuswide wireless access.
Much of the teaching and labor work for the GISc program is done at the Geographic Sciences Lab, which features high-end dual monitor workstations. In addition, the program recently created a high-tech multimedia facility for regular classroom instruction. Since class size is limited to no more than 18 students, as is true throughout the academy, every student has his or her own computer in the classroom.
Geospatial technology resources include:
- ESRI products under an enterprise site license. For the GIS, cartography and other courses, version 9.2 of ArcMap and extensions are currently in use.
- Remote sensing-ERDAS Imagine from Leica Geosystems, and ENVI from ITT Visual Information Systems.
- Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)-LIDAR Analyst and Feature Analyst from VLS.
- Database with 4 terrabytes of imagery, military information, maps and other resources.
- EarthWhere from SPADAC, which automates the management of geospatial data to enable users to quickly ingest, catalog, explore and provision raster data.
- The Geospatial Support Cell-West Point, represented by an on-site visiting scientist, Joseph Harrison, from the Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Engineering Center (TEC).
- For surveying, Trimble hardware and software.
- For photogrammetry, SOCET SET from BAE Systems.
- Resource sharing with the National Geospatial-Intelligence College (NGC), such as a guest lecturer on remote sensing.
- Summer cadet internships, known as individual academic development experiences, at organizations such as NGC and TEC, as well as with ESRI and other companies.
Hendricks emphasized, however, that these sophisticated systems are the means, rather than the goal, of instruction. "In the GIS course, for example, I make clear to students that we use GIS software to demonstrate key concepts," he said. "We're not trying to get them to be expert ArcGIS users, because in fact the version will change before they would be using it. So we're very much an educational institution, because we're thinking about how to help them, not just in the very near future, but in the next 10 or 20 years, when they have become field grade officers.
"We're more focused on why it works and what are the key questions you should ask. But we also want students to learn the software, because these ideas make more sense when you can also experience them," he added.
Student Motivation
The popularity of GIS technology in the civilian world has clearly added to interest in the program, according to Hendricks.
"Ten years ago, I had to spend a lot of time explaining GIS, which was primarily maps and satellite imagery. But now, with GPS receivers in cars and their phones, Google Earth and a kind of ubiquitous geospatial presence around them, there is much more of an understanding of how important this is," he said.
"We have two types of people who are interested in GIS," Hendricks continued. "There are those who are very interested in geography and environment, and want to learn how to use technology to understand those processes. So they're looking more at the application side of things. Then there are some young people who are especially interested in IT, but are enamored with the geospatial components.
"We spend a fair amount of time showing them what's currently being used in the Army, and how understanding geospatial issues lets you do your job better. Things change rapidly, and we can only teach so much, but we can at least help them ask the right questions," he said. "They can understand how these tools-whether satellite imagery, GIS databases or Google Earth-can be used to do things in the military better. The ones who decide to become GISc majors are those who want to know how all those things work."
Cadets offered several reasons for their decision to major in GISc, citing the importance of the technology in both the military and the wider world. Cadet Sergeant Charles Eason, for example, described the program as "one of the most hands-on majors we have," adding, "It seemed like a good field to be involved with in the civilian world when I choose to get out of the Army.
"As far as my military career goes, GIS should be able to help me greatly," Eason continued. "Imagery and reconnaissance are becoming more important to the success in Iraq every day. If I enter the Army having a solid foundation in this area, I will be able to understand the reconnaissance and imagery much easier. In addition to this, I will also know much more of what information is possible to obtain and possibly where to find it."
Along with citing the wide applicability of geospatial technology, Cadet Neal Trump offered the following: "Even though I hope to become an infantry officer, I know that my background in GIS will serve me well, both in training and on deployment. The ability to use new technology to plan and execute successful missions has become of paramount importance for all soldiers. Being able to leverage technology to gain a detailed look at an objective or route without even leaving the FOB allows for a substantial advantage in today's complex warfighting environment. By being aware of the products that are available to me and being able to utilize them effectively, I will be able to lead my future soldiers with greater confidence and the increased safety that comes from enhanced mission planning."
The program's mission extends to the entire corps of cadets, particularly in the form of a physical geography course-the "dirt course"-taken by all students. "We teach a number of geospatial issues embedded in that," Hendricks said. "We show them survey equipment, satellite images, GIS data and 3-D visualizations. There is also a remote sensing lesson, and an image interpretation hands-on lab. In that way, we touch every cadet."
Another way the program tries to increase geospatial awareness throughout the Army is by providing geospatial resources and assistance to the faculty, two-thirds of whom are Army officers with master's degrees who serve three-year rotations before moving on to other assignments. "We're educating them as well," he noted. "When they go back into the Army, they are more aware of what we've exposed them to." ♦
