ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: AFCEA/Signal Online
31March2011 10:13pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Members of the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) deployed a novel tool to Afghanistan last month, giving warfighters the ability to combine Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities with Google Earth. The resource enhances situational awareness and information sharing, and developers intend it to assist with planning efforts. Though only available on the classified network now, plans are underway to create an unclassified version as well.
Lt. Col. Jennifer Grant, USAF, commander of 2 SOPS, explains that the technology—which so far is unnamed—overlays GPS files on top of the terrain landscape provided by Google's mapping. "Those files often show us what our navigation signal coverage is over certain geographic areas," she says.
When warfighters use the tool, they see a picture of GPS coverage in almost real time. Col. Grant says that previous technology could offer only a snapshot of the past. The overarching goal for the project is "to provide an automatic real-time and near real-time mission planning product for the warfighter," she explains. (read full report)
