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This page was last updated on 12/11/97.
GIS is the acronym for Geographic Information Systems, the computer technology for managing, manipulating and analyzing geographic spatial data. Practical use of GIS has been made possible in the last few years by incredible advances in computers. GIS is more advanced than computer-aided design (CAD) or any other spatial data system, with applications appearing wherever geographically distributed information is used - that's almost everywhere in business and government.
GIS software is used to collect, process, analyze, relate, and output information and imagery about terrestrial (or planetary) locales. Three common software suites are ESRI's ArcInfo - ArcView, IDRISI, and TNTmips. The first emphasizes vectorized data, is complex, and has very strong relational database structures. IDRISI is simpler, and is more raster-based. The third, TNTmips, is a good, low-cost, mid-range GIS system, and is often used when dealing with urban data and overhead imagery. We have installed ArcInfo and TNTmips in our SimCenter. Another source of information, data, and GIS/Visualization software is AUTOMETRIC.
Below, is a project file image from our recent work with Defense Mapping Agency (now NIMA) and the Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) for the staff of the Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab, Ft. Benning GA. In this task, we (with much government and contractor support) developed four separate databases for a 4 x 4 Km region around the McKenna MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) Site. The four cases examined different production methodologies and resolutions... and Costs to Produce.
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The best Digital Elevation Model (1-meter DEM in X-Y, and sub-meter in Z) was then combined with various ITD and ITD++ feature files (and their associated attributes) to create a large database describing the terrain, vegetation, lines of communication, hydrography, buildings, and other ancillary information. This 4 X 4 Km high-resolution region was then merged with individual CAD (computer-aided design) models of the exteriors and interiors of all site buildings and inserted into a larger 24 X 24 region, populated with data from the USGS, TEC, WES, and TRAC-WSMR. The elevation files were thinned via a Carnegie Mellon iTIN algorithm, to create triangular facets that approximated the earth's surface quite well in all but the most taxing micro-terrain regions (such as prominent 3-ft by 14-ft erosional drains used for stealthy approaches into the Site).
The resulting GIS database for McKenna was then used to create the Virtual Reality Run-time Database for the SIMNET simulation system. This system allows us to do surrogate travel in -- and around -- the building complex (at upwards of 30 frames/sec on appropriate computers). Dr. Bob Richbourg and Tim Stone are now doing additional research on optimal TINing approaches to solve some of the problems we encountered. Tim, in fact, did his Master's thesis on TINs. To contact him, look for his Web site on my Home Page.
The final SIMNET runtime database and the other products (maps, 3-D anaglyphs, GIS displays, quickly produced Drawland fly-thrus and some classified products) were taken to Ft. Benning last July for a Warfighter Evaluation. At that time, Army, Marine, and Special Operations personnel looked over our products, performed field walks, collected information on clipboards, and came back into the Benning Battle Lab to become immersed in the Virtual MOUT Site and closely scrutinize all products. Examples of the Live and Virtual Worlds they experienced are shown below:
Live versus Virtual McKenna MOUT Site
These professional soldiers then graded us on our work. They found many of the small glitches one has in any complex undertaking. Overall, however, they were impressed, and saw the utility of our products for Crisis Management, Mission Rehearsal, and other Combat Developments Activities. They want more products like McKenna, and also require increasingly high resolution and demanding relative and absolute accuracies. The majority of reviewers wanted accuracies under 5 meters and a near-majority wished for accuracies under 1 meter!
Speaking of soldiers and maps:
Lewis and Clark followed the trail below, seeking the shortest portage across the Stoney Mountains (a.k.a. the Rocky Mountains) to the Pacific Ocean. En route, they provided the first detailed map of the U.S. Northwest, and discovered over 120 new animals and 170-some new plants. Their final map estimate of the distance from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River was off less than 42 miles.
Reports which touch on the fascinating aspects of our trade are listed below in a short bibliography. A longer list may be found at the IDA internal server. Work on Dynamic Environments for Advanced Distributed Simulation is being funded by DARPA and should be researchable on the DARPA home page. Check here, if you would like to learn about techniques for compressing terrain data -- DEMs to TINS.
Partial Bibliography:
"Interim Study of Battlefield Laser Safety Hazard--Laser Rangefinder
AN/GVS-3 (MX23E2)," US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Agency, AMSAA Technical
Memo 6, July 1968
"Interim Report on the Utility of Ground-Based Laser Designators,"
US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Agency, AMSAA IN 6, January 1972
"A Terrain Analysis of Four Tactical Situations," US Army Materiel
Systems Analysis Agency, AMSAA Technical Memo 158, December 1972
"The Natick Landform Classification System," US Army Materiel
Systems Analysis Activity, AMSAA Technical Report No. 100, October 1974
"CDEC Field Test Analysis Results," Volume 5, Appendix J, US Army
TRADOC Systems Analysis Activity, IFV/CFV Special Study Group Report, August
1978
"Visibility Characteristics of Terrain and Their Effects on Weapon-
System Performance," The Army Terrain Task Force, January 1979
"Telemetry Positioning at Fort Irwin," US Army TRADOC Systems
Analysis Activity, TRASANA Letter Report 30-80, 4 December 1980
"Tactical Terrain Intervisibility Classification Study," ABCA QWG/AOR Interim
Report, April 1982
"SOTAS/Pave Mover Surveillance Analysis Final Report," US ArmyTRADOC
Systems Analysis Activity, TRASANA Technical Report 5-83, February1983
"Combined Forces Command Terrain Analysis," US Army TRADOC
Systems Analysis Activity, TRASANA Technical Report 26-83, July 1983
"Remotely Piloted Vehicle Line-of-Sight/Weather Evaluation," US Army TRADOC
Systems Analysis Activity, TRASANA Technical Report 4-84, April1984
"US Army Topographic Data Requirements Study," US Army TRADOC
Systems Analysis Activity, USAETL Final Report ETL-GS-LA, October 1984
"ROK/US Combined Forces Command Terrain Analysis," US Army TRADOC
Systems Analysis Activity, TRASANA Technical Report 23-84, December 1984
"Accuracy of Line-of-Sight Predictions Against Attacking Armored
Vehicles Using Digital Terrain Models" (QAP 42), ABCA, 28 April 1986
"Mission, Enemy, Terrain, and Troops Computer-Aided Planning (METT-CAP),"
US Army TRADOC Analysis Center, TRAC-WSMR Technical Report 14-86,
August 1986
"Tactical Terrain Intervisibility Classification Study (QAP 43)," ABCA
QWG/AOR, 1986
"Tactical Terrain Intervisibility Classification Study," US Army TRADOC
Analysis Command, TRAC-WSMR Technical Report 23-86, October 1986
IDA Working Paper: "Impact of Improved Situational Awareness on the
Battlefield," March 24, 1994
MORS Military Operations Research Handbook, Area V, Terrain, Unit
Movement, and Environment, May 1994
"Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Military Operations
in Built-up Areas (MOBA)," Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition & Technology, November 1994
"Long Term Scientific Study on Computer Assisted Exercise Technology,"
NATO, February 15, 1995
"Preparation for Future Conflict: U.S. Emphasis on Military Operations
in Built-up Areas and Operations Other than War (MOBA-OOTW)," Paper and
Presentation given at the 12th International Symposium on Military Operational
Research, Royal Military College, Shrivenham, UK, 4-8 September 1995
"Evaluation of the Military Operations in Built-Up Areas (MOBA)
- Terrain Databases (TDB)," Proceedings, 14th Distributed Interactive Simulation
(DIS) Workshop, Paper No. 166, pp. 1107-1114, 11-15 March 1996
"A Hybrid Expert System that Combines Technologies to Address
the Problem of Military Terrain Analysis," Expert Systems With Applications,
Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 207-225, Great Britain: Elsevier Science, Ltd., June 1996
"Warfighter Operational Evaluation Report: Modeling and Simulation Terrain
Databases for McKenna MOUT Site, Fort Benning, Georgia." Prepared for NIMA TMPO,
26 February 1997
McKenna MOUT Project Briefing Book, IDA Simulation Center, 7 March 1997
"An Historical View of Robotics: Has the U.S. Government Helped or Hindered?"
Institute for Public Policy, George Mason University, Working Paper: 97:3,
September 1997
"Solving the Fort Benning Line-of-Sight Puzzle", (Draft; to be published).
... Looking For the Abyss...
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