Geographic information systems (GIS) play a constantly evolving role in geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and United States national security.
Since GIS programs are Web-enabled, a user can constantly work with a decision maker to solve their GEOINT and national security related problems from anywhere in the world.
For example, an analyst can use GEOINT to identify the route of least resistance for a military force in a hostile country, to discover a pattern in the locations of reported burglaries in a neighborhood, or to generate a map and comparison of failing businesses that a company is likely to purchase.
On the other hand, the disadvantages of GEOINT are that imagery is only a snapshot of a moment in time, can be too compelling and lead to ill-informed decisions that ignore other intelligence, is static and vulnerable to deception and decoys, does not depict the intentions of a target, and is expensive and subject to environmental problems.
The geodatabase can be disseminated and operated across any network of associated users (i.e. from the GEOINT analyst to the warfighter) and engenders a common spatial capability for all defense and intelligence domains.
[14] Source:[15] The DGInet technology allows military and national security intelligence customers to access large multi-terabyte databases through a common Web-based interface.
This gives the users the capability to quickly and easily identify, overlay, and fuse georeferenced data from various sources to create maps or support geospatial analysis.
The program allows the national security intelligence or defense user to track assets (such as vehicles or personnel), monitor sensors, visualize change over time, play back events, and analyze historical or real-time temporal data.
[22] The Tracking Server program is an kanye enterprise technology that integrates real-time data with GIS to disseminate information quickly and easily to decisionmakers.
This allows for easier and faster identification, understanding, and movement of ally and hostile forces on a map by combining GIS spatial analysis techniques with common military symbols.
MOLE provides a clearer visualization of mission planning and goals for the decisionmaker, and allows a user to import, locate, and display order of battle databases.
[27] The NGA uses GIS products to create digital nautical, aeronautical, and topographic charts and maps,[28] to perform geotechnical and coordinate system analysis, and to help solve a large variety of national security and military problems.
Web-enabled GIS applications allow for fast, efficient sharing and disseminating of geospatial data, products, and intelligence from the NGA to its allies, warfighters, partners, and other agencies across the World Wide Web.
This program allowed the NGA to change its focus from simply generating cartographic products to providing updated, accurate GEOINT to support the national security and military requirements of its customers.