5 minute read
Situational Awareness in War and Peace
Geospatial intelligence has given a boost to near real-time situational awareness for a wide range of applications, ranging from defence to mobility. Be it the protracted conflict in Ukraine, or enabling connectivity in remote terrains, geospatial boosts situational awareness. By Aditya Chaturvedi
Donald Rumsfeld’s now memorable quip about the ‘known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns’, uttered during the Iraq War in 2003, expresses the forever looming risk of extreme uncertainty and precarity in indecipherably complex situations and volatile events. Paradoxically, the unheeded statement has become a cautionary fable on the ‘limits of hard power’ and short-sightedness of perilous entanglements.
Decades before Rumsfeld, and in a similar context of Iraq, when the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard provocatively said ‘Iraq War didn’t happen’, he was referring to a phenomenon of simulation & simulacra – of reducing complex, vast events to a representative totemic image, which rapidly captures the public imagination, but often gives a deceptive picture that’s far from reality.
Over the years, gaining incontrovertible insights into any situation has become more
difficult, but thanks to technological advancements in mapping, data analytics, and the power of satellite imagery and geospatial, a high-resolution visualization of on-ground situation can be obtained.
Broadly speaking, situational awareness refers to the ‘perception of environment’, which can be categorized as assessing the situation, taking stock, and gauging the impact. It starts with information gathering and then goes onto gaining insights and using them for modelling and projections for timely anticipation and effective decision-making.
In a fast-changing, interdependent world with cascading domino effects and spillovers experienced afar, the need of geospatial situational awareness for preemptive measures, planning, and optimization has increased. Data-enabled connectivity and the power of networks have broken barriers, shrunk distances, and made plethora of information available instantly, but simultaneously, the need for accurate near real-time information has intensified.
“The world changes very quickly and unpredictably and digital mapping has enabled us to keep pace with changes happening in the world around us. Through the volume, scale and scope of change captured and processed through it, we’re able to compute real-world change”, says Abhijit Sengupta, Senior Director and Head of Business for Southeast Asia & India, HERE Technologies.
Frontline Digital Maps The German word ‘Zeitenwende’, which is loosely translated as epochal shift or historical turning point, has become a defining term in the wake of the RussiaUkraine conflict, encapsulating the political, economic, social, and geographic reset.
Given the increasing use of OSINT, GEOINT, location intelligence, and satellite imagery, this conflict is a turning point on another front as well – extensive use of geospatial intelligence and data in a conflict. The rapid profusion of geospatial, not just in conflicts and reconnaissance, goes in tandem with increased civilian utility as well. So the two cannot be disjoint.
At the core of all these is high-resolution digital mapping. From navigating the dilemmas of geography to development planning and execution, GIS and digital mapping have emerged as indispensable in quality, range, as well as resolution.
“As the importance of location to every aspect of our lives continues to grow exponentially, we’re taking ‘the map’ and transforming it into a fully digital representation of reality”, says Sengupta.
“Digital mapping has enabled faster updates to keep pace with changing environments. It used to be that maps were updated annually at best, but these days Earth Observation data capabilities can support increased temporal resolutions–in some cases, daily
revisions”, says Thomas Van Matre, Vice President, Business Development, Satellogic.
For reconstruction, rehabilitation and emergency response, ranging from conflicts to destruction wrought by global warming and ecological devastation, digital mapping has emerged as a valuable tool.
“We imagine a future of urban design that relies heavily on geospatial data and digital mapping to determine the needs and priorities of communities”, he adds.
5G Arena Deployment of 5G, AI, and millions of interconnected devices would be a game-changer for all sorts of situational awareness – from ambitious business projections, to government priorities, and defence policies.
Emphasizing the applications for enterprises, Will White, Co-founder and Principal Evangelist, Mapbox, says, "In a post-pandemic society that is increasingly distributed, yet more connected than ever through devices and screens, IoT will play a big role. With a more remote and dynamic world, live location intelligence is essential to making all of it work, be it for startups or Fortune 500 corporations.
“Digital mapping for situational awareness is a must-have for businesses”, he adds.
Location intelligence enables 5G at all levels, from site selection to identifying under-connected areas, and distributing connectivity. Geospatial intelligence will add a new dimension to 5G, limited not just in scope and range.
“Geospatial intelligence, such as our understanding of the world in 3D, will be very beneficial for mobile network operators. There is a common reliance between location technology and 5G to work in harmony to support the growth and success of each vertical”, says Sengupta.
Defining Trends
While the Covid pandemic response and the need to design resilient systems, established the dire salience of geospatial intelligence, the orientation towards building inclusive and sustainable economies, and driving impact, has led to a shift from bespoke solutions to the more broad service model.
In the realm of space, there are radical changes. No country wishes to be left behind in the domain that will influence far-reaching developments across sectors, paving the way for national development.
“We’ve seen a great representation in analytics-as-a-service, but now there are ground station-asa-service solutions and Satellogic’s unique Constellation-as-a-Service, which goes further to enable governments to deploy a national Earth Observation program with no infrastructure or operations risks”, adds Van Matre.
Furthermore, ever since the conscious shift towards the stakeholder model, and the emphasis on reducing carbon footprints, net zero transition, and ESG reporting, geospatial intelligence and remote sensing has assumed a great significance as the pivot to sustainability.
Sengupta stresses that as businesses are increasingly putting sustainability at the heart of their strategy, many consumers are also opting in for greener supply chains or deliveries. He opines that geospatial intelligence is being tapped on to provide greater end-to-end transparency of supply chains, one where information can be passed on from enterprise to consumers to help them make more well-informed choices.
"Following a global recognition as a national security matter, climate change has dominated conversations across EO markets. We anticipate continued efforts in using EO to study and develop solutions that will combat the effects of climate change and focus on resilience through sustainability", points out Van Matre.
Aditya Chaturvedi
Associate Editor, GW Media Aditya@geospatialworld.net
