News: Satellite imagery gives US military a 3D edge in Iraq

News that the U.S. military is using 3D technology to train soldiers is nothing new (see earlier posts in the Web3DNews game section about "America's Army" and other military-related efforts that have grown out of the game industry). But the New York Times reports that 2D satellite imagery and 3D technology is being used to produce maps of the battlefield in Iraq, to help soldiers better plan and execute battles.

The Army's Urban Tactical Planner is one tool that takes satellite imagery to produce 3D maps of cities and urban structures, for the purpose of finding routes for attack, good defensive positions, ditches and other barriers, and important buildings such as schools and mosques.

The Air Force has an application called Falcon View that takes digital satellite images to create a data-rich 3D map for pilots containing flight routes, broadcast tower heights, airport locations, SAM batteries, and, when approaching a target zone, individual buildings and streets around a target. Falcon View has also been used to plan humanitarian missions, according to a source quoted in the New York Times. The system runs on a laptop computer, but data for a sortie is downloaded onto a cartridge that can be plugged into a plane's avionics system.

Surprisingly, the satellite imagery being used for Urban Tactical Planner and Falcon View is not from the top-secret National Reconnaissance Office, which operates satellites with cameras that can pick out details as small as six inches in size, but rather lower-quality commercial imagery bought from companies that have lofted satellites to provide imaging services for tax assessors, farmers, and public utilities. Despite the fact that the commercially sourced images only have a resolution of two feet per pixel, it offers several advantages over spy satellite images as well as pictures from U2 aircraft and unmanned drones. One, for the commercial pictures, no security clearance is required for ordinary soldiers, U.S. military partners, or even captured prisoners who can be shown the imagery to verify intelligence. Two, it's much quicker to acquire the commercial pictures (although bad weather can delay delivery). A third advantage that the article does not mention is lower-resolution satellite images are easier for portable battlefield applications to process.

Of course, Urban Tactical Planner and other satellite imagery-based military apps have their drawbacks, notes the NYT. Outdated imagery can cause problems with planning, such as the delay caused by a weeks-old map that did not mark a downed bridge. Also, for larger battlefield locations the amount of maps and pictures required can total hundreds of CDs of data.