The Army Geospatial Center (AGC) maintains a worldwide 3D based visualization and tool called the Army Geospatial Enterprise (AGE) GeoGlobe. The AGE GeoGlobe is part of an Army enterprise approach to raster and vector data sharing and visualization in a 3D environment. AGE GeoGlobe is based on Skyline Software's SkylineGlobe suite of products. This enterprise software allows users to access AGC's geospatial data archives and products through a locally installed 3D client for Internet Explorer . The AGE GeoGlobe provides users with an easy to use interface to find and view AGC products such as the Water Resources Database (WRDB), Urban Tactical Planner (UTP), and Buckeye imagery as well as Theater Geospatial Database (TGD) data from the Army Geospatial Planning Cells (GPC’s). These products form an integral part of the GeoGlobe's data layers and can be viewed in any of the GeoGlobe's 3 different Globe views (World Map, NGA Map and Imagery).
The Imagery View of AGC GeoGlobe includes worldwide imagery coverage at a resolution of 15m using EarthSat's NaturalVue global imagery product. Commercial imagery with resolutions of up to 60cm is available for selected areas. This includes Digital Globe's CitySphere dataset of high resolution city images. NGA's Controlled Imagery Base (CIB) 1m and 5m products are also available. AGC's Buckeye and Urban Tactical Planner city mosaic images are continuously being added.
The NGA Map View provides the user with worldwide coverage of NGA's Global Navigational Charts (GNC), Jet Navigational Charts (JNC), Operational Navigational Charts (ONC), Tactical Pilotage Charts (TPC) and Joint Operational Graphics (JOG). Detailed 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 Topographic Line maps are currently available for Afghanistan and Iraq. NGA's complete dataset of Topographic Line Maps will be added to GeoGlobe in the near future.
The World Map View includes several types of cartographic products which vary by scale. As the user zooms into the globe the small scale map is replaced with ESRI's World Street Map which provides an excellent base and reference map.
The GeoGlobe uses NGA DTED Level 1 and 2 as the base elevation model for the Globe. LIDAR and IFSARE elevation data and other high resolution elevation datasets are also used where available. As higher resolution elevation data becomes available it can easily be added to the base elevation model for GeoGlobe. AGC's AGE GeoGlobe also provides users with advanced 3D analysis capabilities such as Terrain Profiling, Line-of-Sight and Viewshed Analysis. Users can also display most standard raster (Erdas IMG, GeoTiff, MrSid, Ecw, NITF) and vector (Shapefile, KML, KMZ) data formats or access data directly from any spatial database (Oracle Spatial, ArcSDE, ArcGIS Server). It is also possible to view open source formats such as Web Mapping Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS).
Other GeoGlobe Features Include:
- Coordinates displayed in Latitude/Longitude, UTM and MGRS
- Snapshot tool to capture image displayed in viewer
- Detachable 2D map window linked to the 3D view display
- Searchable gazetteer for finding and displaying areas by place name or coordinates
- Bookmark and share favorite locations
- Collaboration tool which allows multiple users to synchronize views and to share geospatial data
- Sketch and annotate on maps and imagery
Future Activities:
AGC is building an enterprise terrain visualization capability utilizing the server-to-server functionality of Skyline’s TerraGate software. AGC has purchased and is installing TerraGate servers at the Army Geospatial Planning Cells (GPC’s). The servers are loaded with a base globe (to include both low and medium resolution imagery, maps and elevation data for the globe). The Army GPC’s can then add geospatial data for their Area of Operations (AO) to the server. The servers on the network (SIPRnet) can ‘see’ the other servers and seamlessly integrate the unique data into the global visualization. This distributed data concept permits those that know the AO best to manage the data for their AO, while allowing integration into the global visualization for all users. There is no need to send all data to a central repository, or to rebuild or recompile the entire dataset to add new data.
For More Information Contact: Phone: 703-428-6962, DSN: 364-6962