The Historical Photographic Analysis (HPA) Technical Center of Expertise (TCX) under the Army Geospatial Center (AGC) was established to provide unmatched remote sensing and geospatial analysis expertise to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). TCX scientists have been called upon by many agencies and organizations over the decades to provide holistic, interdisciplinary, unbiased subject matter expertise, products, and technical recommendations that address concerns caused by historical activity. Historical Photographic Analysis is a temporal geographic response to modern day concerns caused by historical activity requiring the characterization of land use/cover change over time to support identification, remediation, and site assessment requirements.
Background
Legacy military and industrial activities have left an unknown number of hidden hazards—including Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), Ordnance and Explosive Wastes (OEW), Munitions and Explosives of Concern (MEC), Munitions Constituents (MC), Chemical Warfare Material (CWM), Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (HTRW) — buried or undetected across former defense and industrial sites. Currently, these dangerous materials are often completely obscured by decades of vegetation growth, burial, or landscape changes, creating a critical information gap. These materials present a significant and ongoing risk to human safety and environmental health. The critical need is to efficiently and safely delineate and characterize these potential "areas of concern".
TCX scientists use historical aerial photography, and ancillary data, to locate, identify, and characterize these hidden hazards (UXO, OEW, HTRW, etc.). HPA also includes photogeologic analyses for areas where groundwater contamination is a concern (for example, surface features such as rock fractures, can influence the movement of contaminants).
The TCX for HPA mission is relevant, required, resourced and more critical now, with decreasing knowledge of historical media, historical geospatial data processing, historical geospatial data analysis, and the widening array of information and data types spanning 150 years. In addition, this unique expertise is needed to address the greater complexity of issues arising from aging infrastructure and changed land use over time. The TCX possesses a unique capability and has been resourced since 1994 (earlier with predecessor programs) to perform the historical photographic analysis mission. AGC houses USACE’s only program offering wide-ranging geospatial support, addressing specialized geospatial issues surrounding historical military and industrial activities. Over the last 35 years, HPA has been used to assess hundreds of sites, increase awareness, and improve work plans, at substantial cost savings and avoidance to the DoD.
TCX Contact Information
Inquiries and questions can be sent to ENVIRONMENT@usace.army.mil
Requests can also be submitted here: https://www.agc.army.mil/Home/HPA-Request-Form/