MGT 7-1.indd - KMI Media Group

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW MILITARY GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY
Q: Can you tell us about your company
and the products and services it offers
to military customers?
A: Overwatch Geospatial Systems is a
leading provider of geospatial intelligence
[GEOINT] solutions and services
to the defense and intelligence communities.
For more than 20 years, our
software solutions have combined technology
innovation with a detailed understanding
of the geospatial intelligence
needs of military and intelligence users.
Our solutions, as a result, enable the
geospatial intelligence analyst to provide
mission-critical GEOINT to warfighters
and decision-makers. Specifically, our
software allows analysts to accelerate
geospatial intelligence production workflows
and provide timely and highly
accurate geospatial intelligence information,
which is critical to military and
homeland security operations.
Q: What unique benefits does your
company offer military customers?
A: Simply stated, Overwatch Geospatial
Systems solutions and services make it
easier for intelligence and military geospatial
analysts to do their jobs. We provide
a user interface that is designed for
the military intelligence analyst’s work
environment and does not encumber the
intelligence analyst to operate with complex,
highly technical terminology. Our
solutions are preferred by the military
since they consistently enable the analyst
to produce geospatial intelligence
in Department of Defense and NATO
standard formats. We’re helping analysts
provide the military with GEOINT that is
timely, relevant and accurate.
Q: What are some examples of the benefits
experienced by military customers?
36 | MGT 7.1
James Dolan
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Overwatch Geospatial Systems
A: Military geospatial analysts who have
limited access to formal classroom training
can gain proficiency quickly with our
solutions and build geospatial intelligence
products that meet mission requirements
associated with precision targeting, situational
awareness and three-dimensional,
animated mission rehearsals, for example.
Q: What areas are you working on for the
future in meeting military needs?
A: With the proliferation of traditional and
emerging types and formats of geospatial
data, a number of challenges and opportunities
are presented for geospatial intelligence
software providers. Full-motion
video, LIDAR [Light Detection and Ranging],
Advanced Geospatial Intelligence and
other emerging formats can potentially
inundate and overwhelm military geospatial
intelligence analysts. Our software
makes it easier for the geospatial intelligence
analyst to retrieve, process and analyze
a wide variety of geospatial data and
quickly produce highly accurate geospatial
data products with a variety of formats.
We also are developing integrated tool sets
that enable the user to simultaneously
analyze traditional overhead data sources
and full-motion video data. This means the
analyst can quickly gain situational understanding
of the dynamic environments in
which the military operates.
Q: What is Overwatch Geospatial Systems’
approach to developing these solutions?
A: We spend a lot of time with our users in
their operational environments and hear
their concerns that they are often being
overwhelmed by technology. Many users
describe situations in which they are provided
highly complex technical solutions
that actually make it harder for them to
do their jobs. We observed situations that
actually made the analysts become “prisoners”
of the technology that was supposed
to be helping them. Understanding
the needs of the user and the urgency of
their missions drove us toward a paradigm
of providing integrated technical solutions
with a “military operator friendly” user
interface. Based on the feedback we are
receiving from users on our software solutions
and services, I believe we are moving
in the right direction.
Q: Do you have anything further you
would like to add?
A: Enhancing the geospatial analyst’s
access to geospatial data sets is critical.
The volume, variety and complexity of
raw and refined geospatial intelligence
data is expanding at an exponential rate,
and operational users are seeking easy
and reliable ways to access the data they
need, when they need it. We have had
positive responses to our cataloging technologies
and are fielding new desktop and
enterprise-level products that will make
it easier for geospatial intelligence analysts
and production organizations to use
multi-source geospatial intelligence data.
jpdolan@overwatch.textron.com
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