HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Hanscom program office personnel can learn about how Geospatial Intelligence, or GEOINT, relates to their work during a Technical Exchange Meeting at the Conference Center here July 30, 8 a.m. to noon.
Organizers say GEOINT is misunderstood and often people who think they are not using it really are.
“GEOINT is a large category of information that includes all navigation data such as maps and charts, elevation data, geospatial intelligence and intelligence reporting,” said Rebecca Hoy, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency liaison at Hanscom. “Personnel working in an area such as weather may think they’re not using GEOINT, but they’re overlaying the weather info on NGA maps.”
Hanscom programs from command and control to cyber and even foreign military sales all have potential GEOINT requirements.
“More than 80 programs at Hanscom are reliant on geospatial information and services, making them GEOINT-dependent,” said Curtis Goodman, GEOINT team lead, Acquisition Intelligence Division and one of the organizers of the event.
Goodman encourages personnel to come to this meeting to discuss how to craft requirements to get the right GEOINT solution, whether it’s a new product or a new format. In addition, as many NGA data types, formats and sources are undergoing modernization updates, NGA experts will be on hand to speak to the updates and help make determinations on specific products.
“Many programs inherit an old product type from a previous program and could benefit from a newer solution, but they don’t know it’s available,” Hoy said. “We want to manage changes before they could negatively affect a program. And we don’t want to field newer systems with old technology solutions.”
The Air Force’s GEOINT Officer, Kent “Hannibal” Hurton, will talk about his role as a program advocate and how he can get requirements prioritized. He hasn’t been to Hanscom in several years and is interested in talking to program personnel face-to-face, especially those who rely heavily on GEOINT.
Organizers say they want to “demystify” the requirements process and how it works through the National System for Geospatial Intelligence, which includes all the services and other federal agencies. Hurton is the Air Force representative.
Hoy said the important part of the meeting is getting the dialogue going to understand where GEOINT impacts Hanscom programs and how to improve those processes.
“We want program personnel to talk to us early in the life cycle about their GEOINT requirements,” she said.
To register for the meeting, go to https://einvitations.afit.edu/inv/anim.cfm?i=457678&k=0664450F7C5F.
For more information about the event, contact Goodman at 781-225-5969 or curtis.goodman@us.af.mil.