Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Geospatial Intelligence

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Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Geospatial
Intelligence Todd S. Bacastow John A. Dutton
e-Education Institute The Pennsylvania State
University May 16, 2006
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Imagery Imagery Intelligence
Geospatial Information
Geospatial Intelligence
Geospatial intelligence consists of imagery,
imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.
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What is Geospatial Intelligence and Why is it
Important? Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is
the exploitation and analysis of imagery and
geospatial information to describe, assess, and
visually depict physical features and
geographically referenced activities on the
Earth. It answers the questions

• Where are your assets?
• Where are the risks?
• Where are the non-involved groups?
• How do I move or navigate
• among them?
• What is the physical environment?
• What does it mean?
• What is the impact?
• Where am I?

Geospatial Intelligence
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Who Does GEOINT?

• NGA
• NGA is the Manager for GEOINT for the
  Intelligence Community
• National System for Geospatial Intelligence
• Allies
• Contractors
• Services
• Other collaborating govt agencies
• Providers of commodity data
• Commercial imagery
• Geospatial content location-based services
• Customers in the field

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Geospatial Intelligence Knowledge Base (GKB)
Mission-Specific Data
View Generation Recipes
Densify / Replace / Inset
Standard Views
Foundation Data
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Knowledge Areas

• Reference frameworks
• Common vocabulary and grammar
• Standards
• Web services
• Infrastructure (Databasing, Communications,
  Portals, Gateways)
• Tools
• Policies

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The Difference Between GEOINT BI?

• Business intelligence (BI)
• Application programs and technologies for
  gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing
  access to data to help enterprise users make
  better business decisions.
• SAS, a leader in business intelligence, (has)
  integrated SAS9 software with ESRIs ArcGIS 9
  software to provide more information for decision
  making. (http//www.sas.com/)
• The Answer Only the Domain of Application!

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Why a GEOINT Program?

• A survey of geospatial service providers revealed
  that 87 had difficulty filling positions
  requiring geospatial skills (U.S. Department of
  Labor, 2004)
• New GEOINT hires do not have the necessary
  geographic and technology education demanded of
  the intelligence tradecraft (Moore and Krizan,
  Cryptologic Quarterly, Summer/Fall 2001, p. 27)
• The US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF)
  is developing an academic-based Geospatial
  Intelligence Certificate program
• GIS certificate programs have not been gauged as
  sufficient for meeting the needs and expectations
  of employers in the geospatial intelligence market

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PSU GEOINT Program

• Designed specifically for aspiring GEOINT (and
  BI) practitioners who lack formal education in
  geography and geospatial technologies
• Accommodates working professionals who can only
  study part-time and at a distance
• Students earn the Postbaccalaureate Certificate
  of Achievement and 15 graduate credits by
  successfully completing five instructor-led
  online courses
• Students subsequently admitted to the Master of
  GIS (MGIS) degree program may count up to 15
  credits earned in the GEOINT Certificate Program
  toward the MGIS degree

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Geospatial Intelligence Program
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Required Courses (5)
GEOG 882 Introduction to Geopolitical Intelligence Analysis (2 cr.) Orientation to the nature of intelligence and the practice of distance learning.
GEOG 883 Problem-Solving with GIS (3 cr.) How geographic information systems facilitate data analysis and communication to address common geographic problems.
GEOG 884 Remote Sensing in Geospatial Intelligence (3 cr.) Gain appreciation for the historical origins of remote sensing. Understand the evolution of remote sensing with continually emerging technologies. Recognize the fundamental core objectives in remote sensing that have remained essentially unchanged.
IST 597 Special Topics Introduction to Multi-Sensor Data Fusion (3 cr.) General concepts, mathematical techniques, process models, computer architectures, and implementation issues.
GEOG 889 Virtual Field Exercise for the GEOINT Professional (1 cr.). Comprehensive evaluation of students mastery of core knowledge and skills
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Elective Courses (1)
GEOG 485 GIS Programming and Customization (3 cr.) Customizing GIS software to extend its built-in functionality and to automate repetitive tasks.
GEOG 486 Cartography and Visualization (3 cr.) Theory and practice of cartographic design emphasizing effective visual thinking and visual communication with geographic information systems.
GEOG 487 Environmental Applications of GIS (3 cr.) Simulated internship experience in which students play the role of GIS analysts in an environmental consultancy.
GEOG 488 Acquiring and Integrating Geospatial Data (3 cr.) Advanced technical, legal, ethical and institutional problems related to data acquisition for geospatial information systems.
GEOG 489 GIS Application Development (3 cr.) Advanced topics in GIS customization, including the Systems Development Life Cycle, packaging and deployment, and consuming Web services.
IST 526 Development Tools and Visualizations for Human-Computer Interaction (3 cr.) addresses concepts and tools for developing working user interface software and prototypes to provide effective information visualizations.
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Problem Based Learning
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Program Timeline
February 2006 - Draft preliminary course and
program proposals and convene advisory
board July 2006 - Commence development of new
courses August 2006 - Announce certificate
program at ESRI User Conference (pending
University approval) November 2006 - Promote
new program at GEOINT conference December 2006
- Registration opens for first course January
2007 - Course offerings commence
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