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Sharing Data

The National Geospa- tial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) became the first intelligence agency to create an open geospa- tial intelligence map when it released its Ebola website last year, says Martin Cox, na- tional geospatial intelli- gence officer for Africa. “Everyone around the world can see it.”

Mapping Effort Targets Ebola

T

he National Geospatial-Intelli- gence Agency (NGA) launched last fall its first public website of

previously unclassified geospatial intel- ligence data in an effort to fight the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The site, http://ebolaopendata.nga.op

endata.arcgis.com, allows users to access detailed geographic data related to the spread and treatment of Ebola, including topography of the West African regions where Ebola has spread as well as hydrol- ogy information and human geography. “Users can download map books that show where Ebola treatment units are as

PHOTOS: ABOVE, STAFF SGT. V. MICHELLE WOODS, USA; RIGHT, COURTESY NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

well as images of those units,” explains Martin Cox, national geospatial intelligence officer for Africa. The NGA, meanwhile, provides near-real-time updates. Cox says his agency has been actively committed to using the site to prevent the virus’ spread. In addition to developing the program, the NGA sent an employee to Liberia in support of the 101st Airborne Division to provide training to the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services. Cox expects the disease might be eradi-

cated by midsummer with the help of the mapping project.

—DeborahHuso JUNE 2015 MILITARY OFFICER 19

The site is 99-per-

cent accessible to users within the federal gov- ernment and about 25 percent available to the public at large. Cox says the Ebola mapping project has emphasized the global need for information sharing to address natural and human di- sasters, and he expects the NGA to “be as transparent as it possi- bly can” in the future to help those working on natural, biological, and international threats. — Deborah Huso