U.S. Army Geospatial Center provides eyes in sky for boots on ground

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Under Sec­re­tary of the Army Joseph W. West­phal recent­ly vis­it­ed the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter, to gain sit­u­a­tion­al aware­ness and ensure the Army is cor­rect­ly pri­or­i­tiz­ing, bal­anc­ing and inte­grat­ing resources to sup­port the con­tri­bu­tions of this mis­sion-crit­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion.

Under Sec­re­tary of the Army Joseph W. West­phal reviews a chart of orga­ni­za­tion­al struc­ture at the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter, May 30, 2012, in Alexan­dria, Va. The Under Sec­re­tary of the Army vis­it­ed the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter to gain sit­u­a­tion­al aware­ness and ensure the Army is cor­rect­ly pri­or­i­tiz­ing, bal­anc­ing and inte­grat­ing resources to sup­port the con­tri­bu­tions of this mis­sion-crit­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion. Click to enlarge

Under Sec­re­tary of the Army Joseph W. West­phal inspects a two dimen­sion­al type of map used by warfight­ers in Afghanistan Click to enlarge

Under Sec­re­tary of the Army Joseph W. West­phal dis­cuss­es the capa­bil­i­ties of a dig­i­tal map that is used to quick­ly scan ter­rain Click to enlarge

Cpl. Welk­er shows Under Sec­re­tary of the Army Joseph W. West­phal state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy at the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter Click to enlarge

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Joseph F. Fontanel­la, direc­tor, U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter, U.S. Army Corps of Engi­neers, and Army Geospa­tial Infor­ma­tion­al Offi­cer, out­lined the mis­sion of the orga­ni­za­tion and under­scored the “com­bat edge” that his staff pro­vides to Sol­diers on the 360-degree battlefield. 

“Doco­tor Westphal’s obser­va­tions, insight and encour­age­ment regard­ing the geospa­tial sup­port and exper­tise we pro­vide to our Sol­diers and strate­gic part­ners are invalu­able,” said Fontanella. 

As the “Ground Warfighter’s geospa­tial knowl­edge cen­ter”, the direc­tors intro­duced West­phal to each of the pro­gram areas at the cen­ter. Addi­tion­al­ly, he was giv­en demon­stra­tions of sev­er­al advanced geospa­tial and prod­ucts that direct­ly sup­port deployed troops. 

“I am very impressed with this tal­ent­ed team of tech­ni­cal experts,” West­phal said. “Our Army ben­e­fits 24–7 from the incred­i­ble capa­bil­i­ties this orga­ni­za­tion pro­vides our warfight­ers, and the cut­ting edge tech­nol­o­gy used to give our Army the deci­sive edge on the battlefield.” 

One of the many mis­sion-crit­i­cal appli­ca­tions the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter devel­ops, and man­ages, is the Com­mon Oper­a­tional Pic­ture, or COP. Com­mands at all ech­e­lons uti­lize the COP to syn­chro­nize oper­a­tional data and it is essen­tial in a unit’s abil­i­ty to main­tain max­i­mum sit­u­a­tion­al aware­ness and infor­ma­tion superiority. 

The center’s efforts to stan­dard­ize and syn­chro­nize geospa­tial infor­ma­tion great­ly increas­es mis­sion com­mand capa­bil­i­ties, and ensure Sol­diers and mis­sion part­ners have the right infor­ma­tion, at the right time, in the right place. 

Through­out his vis­it, West­phal rec­og­nized the work­force for their exper­tise, ded­i­ca­tion, and sup­port to Soldiers. 

“This is a true team of pro­fes­sion­als. The work that you do con­tributes to the suc­cess of every mis­sion that the Army con­ducts around the world,” West­phal told the workforce. 

“His under­stand­ing and appre­ci­a­tion of our team’s efforts to deliv­er geospa­tial enter­prise-enabled sys­tems and capa­bil­i­ties to the Army con­firms they are crit­i­cal to main­tain­ing the service’s role in sup­port­ing Uni­fied Land Oper­a­tions,” said Fontanella. 

Orga­nized as a major sub­or­di­nate com­mand under the U.S. Army Corps of Engi­neers, the U.S. Army Geospa­tial Cen­ter coor­di­nates, inte­grates, and syn­chro­nizes geospa­tial infor­ma­tion require­ments across the Army and pro­vides direct geospa­tial sup­port and prod­ucts to Sol­diers on the battlefield. 

Source:
U.S. Army