got geoint?

Welcome once again to the Friday’s Food for Thought post on got geoint? This week, we decided to take a look back at geographic history and make note of some very important dates and milestones. For example, on January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society was founded. And, did you know that in 1351 The Medici sea atlas was published that contained a ‘world’ map? Yep, you can learn about that, and much more in this historic GEOINT post. Oh, and as the late Bob Marley once said, “In this great future, you can’t forget your past.” Happy Friday!

Jan. 27, 1888: National Geographic Society Gets Going
Bound together by an enthusiasm for geography and travel, a small cadre of distinguished businessmen, explorers, scientists and scholars officially incorporates the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. What began 122 years ago as a small, elite society for “the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge” is now one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions. Today its mission has a broader theme: “to inspire people to care about the planet.” Read the entire Wired story here.

Pre-200 AD Maps: No GPS Devices or Paper…Although They Did Have Clay
Eskimos of the Canadian Arctic to the Bedwin tribesmen of the Arabian desert had an almost inborn skill to produce rough but quite accurate sketches on pieces of skin or in the sand, indicating the positions and distances of the localities known to them. From Assyria, a clay tablet with a map of part of northern Mesopotamia (c. 500 B.C.) and from Babylonia, a much later presentation of the known world shown as a circle surrounded by the sea and heavenly bodies were discovered. In the 6th century B. C., the construction of the first Greek map is ascribed to Anaximander. The idea that the earth was a sphere, and not a flat disc, was first advanced by philosophers of Pythagoras’ school, and brought to general attention through the writings of Plato. The first reference inWestern literature to a map occurs in Herodotus’ account of the interview between Aristagorous, tyrant of Miletus, and the Spartans. Eratosthenes established an initial meridian to provide a fixed frame work for the world map. M.Vipsanius Agrippa, son-in-law of Emperor Augustus, executed the most famous Roman map, the ‘Orbis terrarum’, or ‘survey of the world’ in 12 B.C. Read more from GIS Development here.

History of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
The US geospatial intelligence effort began in 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson sent the Army’s Lewis and Clark expedition to explore and map the recently acquired Louisiana Territory. As the Army, assisted by its contract civilian scientists, supported the country’s westward expansion, the Navy similarly began reaching out across the oceans. This maritime expansion, coupled with the Navy’s desire not to have to rely on British or commercial charts, led to the establishment of the Navy Depot of Charts and Instruments in 1830. US mapping and charting efforts remained relatively unchanged until World War I, when aerial photography became a major contributor to battlefield intelligence. Using stereo viewers, photo interpreters reviewed thousands of images. Many of these were of the same target at different angles and times, giving rise to what became modern imagery analysis and mapmaking. After the war, as airplane capacity and range improved, the need for charts grew. The Army Air Corps established its Map Unit, which was renamed the Aeronautical Chart Plant in 1943 and began work in St. Louis, MO. Read more about the history of the NGA here.

GEOINT and the Civil War
War, like necessity, has been called the mother of invention. The same might be said of cartography, for with every war there is a great rush to produce maps to aid in understanding the nature of the land over which armies will move and fight, to plan engagements and the deployment of troops, and to record victories for posterity to study and admire. The American Civil War is a classic example of the effect that war has had on cartography. Read more from worldMapsOnline here.

History of GPS
Where am I? The question seems simple; the answer, historically, has proved not to be. For centuries, navigators and explorers have searched the heavens for a system that would enable them to locate their position on the globe with the accuracy necessary to avoid tragedy and to reach their intended destinations. On June 26, 1993, however, the answer became as simple as the question. On that date, the U.S. Air Force launched the 24th Navstar satellite into orbit, completing a network of 24 satellites known as the Global Positioning System, or GPS. With a GPS receiver that costs less than a few hundred dollars you can instantly learn your location on the planet–your latitude, longitude, and even altitude–to within a few hundred feet. Read more here at Beyond Discovery.

In This Great Future, Don’t Forget Your Past
How could we do a post about the history of GEOINT and not include a clip of Bob Marley performing “No Woman No Cry.” Enjoy.

Happy Friday!

Tags: Bob Marley, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT, geospatial intelligence, History of GEOINT, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, NGA, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF