GEOINT Open Source Tool

The principle goals of this proposed activity, GEOINT Open Source Tool (GOST), are to research and demonstrate innovative exploitation and analysis processes and tools associated with the efficient integration of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) into Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) products.  Increasingly, GEOINT imagery analysts (IA) professionals need to quickly assimilate social, economic, and cultural information about a country or imageinformation often detailed in open sources.  The goal of this Phase I proposed activity is to design a GEOINT IA user-friendly system for the utilization of open source intelligence within a geospatial context.  The system includes intuitive methods for discovering relevant OSINT, innovative interface for browsing, geospatially enabling existing open source intelligence data stores and geospatially enabling any future data acquisitions.  The purpose behind creating a geospatially enabled data source is to make the data more relevant for a given operation and to decrease the information overload on the user of the open source intelligence.  The GEOINT analyst, properly equipped with the proposed system, will be able to provide the rapid, responsive, accurate, and actionable intelligence required by Air Force decision makers today and tomorrow. BENEFIT: The research and development associated with the GEOint Open Source Tool (GOST) technology would result in significant enhancements to the geospatial intelligence production and dissemination methods.  GEOint analysts need to quickly assimilate social, economic, and cultural information about a country or imageinformation often detailed in open sources, in sizes that can quickly overwhelm the analyst. The GOST will provide geographic access via Google or ESRI while providing techniques and methods to prioritize, geospatially enable and catalog the open source information.  It will dramatically improve productivity for the GEOint analysts by improving information accession, interpretation, analysis and product development.  The commercialization potential is high, ranging from defense industry companies to commercial geospatial production systems.