One of our core missions at FortiusOne is to enable many more people to explore, create, and share maps – to democratize geospatial capabilities. Even in government markets, which have been big users of GIS tools, the expense and technical sophistication required often cause bottlenecks in the preparation of maps. Government customers are also facing critical challenges in making information from the field accessible throughout their organizations – increasing collective intelligence from the edges of the network.

We have teamed with Lockheed Martin to leverage our intelligent mapping services to address these problems in government markets. Lockheed has a long history in the geospatial space and has been very progressive in embracing advanced Web 2.0 technologies such as Intelligent Mapping and Wikis.

I thought it might be helpful to provide an example of the kinds of problems we are addressing with Lockheed. Let’s take a fictitious scenario of a military operation dealing with terrorist attacks in Iraq. Suppose I'm Sergeant Gorman and I've uploaded data on a spree of attacks that my patrol collected over the past week.

A GIS analyst at headquarters, in reviewing my data along with historical data from the last three years, notices a pattern of increasing Shia activity around Samarra and sends an alert to field units. The alert prompts me to scan for data on attacks tagged Shia and Samarra, where I find a photo from a previous attack that shows one of the locals we had suspected of being a Shia ring leader.

I post a geo-blog noting that this individual has been suspected of coordinating attacks in my sector. A flurry of responses from other patrol leaders indicates that the same individual has been seen in proximity of other attacks. A GIS analyst at headquarters validates the findings and generates a command report, which results in the order to apprehend the suspect. On our next patrol into Samarra, we locate him and discover a complex cell of terrorist Shia activity in the area.

While the account above is completely fictional, hopefully it conveys the power of democratizing geospatial information throughout an entire organization. The same principles apply to a variety of other environments, such as disaster response, homeland security, and intelligence, where enabling the entire organization to explore, create, and share geospatial information can enhance mission effectiveness. We are excited about the partnership with Lockheed Martin to bring these capabilities to market.

Popularity: 13% [?]

IED Attacks in Iraq

Is the U.S. winning the war in Iraq? The Bush Administration continues to say yes. Most recently, they are touting a drop in U.S. fatalities in Iraq, stating that American deaths in the war-torn country in July were at their lowest levels since last November and sectarian violence (ignoring the horrific massacre of last Tuesday) has declined.

Others are more skeptical. Some point out that car and truck bombings are not included in the administration’s tabulations of violence in Iraq and therefore, the reports coming out of the government show inflated success. There also concerns about the proliferated use of Improvised Explosive Devices(IEDs) by insurgents, and the toll they are having on U.S. troups and other innocent people in Iraq.

Wikipedia defines an IED as a “device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract. It may incorporate military stores, but is normally devised from nonmilitary components.” Typically, they are cobbled together using a hodgepodge of everyday gadgets, such as remote controls, mobile phones, pagers and garage door openers. Despite their often benign appearance, the impact of a detonated IED can be very powerful and deadly.

The statistics on IED attacks in Iraq illuminate the extent of the problem.

Newsweek reports that in 2004 roughly 1 in 3 soldiers was affected by IED attacks; Now, the numbers are 4 out of 5.

Time Magazine states that 48.5 of all U.S. fatalities in Iraq have resulted from IEDs

The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count has an interesting graphic on their website highlighting the steady climb in IED attacks against coalition forces following the fall of Saddam.

And there are numerous accounts reported in the news nearly everyday of Iraqis as victims of the deadly device.

Mapping the Changing IED Terror Landscape

So, where are IED attacks being carried out and how has this landscape changed over time? To answer this question, three heat maps were generated showing concentrations of IED attacks in Iraq for the years: 2004, 2005 and 2006. The data was extracted from the National Counter Terrorism Center World Wide Incident Tracking database and includes attacks against all nationalities; not, just Americans.

2004 IED Attacks

2005 IED Attacks

2006 IED Attacks

The graphics are revealing. In 2004 and 2005 attacks were fairly concentrated, occurring largely in the metropolitan area of Baghad and points north; the brightest spots on the views highlight these hotspots. Over time, the attacks show a mestastisizing pattern: a diffusion of attacks pushing further and filling in north and south of Baghad.

What Does the Future Hold? Pentagon officials say they have spent 6 billion dollars in trying to combat IEDs and new technologies are being deployed in the field to thwart attacks. It will be interesting to see if at years end, with 2007 data mapped, whether these efforts can help to quell the problem or if the problem continues to fester.

Popularity: 8% [?]