AI: The Power to See Earth's Changes IRT, and Act on the Knowledge

Seeing changes in the physical features of the earth historically has taken eons – sometimes literally, as in identifying the shifting of Earth’s tectonic plates and the drift that created the continents as we know them. But the advent of satellites, drones, sensors and other technologies provides a constant flow of data that accurately reflects the conditions that societies encounter today.

In 2017, the Department of Defense created Project Maven to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to more quickly extract useful information from the vast data flow. The program has now been transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where the agency’s stated mission is to deliver “world-glass geospatial intelligence that provides a decisive advantage to policymakers, warfighters, intelligence professionals, and first responders.”

Combined with advances in AI, geospatial data provides both government and society to evaluate environmental and social change as it occurs, enabling rapid, data-informed decision-making for global transparency and accountability.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the sources of publicly available geospatial data
• Delineate the ways that use of AI/ML can facilitate the use of geospatial data, such as cleaning duplicative sources, projecting forecasts based on different assumptions, and filling gaps in available information
• Define the role of AI/ML in decision-making, including transparency and understanding of the algorithms used
• Establish metrics that can be used to measure gains in efficiency and time-to-action for AI-enhanced geospatial intelligence