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Military Mapping the Threats and Advantages of Urban Areas

Posted by: Nate Berg

24 August 2009 - 5:00am

The U.S. Military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing in a program that looks to create 3D imagery of urban areas and the common spaces and objects that could pose threats or provide advantages to military operations.

"BAE Systems received a $7.1 million contract to work on Phase II of the Urban Reasoning and Geospatial Exploitation Technology (URGENT) program, which is designed to improve the quality and timeliness of geospatial intelligence U.S. troops receive when facing enemy threats in urban environments.

This phase of the program's goal will be to 'develop a 3D reasoning engine to query over object shapes, locations, and classifications for rapid urban mission planning, mission rehearsal, and situation analysis,' according to DARPA."

The technology will be able to identify trash cans and other receptacle that could be hiding places for explosives, and also identify places that might be good helicopter landing spots or sniper positions.

Full Story: DARPA 3D reasoning engine to identify urban threats
Source: CNET, August 21, 2009
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The interdisciplinary nature of these challenges justifies a more decisive federal policy that helps metropolitan areas promote energy and location-efficient development.
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