Emerging Applications
Technology in our world changes everyday. Now, and in the future, we can use geospatial technology to keep our lives and environments safe. If some of these technologies had been available earlier, many disasters such as the Saga Mine Disaster and Katrina could have been avoided.
Geospatial data are used to locate natural and man-made disasters as well as above and below ground features that are useful for the coal industry to locate boundaries of surface and underground coal mines. Western forest fires have destroyed thousands of acres of land and many homes. Fire mapping, a geospatial technology, is a relatively new tool that was created to try to prevent forest fires from occurring. The maps pinpoint areas that are at a high risk of fire depending on the weather or environmental surroundings.
Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, the nation's security level has risen. To help protect our country, we use geospatial technology. Homeland Security is the agency in charge of anti-terrorism prevention. Homeland Security measures specific information on different geographic locations and reports any suspicious activities to public safety officials. Threat advisories are identified with a color coded threat level system. Green is the lowest threat level and red is the highest alert. With the use of this technology, events like the tragedies of 9/11 should never occur again.
Hurricane Katrina surprised the nation and resulted in one of the biggest disasters in history. The flooding ruined many of the homes and businesses in New Orleans. Flood mapping helped us better prepare for the possibilities when this hurricane hit. This tool was developed by the Chief of the Geospatial Information Office, Patricia McSherry. McSherry was located at Langley, AFB when she realized that many bases were in danger from the floods resulting from hurricanes. The FloodMap Tool is a web-deployed geospatial program that allows someone to set up a simulation of what may happen if the threat of a flood arises. With the use of flood mapping, we will now be able to predict hurricanes better.
The Air Force is one of the leading players in technological development. They have created the Predator that is in use in the battlefield today and are creating other unmanned aerial vehicles and drones that are controlled at a base in Las Vegas, Nevada. These aerial vehicles are used to observe or spy on the enemy and attack on the basis of geographic information. With this advancement in geospatial technology the Air Force is a step above the enemy.
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