USGIF White Paper: Geospatial Intelligence & AI/ML Progress During a Pandemic

Foundation released white paper on how the IC has adapted a topic impacting the challenges of COVID-19

Herndon, Virginia (November 9, 2020)—The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) published a white paper on a topic impacting the intelligence community (IC) and more specifically, the GEOINT community; Geospatial Intelligence & AI/ML Progress During a Pandemic.   

The recent global working climate, altered by COVID-19, has driven considerable change in how the geospatial community delivers support and new capabilities for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). The pandemic created a condition where many analysts to worked from home without much of the advanced infrastructure required for ML, while the high demands of mission requirements remained. The geospatial community had to adapt. USGIF focuses on this and more in the Foundation’s latest document. 

“We’ve had to modify our approach in delivering ML/AI solutions to adapt to the telework environment. These changes were not only implemented from an operations and technological perspective, but also cultural,” said Wynn Thane, associate director for data analytics, National Security Segment, Guidehouse, and USGIF’s Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Working Group (ML&AI WG) Chair.  

USGIF worked with the community to understand the impact, assess the benefits and challenges, and make predictions for the future of the IC and GEOINT community amid a pandemic.

“We’d like to thank the members of USGIF’s ML&AI Working Group. They were key to the development of this whitepaper. The insights and experiences from this inspiring group of professionals represent the geospatial community’s productive response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Thane said.

The white paper was written in conjunction with the members of USGIF’s MLAI Working Group. 

About USGIF

USGIF is a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community among government, industry, academia, professional organizations, and individuals who develop and apply GEOINT to address global security challenges. USGIF achieves its mission via its strategic pillars: Build the Community | Advance the Tradecraft | Accelerate Innovation. 

For more information, please visit www.USGIF.org and follow USGIF on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.