In the last part of 2011, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) released an updated Fact Sheet on its Domestic Mobile Integrated Geospatial-Intelligence System (DMIGS). Developed after Katrina, DMIGS typically deploys in support of National Special Security Events (NSSE) like national political conventions, and major disaster response efforts. NGA currently has two of these units with accompanying service vehicles. To read the Fact Sheet on these units, use the link below:
Comment: Kudos to NGA for developing this capability! Now, a word of caution for those outside the federal interagency. The primary purpose of DMIGS is to support Federal efforts when deployed, not State or local efforts. While Federal, State and local geospatial needs often align for events where a DMIGS is deployed, the reality that this is a federally focused asset is an important distinction. Therefore, a point of reflection might be, if the Federal government went to this extent to develop a mobile GIS capability to support its response needs, what has my community done to develop a similar platform? To put some meat on that thought, consider this: The DMIGS was deployed to Minnesota for the Republican National Convention in 2008 (RNC); however, a few days before the convention, the DMIGS mission was changed from being available to support a "potential" response, to being available to support a "known" response. It was retasked from the RNC and sent South to support the Hurricane Ike response.
No comments:
Post a Comment