Intel gathering

Intelligence community, companies give out satellite imagery to motivate app developers

The nation’s intelligence agencies have more data than they know what to do with. What they really need are software algorithms that can magically turn data into that elusive insight known as actionable intelligence.

Giving away data to software developers has been a proven tactic for industries trying to create excitement and new products. The geospatial intelligence world is continuing that trend in a big way. At its annual symposium this week, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation presented its “Industry Achievement Award” to SpaceNet, an open repository of free imagery with map features created by CosmiQ Works, Radiant Solutions and NVIDIA.

“This enables the entire research and development community to focus on developing solutions to challenging geospatial problems instead of spending time on data acquisition,” said David Lindenbaum, principal engineer at CosmiQ Works. He believes SpaceNet will “lower the barrier to entry for developers and startups to access high-quality geospatial data.”