From Satellite to Sanctuary: GEOINT in Motion"

Oya! COME OUT NA CAR! COME OUT! COME OUT! COME OUT!

The shrieks coming from the mouths of the gentlemen with poorly positioned face masks reverberated across the travel bus…

Yet the AK-17 firearms they carried quickly shifted both power and authority back over to these four men.

The passengers began to scurry out of the bus… frantically stepping over one another… pressing their bodies as far away from the bandits as possible.

These bandits had been targeting select routes to smaller Christian churches… attempting to steal and kidnap for ransom. Their selectivity of major toll points ensured that those traveling from nearby locations would stop along the detour.

The banging continued.They smashed the bus windows… kept yelling.

One gentleman on the bus remained very calm… and gently pressed the panic button.

That area of Southeastern Nigeria had just undergone a regional initiative with law enforcement and special forces… unbeknownst to the very ignorant bandits.

The gentleman smiled under his breath.The panic button alerted the newly revived regional copter system and local law enforcement partners… some staffed with foreign allies.

Since the new international pipeline contract… foreign allies had begun supporting capacity-building efforts as a grantor of the contract.

The gentleman smiled again as his beeper gently buzzed three times. His training allowed him to note that forces were en route… three minutes away.

Strategic checkpoints with contractors surrounded all major roadways… efficiently granting copter presence in under ten minutes.

“Please ooo biko, please ooo!”

Mama was screaming as one of the bandits ripped her grandson out of her embrace… shoving him to the opposite side of the road.

They intended to take the children.

“Shut UP!” he barked back.

She began to wail. “Chineke mooo… Jesus…” she screamed through tearful gasps.

The gentleman clenched his fists.

No sooner had the bandit approached him… getting into his face… his malodorous stench filled his nostrils. He blinked back a nauseating cough.

My God, he thought… trying not to vomit.

“Oga, come out!” the bandit barked vehemently… his eyes boring into his with hatred and anger.

The beeper buzzed once. They are here… he released a breath.

Seconds later…

The whirlwind of the helicopter approaching left the sandy road bellowing… sand dispersing everywhere.

“Move back! Move back!” the bandits screeched to one another.

They released the people and began to run into the bush.

The radar telecom systems embedded in the helicopter tracked their movements with precision.

Overhead surveillance continued while foot patrol swerved in.

Two major Tesla-styled trucks zoomed into the region.

One crisis intervention unit immediately attended to the victims… all of whom had knelt on the ground… praising the Lord… weeping and wailing.

The second truck began its off-road course to capture the bandits.

Recent reporting had shown that kidnapped victims became sacrifices for black-market organ harvesting and sex trafficking rings across nearby African countries.

Forces needed all bandits back… alive.

The Intelligence Behind the Rescue: GEOINT

Geospatial Intelligence… or GEOINT… is a core discipline of intelligence and data collection that serves a critical role in building spatial and temporal context while monitoring a territory or threat actors.

GEOINT combines imagery… intelligence analytics… geospatial datasets… and metadata to convey actors and forces in real time.

This capability is central to identifying anomalous patterns… operational formations… and changes in adversary posture.

In simpler terms… geospatial intelligence means that human beings have mastered the use of cameras to take pictures of the Earth and create maps that become the foundation for census data… community planning… and the tracking of people at local, regional, national, and international levels.

One can imagine looking at their neighborhood from above… like a bird flying high in the sky… or a drone taking pictures. GEOINT allows us to do this for the entire world.

Professionals in the GEOINT industry use satellites… planes… and drones to take photos and videos from the sky. These tools help us see where things are… what is happening on the ground… and any notable changes.

We can see roads… buildings… cars… ships… and even wildfires.

Satellites act as robots in space… flying far above the Earth… taking photos daily… and transmitting those images for our use. Some also use heat sensors… radar… and infrared to see at night… through clouds… and even underground.

One of the Army’s key GEOINT groups today is the Army Geospatial Center (AGC), established in 2009. The AGC has developed powerful tools like the BuckEye system, which combines lasers and high-resolution cameras to map cities in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another tool… SAGE… helps commanders quickly visualize terrain and movement on digital maps.

New projects like Project Convergence and TITAN use artificial intelligence to make this process even faster.

In the United Kingdom… geospatial work began during World War II at a place called RAF Medmenham.

The most widely used GIS platform in the U.S. is ArcGIS by Esri… which provides advanced tools and technical support for cities.

In contrast… QGIS is a popular open-source alternative favored by users who prefer flexibility and community-driven development… though it may offer fewer out-of-the-box applications.

GIS tools can map complex layers of data… for example… income levels… ethnic demographics… housing availability… transportation access… and employment hubs.

These layers help planners… emergency responders… and policymakers visualize trends and make data-informed decisions.