USAID to stand up new Geospatial Intelligence Center

A new Geospatial Intelligence Center at the U.S. Agency for International Development aims to mash together satellite imagery and on-the-ground surveys and reports to cut down on field-based work and give the agency a better sense of where development dollars can do the most good.

Agency officials are in the early stages of planning the GeoCenter, as they have dubbed it, and will officially launch the center sometime before the end of the year, Shadrock Roberts, one of its designers, said at a USAID seminar Wednesday. GIS data can be combined with a range of other data collected by USAID and nongovernment aid organizations to make development work more efficient and productive, panelists at the event said.

Project workers focused on food security, for example, can map data on conflict, economic development and population movements with satellite-based maps of agricultural production, roads and weather patterns to predict where food shortages are most likely to occur and focus resources there...