SAIC Team Creates Atlases to Help Military Rescue Operations in Haiti

In an area affected by a natural disaster such as this, having a computer with a network connection was not possible during the support operation. Unlike modern geospatial tools familiar to people in the United States, such as Google® Earth, Haiti's lack of an infrastructure required the use of traditional hardcopy maps to help those in need.

However, because of the need for maps in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East, the available maps of Haiti prior to the earthquake were outdated and limited to tourist maps and small-scale products that would be very difficult to use in providing aid.

SAIC's Global Geospatial Intelligence (GGI) team updated the maps and charts of Haiti to help military rescue operations in the country. By compiling this information into two atlases for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the GGI team provided the rescue operations in Haiti with tools and information necessary to provide aid.

A Dream Team With Customized Technology

The project was split into a 20-page atlas covering the seven port cities in Haiti and an atlas of more than700 pages showing the entire country. Both were created using ArcGIS®, a geographic information system (GIS) software program developed by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI®). ESRI has the largest GIS software install base in the world, and SAIC is one of ESRI's four authorized system integrators.

The GGI team used the SAIC Toolkit for ArcGIS, an SAIC-developed custom toolkit comprised of over 300 individual tools that supplement or replace the standard ArcGIS solution. The toolkit was developed to support other atlas product lines for NGA but was customized for the Haiti project.

The first atlas showed commercial imagery with roads, geographic names, and a military grid reference system overlay for use with Global Positioning System equipment by the military. Using ArcGIS and the SAIC Toolkit, the team produced the page layout and margin notes.

With only three SAIC analysts working on it, the first atlas was completed, reviewed, and accepted by NGA within 48 hours, an incredible feat for a project that, under normal circumstances, would take several weeks.

The second project involved 14 geospatial analysts from SAIC. Split over four volumes, the atlas covered the entire country of Haiti in over 700 pages using a combination of government and commercial imagery overlaid with road vectors and 15,000 geographic names. Despite this atlas' large size, the team completed it in less than two weeks.

"The team assembled was quite literally a dream team of our division's cartographers," SAIC Technical Lead Jeremiah Johnson commented.

Helping the People of Haiti

The new atlases were distributed by NGA to the military, first responders, and other aid organizations, including the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the Joint Task Force, and the international community. In fact, they were in such high demand that they were handed out to deployed personnel when they first arrived in Haiti. More than 1,600 copies were distributed in the weeks following the earthquake and an additional 1,000 copies were requested by aid workers.

The main motivation for the SAIC team was always to help those in Haiti impacted by the earthquake.

"It's truly rewarding to produce something that will directly help thousands of people who have been displaced by the earthquake," said SAIC Analyst Jason Smolinski. "I'm thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of such an important task."

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