Digital mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) occupy center stage in activities as diverse as battlefield simulation, mission briefing and communications planning, logistics management and command control.
- Defense Estate Management
The value of this GIS technology as an administrative support is significant, particularly; the MOD holds large chunks of property across the nation. Effective management of the Defense Estates requires significant effort. In this background, the MOD with its three wings of Armed forces is served by mapping both digital and analogue which is consistent and accurate in all aspects. GIS allows military land and facilities managers to reduce base operation and maintenance costs, improve mission effectiveness, provide rapid modelling capabilities for analyzing alternative strategies, improve communication and to store institutional knowledge Use of GIS in the management of military bases facilitates maintenance and the tackling of all stores, which may be found on the base.
- Terrain Evaluation
Terrain Evaluation In land based military operations, Military field commanders would like to know terrain conditions, elevations for maneuvering Armor carriers, tanks and for use of various weapons. In addition, they need vegetation cover, road networks, and communication lines with pin pointing accuracy for optimizing resource utilization. A detailed land map with information on land use, terrain model and proximity of habitat is essential for military operations. All these details must be available to the field commanders in a datum to match with the equipment he uses for position fixing and communication in his area of operation. Any discrepancy in these inputs may endanger the operation. Target assessment can be done if the inputs are properly matched with the system used for firing the weapon. Magnetic variation, gravitational information are required for sensitive military operations.
- Naval Operation
Naval Operations at sea naval vessels depend largely on extrapolative methods to navigate when there is no means of establishing position with visual aids. Global Positioning System (GPS) provides the means of determining the position at sea. Echo sounder provides measurement of the depth of the water below the vessel. Naval vessels operate at sea using several electronic gadgets. Recent technological advances have provided the means to assess the unknown to greater accuracy. At sea, complex natural features such as currents, wave conditions, sea surface temperatures and tides may prove at times deterrent to naval operations. A clear understanding of the complex ocean dynamics is an essential element for successful naval operations. The recent introduction of Electronic Chart Display and Information System, helps navigate the ship safely in all weather conditions. Electronic Navigation Chart is a replacement of conventional paper chart, which is used as tool for navigation provides in-put for detailed information about depth, hazards and navigational aids within the area. This supported by visual and audio alarms of ECDIS provide the navigator on bridge sufficient means to navigate the vessel safely. The display is used to provide selective information either spatial or textual information to the navigator for safe passage. ENC is the database for GIS operations and ECDIS is the real time GIS application in marine environment.
- Air Operation
Air operations in a battle environment require similar inputs as land operations as well as precise height information for targeting. These include detailed information about the target location, proximity of civilian areas, terrain evaluation and meteorological conditions besides navigational data. The virtual reality concepts are of greater help in fighter and bombing aircrafts for effective air strike operations. Military leaders heavily depend on GIS and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to make tactical decisions such guiding troops, supplies/equipment and ships, informing them of possible threats, problems with terrain in which they will encounter and also to direct their attention to specific areas of interests.
- Mapping
The military needs maps for different purposes within its operational command and each requirement caters to a specific purpose. The digital base map facilitates the creation of different types of maps to meet specific user needs without clustering with unwanted details. This facilitates the viewing of spatial information on need to know basis either at command headquarters or in the field area. The battle commanders can evaluate thematic information for analyzing the real time scenario by manipulating the information available at their disposal.
- Positional Information
One of the most important functions of GIS along with satellite imagery is to understand and interpret terrain, which is a major role in determining how troops can be deployed in the quickest and most effective way. Understanding the landscape is especially useful because a military leader can determine strategic positions, such as ideal locations for scouting parties, best line of sight/fire and also the ability to hide troops and equipment.
- Logistics Management
GIS plays an important role military logistics because it helps in moving supplies, equipment, and troops where they are needed at the right time and place. By using GIS in determining routes for convoys, forces are able to determine alternative routes if mishaps or traffic jams occur on the most direct route. By using both GPS and GIS certain sensitive articles such as; nuclear warheads can be tracked every step of their shipment and also kept away from hot spots, populated areas or other shipments.
- Common Horizontal Datum
It is necessary that the spatial data for the use by Military units reside within framework of single Datum for coordinating joint service operations. There is a bottleneck in this aspect in the present scenario of military operations. The maritime operators use a vertical datum based on the high water mark; the land operators use a vertical datum based on mean sea level, while the air operators are more concerned with the obstruction heights above ground level. As an interim measure, there should be at least interoperability between the three wings of Armed forces to use a common reference datum in their activities in mapping for effective conduct of joint military operations.