DARPA's Map-Based Wiki Keeps Platoons Alive

blackbearnh writes "One of the biggest problem that a platoon on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan faces is that when a new unit cycles in, all the street-sense and experience of the old unit is lost. Knowing where insurgents like to plant IEDs, or even which families have a lot of domestic disputes, can spell the difference between living and dying. In response to this, DARPA created TIGR, the Tactical Ground Reporting System. Developed as much on the ground in active warzones as in a lab, TIGR lets platoons access the latest satellite and drone imagery in an easy-to-use map based interface, as well as recording their experiences in the field and accessing the reports of other troops. In this O'Reilly Radar interview, two of the people responsible for the development of TIGR talk about the intel issues that troops face in hostile territory, the challenges of deploying new technology meant for combat areas, the specific tricks that they had to employ to make TIGR work over less-than-robust military networking, and how TIGR is impacting platoons in their day to day operations"

Useful and Needed

[Snowy_Duck]

As a soldier currently in Baghdad and having gone through about 10 RIPs (Relief in Place) in my 13 months here this would be a great benefit. The usual RIP lasts about a week involving the leaving unit showing the new unit's leadership the main areas for a couple days. After those couple of days the new unit takes over and only a select few from the old unit accompanies them. Completely all knowledge from the old unit is lost except that which is important enough to be on the company/battalion level. My platoon alone has taken over roughly 15 AOs (Areas of Operations), just to turn them over a couple weeks later to another unit. To have a tool that shows all the historical data on a platoon (or even squad) level would greatly benefit the incoming units and the local populace. The current system just isn't good enough. It's the equivalent of getting a quick walk through of a house and then trying to determine what parts are in need of fixing.

Marine Currently Deployed In Afghanistan

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, yet another fast tracked technology that just adds to our footprint. We have so many different types of systems: tons of mapping software, command and control software, sharepoint, COPOF(command post of the future), IRC, share drives... The list goes on and on.

The fact is while i haven't seen this particular piece of software yet i already see it now. It is going to come in its own green 'field expedient' case. It will be one more thing to take up the little bandwidth we have on our network.

Obviously someone thought there was a need for such an application but i have to disagree. We keep everything documented (currently in Afghanistan), pictures, Intel Reports, grid locations for IED blasts etc. A wiki really isn't going to organize this information any better than anything we are using now.

Major setbacks to Military Communications Systems & Applications:

They do not integrate with previous systems. The Military (Marine Corps specifically) does not let go of old systems. Obviously you combine the two of these and you have a problem. I really wish there was some sort of interoperability clause in all government software contracts. Since we have a hard time utilizing open source we should get a robust API at the very least! I dunno, i could go on for days about this. I just think this TIGR system is going to be unnecessary.

Semper Fi

I've actually used this tool...

[justwill]

I'm an Army LT currently deployed. I've seen this in action and have a good idea what it's capable of. The best analogy is that it's basically a customized version of Google Maps with the following:
    - access to newer imagery
    - customized route & search tools
    - user submitted reporting
    - automatically imports historical reports

There are no special pelican cases and 5 year old rubberized hardware. It won't tie in to your BFT in your vehicle (at least not for years and years to come). You simply fire up your SIPR computer (the classified computer on a closed network - for those who don't know) and go to a specific web address and log in.

It's not a tool for the guy on the ground. SGT Snuffy isn't going to stop his fire team on patrol and consult TIGR. However, his LT may use it to plan routes and get a sense for historical activity before writing the operations order.

Without going into great depth discussing the limitations and capabilities of a tool being used to plan and conduct current operations, there are a few points that have been brought up in discussion I'd like to address:

1) The comment about "customized for military networks," simply means that they've made it a distributed system - you login to the TIGR server closest to you which reduces latency. The SIPR network uses encrypted satellite and various line-of-sight hardware to communicate - and bandwidth is at a premium.

2) The "Wiki" comparisons are... weak. The majority of TIGR's utility comes because it automatically imports from the master database of event reports. Users can create their own reports but these are typically too inconsistent to be useful. The reports that work their way through the standard reporting system are slower, but create a much more consistent and useful data set.

3) It's still got a ways to go. The UI is clunky, the search tools are really cool, but making operation graphics leaves something to be desired. The imagery is no better or worse than the imagery set available on the version of Google Earth we've got running over here. In fact - I prefer to use Google Earth plus a homebrew data import process (excel plus some macros to generate the kml files) rather than TIGR. But this tool is a HUGE step in the right direction. I'm sure down the road - all soldiers and marines will have ipod like devices mounted on their forearm with real-time location updates and historical activity represented as well as locations of other friendly units. TIGR is a baby step in the right direction.

And yes - none of us can figure out where the hell the "I" comes from. My guess is that "TGR" was being pronounced as "Tigger" which brings to mind children's books, not bad-ass soldiers. So they came up with a way to fix that at the expense of a nonsensical acronym.