Abstract

Ex Nihilo Nihil: Data Development and the Military Installation Map
Track: Defense and Intelligence
Authors: Justin Goering, Joshua Swanson, Gabe Lovasz, Nicholas Look

Nothing comes from nothing. In the desert southwest, large expanses of land, low population density, and sparse vegetation and infrastructure make ideal bombing ranges; however, these are the same elements used to assess collection priorities for limited budgets. MCAS Yuma has management responsibilities of over 1.5 million acres of non-contiguous aviation training ranges. Although geospatial data of varying quality does exist, it often resides in coarse resolution datasets or out-dated raster and hard copy products. MCAS Yuma is currently completing the first of five required 1:50,000 scale maps. These products represent the first major data development effort since the 1960s and required overcoming significant challenges in record and feature class level metadata tracking, data compilation from multiple sources, spatial, temporal, and attribute accuracy, cartographic standards, data normalization, data model implementation, and multiple government agency coordination. Data was created, compiled, attributed, organized, and documented using ArcGIS Desktop and government standards documents.