Background:
In JP 2-03, the Four Steps of Geospatial Intelligence Preparation of the
Environment are discussed. They are:
1. Define the Environment
2. Describe Influences of the Environment
3. Assess Threats and Hazards
4. Develop Analytic Conclusions1
The first step noted is defining the environment. In this case this also
carries with it articulating the human as well as spatial elements, and how
they affect one another to produce an “environment” in the geospatial sense.
Discussion Requirement:
From your readings this week, particularly the material found in Batson’s
Registering the Human Terrain: A Valuation of Cadastre, discuss the
following observation made by Jerome E. Dobson in the context of integrating
human terrain into geospatial intelligence analyses. Discuss how human
terrain analysis enriches the geospatial intelligence assessment.
…Geography is to space what history is to time. It is a spatial way of
thinking, a science with distinctive methods and tools, a body of knowledge
about places, and a set of information technologies that have been around
for centuries. Geography is about understanding people and places and how
real-world places function in a viscerally organic sense. It’s about
understanding spatial distributions and interpreting what they mean. It’s
about using technology to study, in the words of the late professor J.
Rowland Illick, “why people do what they do where they do it.” Geography is
a dimensional science, based on spatial logic in which locations, flows, and
spatial associations are considered to be primary evidence of earth
processes, both physical and cultural. Its hallmarks are spatial analysis,
place-based research (e.g., regional, area, and urban studies) and
scientific integration.2
Please reply to two of your classmates.
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1Joint Chief of Staff, Geospatial Intelligence in Joint Operations: JP 2-03
(2012), IV-9.
2Jerome E. Dobson, “Bring Back Geography!” ArcNews Online by ESRI (Spring
2007).
