USAREUR agile development brings iArmy 3-D map capabilities to Mission Command Web

By Kathryn BaileyMarch 21, 2012

USAREUR agile development brings iArmy 3-D map capabilities to Mission Command Web
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Commanders and Soldiers at the United States Army Europe's (USAREUR) headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, are experiencing enhanced situational awareness due to the collaboration between two Google Earth-based applications: iArmy and Command Web.

iArmy provides a 3D terrain visualization capability and Command Web provides a web-based common operating picture (COP) using lightweight applications, also known as "widgets." In keeping with the Army's goal for agile IT development, iArmy in Command Web was developed and deployed in less than six months.

"iArmy was initially developed within the USAREUR G3, Mission Command Support Division (MCSD) Operations as a stand-alone application to enrich situational awareness" said Maj. Shane Sims, Project Manager Mission Command (PM MC) Command Web Project Lead. "We saw a great opportunity to accelerate our existing development plans for an enhanced COP by quickly blending two fully functional technologies."

It was iArmy's ability to convert data into Key Markup Language (KML) that initially enticed the Command Web Team to contact USAREUR, said Sims. KML allows the user to view textual descriptions, map coordinates and geo-referenced images such as airfields, bridges, chemical sites and critical building infrastructure.

"We had planned to incorporate KML into Command Web, and iArmy required a home within an Army program so it made sense to work together," said Sims.

PM MC, part of the Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), brought the collaborative effort to its development partner, the Army's Software Engineering Center (SEC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

"PM MC and SEC personnel recognized the goodness in iArmy's development, incorporated it into our 3D Google Earth Widget and quickly included it into a sustainable product," said Sims.

The plan is to fully transition all of iArmy capabilities into Command Web within the next fiscal year, said Simms.

The low development cost in no way affected iArmy in Command Web's performance. After observing initial promising results, USAREUR asked PM MC's Tactical Mission Command (TMC) to bring Command Web with iArmy to this year's Austere Challenge (AC12), an annual joint exercise that enables U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) service components to plan and execute full spectrum operations as a Joint Task Force Headquarters. This exercise is currently scheduled for the fall of 2012.

As a rehearsal for AC12, USAREUR conducted the Crises Action Planning (CAP) event in January within the Contingency Command Post (CCP) located on Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, Germany. The purpose of the exercise was to prepare for a natural disaster in Europe by coordinating military resources. They used Command Web with iArmy capabilities for their COP.

The senior battle staff members who supported the CAP praised Command Web's ease of use, web-based access and diversity of functions instead of having to be tied to a specific system that provides one function, said Dan Hawkins, USAREUR's Tactical Mission Command (TMC) Systems Operations Lead.

In addition, the visiting PM MC team configured the Contingency Command Post of the Future stations to demonstrate the benefits of collaborative sessions amongst the CAP staff. The Command Post of the Future (CPOF) is a decision support system that imports data feeds from Mission Command and other Army systems to provide situational awareness and collaborative tools for tactical decision making.

All CPOF systems simultaneously viewed different scaled maps directly from the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) Geospatial Map server. DCGS-A provides geospatial data and intelligence analysis to Army commands at all echelons. The comments from the Battle Staff were "it is finally nice to have a common map product for our CPOF systems," said Hawkins. "

To further assess Command Web with iArmy, the USAREUR Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, asked the staff to plan and prepare a virtual terrain walk in February. By using Command Web's Google Earth 3D model to overlay fires, infrastructure and maneuver widgets, the virtual terrain walk provided a visualization of operational and intelligence data such as logistical requirements and enemy hostile threat capabilities.

"The collaboration between USAREUR, PM MC and SEC personnel is a great example of how the Army can create state-of-the-art software using a cost-efficient, agile development process," said Sims. "What started with a small team's rapid development effort has led to an enhanced U.S. Army/USAREUR collaborative capability with a promising future."

Related Links:

PEO C3T website

Program Manager, Mission Command's website

PEO C3T on Facebook