Nordic Geospatial Blog –


June 21, 2010

News – Economist Tech Quarterly & ‘air’ power, retro & gumby robots, & typing cyber faux pas

All stories…

http://www.economist.com/science-technology/technology-quarterly/

…. those with overt applicability to the LE, FOUO, HLS, and DoD domains….

Power from the air? – Re-incarnating Tesla (and no I am not referencing the stellar 80′s band) to change the game for urban C4ISR sensor deployment & obviate the need for plugs, cords, and car chargers for consumers…
http://www.economist.com/node/16295708?story_id=16295708

Old school steam power and autonomous, self fueling biomass robots – military might through mulch?
http://www.economist.com/node/16295752?story_id=16295752

Squishy robots that can meld into tight spots with compeling USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) and public health applications
http://www.economist.com/node/16295646?story_id=16295646

Self healing metal – Beyond the Tin Man from that fateful journey to Oz or simply commuting on the 405, great DoD applicability
http://www.economist.com/node/16295654?story_id=16295654

Loose clicks sink ships (solution, loud music at work is a good thing) – cybersecurity and the use of acoustic typing signatures to remotely hack computers (this could be as disasterously revealing as the un-encripted drone feeds in AfPak, i.e. with line of sight, intruders with a cheap laptop and laser / parabolic microphone could leap firewalls and air-gap systems like Parisienne parcour punks)
http://www.economist.com/node/16295574?story_id=16295574

March 7, 2010

News & Research – Donde estas?

Category: GPS,News,Privacy,Report – Tags: , – Administrator 1:29 pm

Fascinating study regarding our internal ‘GPS’ and locational orientation.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/03/03/2218375.aspx

March 1, 2010

News – Chilean Earthquake & A California Preparedness Study

20100321
It can happen here … California Earthquake Preparedness Report and Presentations
http://www.calema.ca.gov/WebPage/oeswebsite.nsf/Content/876105A2B46EFBBE882576D6007969A7?OpenDocument

Resources
Gov’t of Chile SITREP Summary (En Espanol)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/FBUO-835DCZ?OpenDocument&RSS20&RSS20=FS

Ushahidi Chile SMS to Map Tool (En Espanol)
http://chile.ushahidi.com/

ODI – HPG
Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Humanitarian Assistance
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-826N8U/$file/odi_dec2009.pdf

Land Tenure & Uncharted Territory: Land, Conflict and Humanitarian Action
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/ASAZ-7Y4SB2/$file/ODI-HPG_Nov2009.pdf

Informative whitepaper on resiliant health sector from Baystate Health (R. Skinner et al 2006)
http://www.comcare.org/uploads/Baystate%20White%20Paper%20(2).pdf

Interesting US DoD Table Top exercise using an Earthquake Scenario in the Central USA
http://www.nationaldscatraining.army.mil/WorkShop/Files/2010_dsca_earthquak_ttx.aspx

Video of Aerial Imagery
English

Espanol

January 8, 2010

Report – White House – Connecting Dots and Databases could have uncovered the Christmas Plane Bomber

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/summary_of_wh_review_12-25-09.pdf

Maybe we should apply some of the advanced analytics used for the DoD efforts to the homefront…

Analytics for the Afghan front of the GWOT

January 7, 2010

Report – Maj Gen M. T. Flynn et al CNAS – Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan

Category: AfPak,Counterterrorism,DoD,Government,IED,Report – Tags: , – Administrator 11:36 am

UPDATE 20100126 -
OXFAM and other NGOs recommend revised aid efforts
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/dangers-of-militarized-aid-afghanistan.html

Scathing and timely…

http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/AfghanIntel_Flynn_Jan2010_code507_voices.pdf

January 3, 2010

Armed UAVs – Improved Encription, GEOINT, and HUMINT needed … to Drone or not to Drone

UPDATE 20101216
The Atlantic and Peter Bergen plus excellent 3D AfPak Waziristan map-summary of strikes -
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-drone-wars/8304/

3D AfPak Drone Map

UPDATE 20100620
US Border drone flights suspended after comms breakdown
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/border-drone-breaks-comms-with-pilot-flights-suspended/

UPDATE 20100607
UN Drone Report & NYTimes article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/world/03drones.html

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.24.Add6.pdf

UPDATE 20100413
Robert Wright in NYTimes – The Price of Assassination
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/title-2/

UPDATE 20100405
A stepped up campaign after Khost
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/world/asia/05drones.html

UPDATE 20100303
Interactive maps and stats of the drone campaign in AfPak
http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones

Point…
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7ZC99B?OpenDocument

“Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.”

Wired Magazine’s Danger Room exposes unencripted UAV signals being used by Insurgents… sobering
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/drone-feds-gave-insurgents-early-warning-report/

NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100131283

& Counterpoint…

RAND Corp’s Seth G. Jones – Take the War to Pakistan
http://www.rand.org/commentary/2009/12/04/NYT.html

http://diydrones.com/

Report – UN Foundation & Vodafone – New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks

Excellent report from the UN per the ongoing work of the CrisisMapping cohort, UCLA CENS ( http://research.cens.ucla.edu/ ), etc.

http://www.unfoundation.org/press-center/publications/new-technologies-emergencies-conflicts.html

For accurate disaster satellite products, UNOSAT is the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme, implemented in co-operation with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/

Ushahidi is an excellent example of open source, mobile, situational awareness for disasters response – http://www.ushahidi.com/

What is Ushahidi? from Ushahidi on Vimeo.

New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflict

November 11, 2009

Report – WHO and cellular phones for disasters and social media

Category: Communications,Mobile,Report,United Nations – Tags: , , , , – Administrator 11:43 am

Use of mobile phones in an emergency reporting system for infectious disease surveillance after the Sichuan earthquake in China

Risk and outbreak communication: lessons from alternative paradigms

What social media offers to health professionals and citizens