esri inc solutions team esri european defence team...leadership. its software, arcgis, is used in a...

Esri Inc Solutions Team

Esri European Defence Team

Esri Inc Task Order 6

ACT FFCI Maritime Workshop

Helyx 03/464/06/02-1-0

27 Nov 2014

of 33

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK

of 33

1 Helyx Secure Information Systems

Project Period: 24-25 Sep 2014

Customer: Ben Conklin /Chris Dorman

Helyx reference: 03/464/06/02-2-0

This version dated: 27 Nov 2014

Number of pages: 33

Enquiries to: Helyx Secure Information Systems Ltd Unit 2 Hanley Court Brockeridge Business Park Twyning

Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 6FE 01684 273725

E-mail: [email protected]

Helyx Secure Information Systems Limited, registered in England, Company No. 04464638

Registered Office: Millennium House, 65 Walton Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK, HP21 7QG

mailto:[email protected]

of 33

Table of contents

1 Helyx Secure Information Systems ............................................................. 3

Table of contents ...................................................................................................... 4

2 Introduction .................................................................................................. 6 2.1 Authority. ........................................................................................................ 6 2.2 Industry Participation. ..................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Esri in NATO ................................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 Helyx ............................................................................................................... 7

3 Aim and Benefits .......................................................................................... 8

4 Workshop Conduct....................................................................................... 9 4.1 Format ............................................................................................................ 9 4.2 Use Case ........................................................................................................ 9 4.3 Participants ................................................................................................... 10 4.4 Agenda ......................................................................................................... 10 4.5 IT Configuration ............................................................................................ 11

5 Overview of Maritime Operations .............................................................. 12 5.1 Maritime Situation Awareness (MSA) ............................................................ 12 5.2 Joint Sea Based Ops (JSBO) Concept .......................................................... 13 5.3 Other Topics Discussed. ............................................................................... 13

6 Overview of GIS Technology ..................................................................... 14 6.1 An overview of the Esri/NATO relationship. ................................................... 14 6.2 Maritime GIS. ................................................................................................ 14 6.3 Geospatially enabling NATO Maritime Operations through ArcGIS. .............. 15

7 Workflow Discussion ................................................................................. 16 7.1 Information for Analytics ................................................................................ 16 7.2 Spatial Analytics............................................................................................ 17

8 Overnight Prototyping ................................................................................ 19

9 Demonstrations .......................................................................................... 20 9.1 Demonstration 1 – Story Map........................................................................ 20 9.2 Demonstration 2 – Beach Breadth. ............................................................... 21 9.3 Demonstration 3 – Depth Suitability. ............................................................. 22 9.4 Demonstration 4 – Anchorage Planning. ....................................................... 23 9.5 Demonstration 5 – Data Collection. ............................................................... 24

10 Discussion .................................................................................................. 26 10.1 ArcGIS Online. .............................................................................................. 26 10.2 Esri Maps for Office. ..................................................................................... 26 10.3 Operations Dashboard. ................................................................................. 27 10.4 Afternote. ...................................................................................................... 28

11 Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................ 29 11.1 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 29 11.2 Recommendations ........................................................................................ 29

12 Abbreviations.............................................................................................. 30

Annex A – Summary of Requirements .................................................................. 31 Figure 1 – FFCI 6 Figure 2 – Amphibious Operations Use Case 9 Figure 3 – Story Map Web Application 20 Figure 4 – Beach Breadth Geo Processing Tool 21

of 33

Figure 5 – Beach Breadth Workflow Model 22 Figure 6 – Depth Suitability Analytic 22 Figure 7 – Prototype Anchorage Planning Application 23 Figure 8 – Anchorage Planning Workflow Model 24 Figure 9 – Example data collected using the Collector App 25 Figure 10 – Example Power Point slide with embedded maps services (Esri Maps for Office) 27 Figure 11 – Example Dashboard of the Panama Canal 28 Table 1 – Workshop Participants 10 Table 2 – Workshop Agenda 11 Table 3 – IT Configuration 11 Table 4 – Spatial Analytics discussed that could be supported by GIS 18

of 33

2 Introduction

2.1 Authority.

The Framework For Collaborative Interaction (FFCI) provides a means for ACT

to collaborate with industry and to exchange ideas where it will be mutually

beneficial to both parties1 (Figure 1). An FFCI arrangement between ACT and

Esri has been established to build on the high levels of cooperation that already

exists between these two organisations2.

Figure 1 – FFCI

2.2 Industry Participation.

2.2.1 Esri in NATO

Esri support to NATO is coordinated by the European Development Team

(EDT), covering the two broad areas of software provision and thought

leadership. Its software, ArcGIS, is used in a number of Bi-Strategic Command

(BiSC) Automated Information System (AIS) core and functional services, the

most notable being Core GIS which was accepted into service in 2012 and is

currently undergoing incremental development that includes an update to

ArcGIS version 10.1. Esri software is also used by the NATO HQ Situation

Centre (SitCen), the NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre (NIFC) and the NATO

Communications Information Agency (NCIA). It has also been adopted by many

NATO nations for use within their own deployable systems, with the added

benefit of supporting interoperability with NATO and between NATO nations.

1 The FFCI concept is described in detail at: http://www.act.nato.int/ffci

2 FFCI Declaration of Mutual Collaboration dated 3 Feb 14

of 33

In addition to providing ArcGIS, Esri provides thought leadership into a number

of NATO fora (mainly exercises and training) to ensure that the wider benefits of

information management and exploitation (IM/IX) within a spatial framework,

using a GIS, are understood. The workshop described in this report builds upon

a previous workshop for the NATOs Logistic community, by providing a deeper

understanding of where geospatial capability benefits Maritime operations.

2.2.2 Helyx

Helyx are contracted to provide additional technical capacity and subject matter

expertise to the Esri Defence Solutions Team. Following a successful

demonstration of Esri technology to the 2014 Defence Geospatial International

Conference (DGI), and a workshop for NATOs Logistic community hosted by

ACT in early 2014, a further workshop for NATOs Maritime Community was

planned by the EDT and the Esri Solutions Team. It was agreed that Helyx

would support Esri to deliver this Workshop, and that it would be hosted by ACT

and held in the area of Norfolk, Virginia.

of 33

3 Aim and Benefits

The aim of this document is to report the conduct and outcome of the FFCI

Workshop held between Esri and the ACT Maritime community, in Norfolk from

24-25 Sep 2014.

The scope of this Workshop is included in FFCI arrangement which lists the

following aims and expected benefits

Assist the ACT Maritime community & Geospatial Subject Matter Experts

(SME) to understand the power of Geographic Information Systems

(GIS) and thereby be able to better define GIS requirements in future

NATO Maritime systems. The benefit of this project will be to

demonstrate enhancement and fusion of layering Geospatial, METOC

and operational information that highlights spatial connections in order to

provide greater awareness of the environment and operational situation.

Provide Esri with a better understanding of NATO maritime information

workflows so it can build software templates to help defence customers

use GIS in a maritime context.

Esri provided an initial briefing to the ACT Maritime community on 21 Mar 2014,

demonstrating the wider applications of Esri technology and setting the

conditions for this Workshop.

of 33

4 Workshop Conduct

4.1 Format

This FFCI Workshop followed a similar format to the Logistics FFCI Workshop

and was held in the Little Creek US Marine Base Conference Centre, Norfolk

Virginia. ACT provided an initial overview of Maritime operations within a NATO

context, Esri followed by providing an overview of its technology. A use case

provided context for a detailed discussion about Maritime information workflows

which then became the target of rapid overnight prototyping of Esri technology.

The prototyping results were demonstrated and discussed during day 2 of the

workshop.

.

4.2 Use Case

It was agreed that the use case would be a scenario based on an amphibious

operation to conduct a Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO), supported

by data over the area of Plymouth (GBR). Figure 2 illustrates the Command and

Control (C2) aspects of the use case, providing further context for the overnight

prototyping and for the Day 2 demonstration and discussion.

Figure 2 – Amphibious Operations Use Case

of 33

4.3 Participants

Table 1 is a list of Workshop participants:

ACT Esri

JISR Branch MetOC and CBRN

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

ACT lead for Environmental

FS/CBRN FS

Esri Navy Account

Manager

Branch Head Operational C2

ACT lead for Project TRITON

(replacement of MCCIS –)

Esri Solutions -Engineer

JISR Branch and Targeting SME Helyx Project Manager to

the Esri Solutions Team

Table 1 – Workshop Participants

4.4 Agenda

Table 2 is the Workshop agenda.

Time Item Notes

Wed 24 Sep

0900 Introductions All

0915 Aims and expected outcomes of the FFCI Workshop

All

0930 Overview of Concepts and Organization of Maritime Operations and C2 in NATO Headquarters:

Alliance Maritime Strategy

Maritime Security Operations Concept

and the Maritime Situation Awareness

Concept works

NATO Joint Sea Base Operations works

– data networks and information

ACT

1045 Esri Maritime Capability Overview ESRI

of 33

4.5 IT Configuration

Table 3 lists the IT and data provided for this workshop:

Hardware Software Data

Dell Laptop

iPad

ArcGIS for Desktop - 10.3 pre-release

Portal for ArcGIS

Collector for ArcGIS

Esri Maps for Office

Predictive Analysis Tools

Web Applications

“3D Warehouse” from Helyx

Maritime data from the UKHO:

ENC20130408 chart

Water Column

1 m bathymetry and terrain model

Sample data in comma separated value (CSV) format spreadsheet (provided by ACT)

Table 3 – IT Configuration

Esri support to NATO

Overview of GIS as a platform

Geospatially enabling Maritime

Operations

1130 Discuss NATO Use Case for the Workshop and review of data availability

ACT

1300 Esri Demonstration and discussion of requirements to geospatially enabling maritime operations

All

1700 Close

Eve Build prototype to demonstrate functionality for the NATO Use case

ESRI only

Thu 25 Sep

All day Demonstrate and refine functionality for the NATO Use case

All

Table 2 – Workshop Agenda

of 33

5 Overview of Maritime Operations

Maritime briefings were requested by Esri in order to understand the higher

level framework for NATO Maritime operations, and to provide a basis for an

informed discussion about NATO information workflows; the following were

discussed:

Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA)

Joint Sea Base Operations (JSBO) Concept

5.1 Maritime Situation Awareness (MSA)

This discussion was facilitated by an ACT SME who described data layer

management based on information requirements for a specific operation, using

criteria that were tailored to identify anomalies. The requirements and criteria

would be refined as the operation matured or circumstances changed. NATOs

Maritime Command and Control Information System (MCCIS) provides the

operational MSA; requirements outside MCCIS are provided by a prototype

system called BRITE which is available to the NATO Maritime Command

(MARCOM). Increment 1 of Project TRITON will merge BRITE with MCCIS.

Since this development effort is moving toward the Invitation to Bid (ITB) phase,

the insight gained in this FFCI may provide deeper understanding of some of

the technology options. It was pointed out that the INTEL picture includes the

shipping ‘white picture’ from MCCIS as its authoritative data source, although it

was not clear from the discussion if this was provided by the Intelligence Tool

Box (ITB) / INTEL Functional Services (INTEL FS) systems, or MCCIS. Specific

topics that came out of this discussion included:

Determining the pattern of life of local fishermen.

Measuring maritime traffic density flows.

Identifying shipping densities and shipping routes, as linked to

Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).

How to make any analysis easily configurable by Operators as the

situation changes.

of 33

5.2 Joint Sea Based Ops (JSBO) Concept

The NATO JSBO Concept is currently with nations for comment and is based

upon the US Joint Operational Access Concept. This Concept proposes that all

Joint forces initially deploy to an afloat Sea Base from where forces would be

launched; missions executed; and operations sustained. It is recognised that a

JSBO would be limited by the level of ambition which could be a Small Joint

Operation (SJO) or initial entry to a Major Joint Operation (MJO) and would

include a Deployed Joint Staff Element (DJSE) from a Joint Force Command

(JFC). The critical shortfall has been identified as sea and air lift to the JSB and

between JSB and land, further clarity is needed to understand linkages to

existing structures such as the NATO Response Force (NRF) and a deployed

Maritime Component Command (MCC). The C2 tool for a JSBO would be

MCCIS (or TRITON when fielded), probably hosted on a future Federated

Mission Network (FMN). Two topics came out of this discussion, these were:

For JSBO operations planners/commanders will need to be able to

switch between sea charts and land maps (feet wet to feet dry!!).

It would be useful to understand the environmental selection

criteria for a JSBO operation.

5.3 Other Topics Discussed.

The Environmental Functional Service (FS) and Core GIS were discussed

within the context of integration with other functional services (such as INTEL

FS). The term ‘Geospatial Enablement or geoenablement’ was introduced by

Esri to define integration and fusion of data to enable analysis, visualisation and

ultimately decision making. ‘Geoenablement’ describes how data from various

Intelligence, Environment, and Command and Control (C2) systems across the

capability spectrum can integrate and fuse data. It was discussed whether this

term may overcome differences between nations over the use of the GeoINT

term and its place within either the J2 or J3 communities.

of 33

6 Overview of GIS Technology

Esri delivered three presentations to provide ACT with an understanding of GIS

technology and to facilitate a more detailed discussion about maritime

workflows and GIS, these were:

An overview of the Esri/NATO relationship

Maritime GIS

Geospatially enabling NATO Maritime Operations through GIS

6.1 An overview of the Esri/NATO relationship.

This presentation highlighted the extent of the Esri / NATO relationship

demonstrating the breadth of interaction between both organisations, not only

from a software provision perspective, but also a service provision and thought

leadership perspective. ACT raised the following points:

The possibility of a Cyber FFCI was mentioned; EDT will address this

during its forthcoming visit to ACT.

ACT enquired about geospatial requirements within the AGS programme

and what/if any Esri involvement there is there at present?

Whether CoreGIS Increment 3 was funded. This was in the context of

CP 150 and the move from ArcGIS 9.3 to 10.1

6.2 Maritime GIS.

This presentation provided an overview of GIS benefits in a Maritime

environment. ACT raised the following points:

How far forward could Maritime GIS go? It was explained that mobile

technology provides forward deployed and shore-based users with

maps, allowing them to collect and synchronise data with an operations

centre on board a vessel whilst connected to a mission network,. Related

Esri technology is called Portal for ArcGIS with a mobile application

called “Collector”.

Given the number of GIS functions that are available, should GIS no be

considered a tool for specialist users? The following examples of the

wider utility of GIS were provided:

o Allows staff officers to perform functions with simple geo tools, for

example by providing watch-keepers with briefing and report

templates that display real time feeds of dynamic data. The

related Esri technology is called “Portal for ArcGIS” and includes

applications such as “Operations Dashboard”, “Storymaps” and

“Esri Maps for Office”.

o Sharing geospatial products and services between functional

groups to enhance collaboration across a mission network to

of 33

enahnce planning and execution of operations. The related Esri

technology is “Portal for ArcGIS”, which with additional research,

may be accessed through deployed NATO networks.

o Synchronising data collected by disconnected users equipped

with hand-held devices. The challenge of connectivity within

maritime operations requires a hand-held device to operate in

both network-connected and disconnected modes. Users should

be able to cache maps and relevant operational data before

leaving a network, but retain full functionality of the device. Once

connection to the network has been re-established, the data

collected should be synchronized automatically. The Esri

technology that addresses this capability is based on “Portal for

ArcGIS”, there are several mobile applications (apps) that interact

with Portal, most notably “Collector”.

Could an analyst ‘tweak’ the analytics? This flexibility is needed so that

deployed specialists can take into consideration local characteristics and

can respond to questions by commanders. The “GeoPlanner” application

in “Portal for ArcGIS” provides this functionality, although factors such as

permissions and data availability need to be considered.

6.3 Geospatially enabling NATO Maritime Operations through ArcGIS.

This presentation provided a detailed overview of ArcGIS within a NATO

Maritime context explaining the benefits of the ArcGIS platform and its ability to

consume, manage and analyse maritime data. Each of the Esri technologies

described in this presentation were shown within the context of operational

decision support for maritime missions such as; Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW);

Mine Warfare; Amphibious Operations; and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW). ACT

raised the following points:

To what extent was GIS optimization possible and who would do this? It was

explained that GIS optimization would depend on the analytics, data available

and the expertise to optimise analytics from basic decision-support into mission

workflows requiring verification and validation. This is a likely to be a role for

specialists in higher operational headquarters such as MARCOM.

of 33

7 Workflow Discussion

This workshop narrowed the scope of maritime operations to explore

amphibious operations, and specifically the planning elements of a non-

combatant evacuation (NEO). This was chosen because it included

environmental datasets, near-shore bathymetry, land-based terrain, imagery

and other common features. It also addressed a challenging geospatial land

map-nautical chart integration problem and was considered an appropriate

operational task for NATO.

7.1 Information for Analytics

ACT described a range of information requirements for planning an Amphibious

Beach Landing, this included a discussion about the data needed to understand

the following planning variables:

Water depth (bathymetric data)

The beach slope

The beach orientation (or aspect – which direction does the beach face)

The breadth of a beach for off-loading purposes (distance between the

seashore and back of the Beach)

The ‘back of beach’ characteristics e.g. is it a rocky escarpment or gentle

slope

Availability of exit routes from the back of the beach to the hinterland

(roads or tracks etc)

Turning circle of an amphibious vessel to identify whether it can it get

into and out of a confined beach landing area

The prevailing wind conditions

The surf zone characteristics (lines of breaking surf) and the wave

breaker zone (impact of multiple lines of surf) – linked to the prevailing

wind conditions

Potential anchorages for protection against the elements (this will

depend on wind direction) / depth of water and tidal variation (based on

minimum depths and vessel draft) / sea bed bottom type (e.g. sand is

good but silt is bad for holding anchors)

The wind direction and the environmental factors of the day.

The characteristics of a vessel with ‘hover mode’ (rather than an anchor)

– this will alter when ramps are down.

The changing characteristics of a vessel as it takes on water because

the off-load ramp is down. This will increase its weight and draft because

of the weight of water entering the vessel.

Conversion between imperial units (sea depth measurements) and

metric units (land height measurements)

of 33

7.2 Spatial Analytics.

Using the variable listed above, and applying them to a NEO amphibious

landing mission, it was agreed that GIS technology could support the spatial

analytics at Table 4:

Analytic Description Analysis criteria

1.

Anchorage

Planning

Identifying suitable

anchorage locations for

fleet, based on vessel

swing circles

[Uses a value based on

(sea depth x 5) + (length

of chain) + (vessel

length)]

Water depth

Anchor chain length

Vessel length and draught

2. Beach

Trafficability

Moving vehicles or

personnel from a landing

craft to a road network

would transition through

the beach environment.

Because of terrain or

soil/drainage factors, not

every beach can support

adequate through-put.

The structure/sub-structure of

beach (e.g. baring pressure of

ground under the sand)

Beach Slope

Width of beach

Vehicle weight /

characteristics (e.g. wheeled

or tracked)

3. Beach

Exit

Planning an exit from the

beach to the hinterland

(could be used to plan

transportation of refugees

to a hub then to the

embarkation beach and

vessel)

Road MLC, connections /

junctions etc

Use of helicopters /

availability of HLZ

Foliage coverage

Cross Country Movement

Terrain

4. Beach

suitability

To determine whether a

beach is suitable for an

amphibious landing (in

addition the above)

The temporal nature of

the prevailing sea

conditions of the day

would also have a

significant impact on

beach suitability (e.g. surf

zone / breaker zone etc).

Breadth of beach from low

tide to high tide

Suitable depths for shipping

near the beach

The length of beach and

number of boat lanes

permitted

Capacity of the beach to

support the traffic of

personnel and equipment on

and off the beach

The width of the off-load

of 33

vessels

Width of the off-load lane

Minimum allowable distance

between vessels (determined

in part by the permissive / non

permissive environment.)

Environmental issues of the

day including crosswind and

surf conditions

Beach orientation and slope

angle

Beach Trafficability

5. Analysis

of port

facilities

For alongside vessels if

an alternative to a beach

is needed

Jetty length / height for

access by particular vessels

Port facilities – damaged or

intact (possibly Cat4 REA

needed); examples include

security of moorings, physical

security, gangways, crane

capacity, access for Roll-

on/Roll-off ramps (RORO)

Channel depth from

approaches to pier

Vessel size, draft

Table 4 – Spatial Analytics discussed that could be supported by GIS

Other Esri analytics that could support a NEO mission include; cross-country

mobility, helicopter landing zone suitability, analysis of terrain for military use,

range dome of possible enemy weapon systems. These have already been

characterized and tested for the US Army, so were excluded from the overnight

prototyping effort.

of 33

8 Overnight Prototyping

Using Table 4, workshop participants agreed that the overnight prototyping

effort should focus on Analytic 4 – Beach suitability for an amphibious landing

and Analytic 1 – Anchorage planning; as these were the most complex of the

five analytics. The Esri elements of the prototyping effort used Portal for ArcGIS

and out-of-the-box applications such as Story-Maps and Collector, with

mapping and imagery of the Plymouth (GBR) area to simulate designated

geospatial information. Although prototyping would be limited to the available

data, only where this was insufficient would demonstration data be considered.

The criteria listed below were used in the analysis of beach suitability:

Beach gradient / slope

Beach width (based on high and low tide) to determine the available

beach frontage

Beach breadth (based on high and low tide) to determine the distance to

the beach exit point

Beach Aspect

Imagery of beaches (to include exit points)

Surf forecasting (including the prevailing wind) and the impact on landing

vessels, this would demonstrate the use of dynamic data in the

demonstration

The INTEL picture (using demo data) – to demonstrate the use of data

from other FS.

of 33

9 Demonstrations

Given the breadth of analysis and technical challenges of the tasks undertaken,

not all criteria were met. However, the demonstrations were able to show the

flexibility of GIS technology and the depth of analysis possible; recognising that

this would only be available with ArcGIS version 10.1 which will soon be

available through CoreGIS. The following demonstrations were provided:

9.1 Demonstration 1 – Story Map.

Figure 3 is a Story Map web application (WebApp) that simulates a briefing

product for commanders and operations and planning staff. It was created from

multiple web services to showcase every aspect of the overnight prototyping

work. By pointing at published web services, the story map will always have the

latest information embedded, regardless of the battle-rhythm. This prototype

included the following content which was also developed overnight:

Imagery of the Beach with its approaches (under the left-most Tab)

Weather, including a slider showing previous and forecast weather

(under Tab)

Real-time inputs from Evacuation beach (simulated) (under Tab)

Beach Breadth (shown)

Figure 3 – Story Map Web Application

of 33

9.2 Demonstration 2 – Beach Breadth.

Figure 4 is a Beach Breadth Geo Processing Tool with its associated model

builder diagram. Although the framework of this analytic was delivered during

the Workshop, a more complete version has subsequently been developed.

This tool now allows an analyst to determine the distance between the coastline

(typically the Mean-High or Higher Water (MHHW)) and the water line (Mean

Low - Lower Water (MLLW). The resulting linear features are then output as

vector charts. The workflow, shown in Figure 5, takes those linear features,

creates point positions along those lines and matches the closest MLLW water

positions and MHHW positions. The matched pairs then are used to create a

line which gives the distance of the beach between the MHHW and MLLW

datasets. Further beach breadth analysis should consider tidal constituents by

applying a tidal value to a Digital Elevation Model as a raster function and then

time enabled to provide planners with beach availability over time.

Figure 4 – Beach Breadth Geo Processing Tool

of 33

Figure 5 – Beach Breadth Workflow Model

9.3 Demonstration 3 – Depth Suitability.

Figure 6 is a depth suitability analytic for two vessels based on a comparison of

ship characteristics with ocean depth information. For this demonstration Esri

used the ArcGIS Predictive Analysis tools to determine whether certain vessels

were able to reach a given location. It shows the ability of a medium-sized

commercial ship (in yellow) and large amphibious ship ballasted down for

onload-offload (in green) to navigate in the bay area, given a notional draft of

each vessel type. Red areas indicate water that is too shallow for either ship

during the full range of tides in Plymouth harbour.

Figure 6 – Depth Suitability Analytic

of 33

9.4 Demonstration 4 – Anchorage Planning.

Figure 7 is a prototype Anchorage Planning application that provides staff

planners with an ability to rapidly determine the capacity of an anchorage area.

With further development this application could provide an optimal view of

anchorage capacity showing the maximum number of vessels within the closest

proximity to the beach. The benefit of this application would be to support the

organisation of a congested anchorage area to maximise the number and size

of vessels at anchor within a set distance of a beach landing area. This

application took into account vessel length and water depth to assign an

appropriate length of anchor chain; it then computed and visualised a vessel

swing circle. Figure 7 shows an example anchorage position with the logic flow

used to design the Anchorage Planning application shown at Figure 8.

Figure 7 – Prototype Anchorage Planning Application

of 33

Figure 8 – Anchorage Planning Workflow Model

9.5 Demonstration 5 – Data Collection.

This demonstration showed how a mobile device could collect ground truth

information to share with a deployed Operations Room using over a mission

network. A map was produced for the evacuation beach and a symbology

template provided to support forward deployed users during landing site

surveys, allowing them to ground-truth important features that may not have

been obvious by remote collection methods. A mobile device used ArcGIS

Collector to download and cache the map, which could be used whilst either

connected or disconnected to the mission network. It was shown that Collector

could capture features using the symbology templates and if connected could

transmit its position and the collected geo-referenced information back to the

deployed Operations Room. If disconnected it was shown that Collector could

store the information and synchronise with a master dataset once the

connection had been restored. Figure 9 is a view of the simulated mobile user

annotations that would have been acquired using Collector to support the NEO

evacuation.

of 33

Figure 9 – Example data collected using the Collector App

of 33

10 Discussion

During the demonstrations, discussion focused on the following aspects of Esri

technology:

ArcGIS Online (also called ‘Portal for ArcGIS’ or “Portal’)

Esri Maps for Office to embed maps and analysis into Excel or

PowerPoint documents

Operations Dashboard to display, analyse, and organise data

10.1 ArcGIS Online.

During the discussion Esri provided a more detailed overview of ArcGIS Online

and standard symbols using a template to create a map of Bovisand Beach

showing staging areas and other information that was shared with

representative user groups. This raised a number of possibilities including the

use of Portal to host the NATO Recognised Environment Picture (REP), with

the benefit of controlling access to maps, products and data within a

collaborative working environment. The possibility of linking portals between the

NATO Command Structure headquarters and nations was also raised, as was

the use of Portal to apply NATO release conditions, although it was recognised

that further analysis and experimentation would be needed to prove the viability

of this. The relationship between ArcGIS Portal and SharePoint was discussed

(NATO use SharePoint as its primary means of managing document access

control). ACT requested more information about this relationship and in

particular the impacts on content management and metadata.

10.2 Esri Maps for Office.

Given NATOs dependence on Microsoft Office products for planning and

presentation, a link between Microsoft Office applications and ArcGIS was

included in the discussion to show the benefits of Esri Maps for Office in any

environment that required briefings or data management. Two areas of

functionality were shown, the first was an excel spreadsheet that was uploaded

to Portal and shared with a notional group who were able to create a map or

simply access the .csv file. The second was a web map service hosted on

Portal that was embedded into a PowerPoint presentation slide. Although the

benefits of this functionality were clear, primacy over coordinating updates to

the underlying data without a check-out process need to be understood. Figure

10 is an example of web maps within a PowerPoint slide.

of 33

Figure 10 – Example Power Point slide with embedded maps services (Esri Maps for Office)

10.3 Operations Dashboard.

The limited amount of time for overnight prototyping, meant that it was not

possible to develop a bespoke Operations Dashboard. Instead an example of

an existing dashboard over the Panama Canal was provided for discussion

(Figure 11). The purpose of this dashboard was to help Canal operators to

manage the flow of traffic in the Canal and showed; real-time ship tracks;

(simulated) weather, and live web cameras. There was significant interest in

dashboard functionality and their benefits which include; the ability to configure

the app according to role and mission; the ability to organise and access data

and add new functionality (widgets); and the ability to save and share the

dashboards with other users, allowing collaboration.

of 33

Figure 11 – Example Dashboard of the Panama Canal

10.4 Afternote.

On completion of the Workshop, ACT described a use case involving Maritime

CIMIC, which has been included in this Report because of its relevant to the

work undertaken during the Workshop. The Use Case describes the role of the

OP ATALANTA / EUNAVFOR Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa3

(MSCHOA). This promotes Best Management Practice (BMP) for civilian

vessels transiting the Horn of Africa (HoA) along an International Recognised

Transit Corridor (IRTC). BMP guidance to vessels includes; reporting, using zig-

zag routes and defensive measures such as using a water cannon. Of interest

the BMP advises that:

Civilian vessels should report speed and bearing as they enter the IRTC

then turn off their AIS so they cannot be tracked by pirates.

Once clear of the IRTC, they should switch on AIS and report to

MSCHOA that they are clear.

This system relies on reporting by vessels – there is no alert if a vessel

does not leave the IRTC at the time estimated.

Civilian vessels are monitored by ATALANTA / EUNAVFOR forces as

they pass through patrol boxes

This CIMIC use case could benefit from a simple dashboard with geo-fences to

provide an alert if a vessel does not transit through a patrol box or the IRTC at

the estimated time, this dashboard could also be shared to improve

coordination between the MSCHOA and OP ATALANTA / EUNAVFOR

maritime forces.

3 See: http://www.mschoa.org/on-shore/home

of 33

11 Conclusions and Recommendations

11.1 Conclusions

Both sides agreed that this workshop had met the stated aims and the

expectation of participants; it provided Esri with a greater understanding of

NATO maritime process (in particular the NATO JSBO Concept) and

documentation; and ACT with a wider appreciation of Esri technology. ACT

recognised the benefits of an operational perspective provided by MARCOM,

and recognised that at the operational level the following use cases would be

relevant:

Operational Planning and ‘wargaming’ the optimal locations for

oilers to re-fuel vessels at sea, but also take into account the need

to re-fuel oilers from port locations.

Maritime operational assessments and Measures of Effect.

A complete summary of all the potential maritime requirements that were

discussed throughout this workshop is at Annex A.

11.2 Recommendations

The following recommendations were discussed:

The outcome of this FFCI Workshop should be exposed to MARCOM in

order to confirm the outputs and requirements identified, and provide

operational level context.

ACT and Esri use FFCI for further collaboration; the two functions

mentions were INTEL and Cyber.

Esri agreed to provide ACT a copy of the presentations provided during

Day 1 (action complete).

ACT agreed to provide Esri with copies of relevant NATO documentation

discussed during Day 1 of this Workshop. The following documents have

been provided:

o JDP 3-51 NEO Planning (GBR)

o JDP 3-522 Disaster relief (GBR)

o JP3-02 Amphibious (USA)

o JOAC (Joint Operational Access) (USA)

o NATO JSBO 3rd Draft (NATO)

Further development of the demonstrations should be undertaken and

potentially linked to a visit to MARCOM, or further development of Esri

Solutions Team outputs.

It was agreed that Esri would provide ACT with a report that would

include a summary of the demonstrations and recommendations.

of 33

12 Abbreviations

ACO Allied Command Operations

ACOS Assistant Chief of Staff

ACT Allied Command Transformation

ASW Anti-Submarine Warfare

ASUW Anti-Surface Warfare

BiSC Bi-Strategic Command (refers to ACT and ACO)

CIMIC Civil Military Coorperation

Core GIS Core Geographic Information Systems

DJSE Deployed Joint Staff Element

EDT European Defence Team

Esri Earth Science Research Institute

Esri UC Esri User Conference

FFCI Framework For Collaborative Interaction

FMN Federated Mission Network

GBR Great Britain

GeoINT Geospatial Intelligence

GIS Geographic Information System

HQ Headquarters

INTEL Intelligence

IRTC International Recognised Transit Corridor

JDP Joint Defence Publication

JFC Joint Force Operation

JSBO Joint Sea Basing Operation

NRF NATO Response Force

MSCHOA Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa

MAR Maritime

MARCOM Maritime Command

MCCIS Maritime Command and Communications Information System

MJO Major Joint Operation

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NCIA NATO Communications Information Agency

NEO Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation

NIFC NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre

REA Rapid Environmental Assessment

SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

SJO Small Joint Operation

SME Subject Matter Expert

SPA Spain

USA United States of America

Annex A – Summary of Requirements

Requirement Description Analysis criteria

Anchorage

Planning

Identifying suitable anchorage locations for fleet, based

on vessel swing circles

[Uses a value based on (sea depth x 5) + (length of

chain) + (vessel length)]

Water depth

Anchor chain length

Vessel length and draught

Beach

Trafficability

Moving vehicles or personnel from a beached landing

craft to a working road network would transition

through the beach environment. Because of terrain or

soil/drainage factors, not every beach can allow

adequate through-put.

The structure/sub-structure of beach (e.g. baring

pressure of ground under the sand)

Beach Slope

Width of beach

Vehicle weight / characteristics (e.g. wheeled or

tracked)

Beach Exit Planning an exit from the beach to the hinterland (could

be used to plan transportation of refugees to a hub

then to the embarkation beach and vessel)

Road MLC, connections / junctions etc

Use of helicopters / availability of HLZ

Foliage coverage

Cross Country Movement

Terrain

Beach

suitability

To determine whether a beach is suitable for an

amphibious landing (in addition the above)

The temporal nature of the prevailing sea conditions of

the day would also have a significant impact on beach

suitability (e.g. surf zone / breaker zone etc).

Breadth of beach from low tide to high tide

Suitable depths for shipping near the beach

The length of beach vs Number of boat lanes

permitted

Through-put of personnel/forces on / off the beach

of 33

The width of the off-load vessels

Width of the off-load lane

Minimum allowable distance between vessels

(determined in part by the permissive / non permissive

environment.)

Environmental issues of the day including crosswind

and surf conditions

Beach orientation and slope angle

Beach trafficability

Analysis of

port facilities

For alongside vessels if an alternative to a beach is

needed

Jetty length / height for access by particular vessels

Port facilities – damaged or intact (poss Cat4 REA);

examples include security of moorings, physical

security, gangways, crane capacity, access for Roll-

on/Roll-off ramps (RORO)

Channel depth from approaches to pier

Vessel size, draft

Patterns of

Life

The requirement to understand the Pattern of Life of

local fishermen.

Analysis criteria to be determined but needs to adapt

as the situation changes

Traffic

Density

To understand maritime traffic density flows. Analysis criteria to be determined but needs to adapt

as the situation changes

Analysing

Shipping

Densities

Shipping densities and shipping routes, specifically

linked to AIS feeds

Analysis criteria to be determined

Support to

JSB

The ability of planners and commanders to switch

between sea charts and land maps (feet wet to feet

Analysis criteria to be determined

of 33

Operations dry!!)

Support to

JSB

Operations

To understand the environmental selection criteria for a

JSB operation

Analysis criteria to be determined but could include:

o Anchorage plan

o Refuelling options

o Bathymetry

o Prevailing wind

Maritime

CIMIC

To alert the authorities if vessels fail to meet transit

targets across restricted areas

AIS feeds

Geo-fence over a restricted area

Start point

Speed and bearing

Finish point

esri inc solutions team esri european defence team...leadership. its software, arcgis, is used in a...

Documents