Building a Common Operating Picture of Facilities, Infrastructure, and Terrain

With an increasing need for commanders to have an understanding of infrastructure and the physical environment both on and off the battlefield, geospatial engineers must be able to provide a global, holistic, and cohesive view through tools like the Joint Engineer Common Operating Picture. From ancient warfare to modern armed conflict, the principle of mastering terrain is timeless and foundational to success. Commanders must understand where friendly forces and enemy troops can maneuver and defend, and where to exploit the physical environment to gain positional advantage. The geospatial engineering function, as defined by Joint Publication 3-34, Joint Engineer Operations, encompasses survey and mapping, remote sensing, geospatial information systems, computer-aided drafting and design, building information modeling, and other engineer tasks employing geospatial engineering capabilities. These require units to generate, collect, integrate, analyze, and visualize location-enabled data for engineers and the joint understanding of complex operating environments.