PBBI leverages expertise in civilian space in military geospatial capability demonstration

Windsor, Berks, 7 December 2010 - Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) – a global leader in location intelligence, data management and customer communication management software, data and services – has announced its participation in a major demonstration of geospatial capabilities commissioned by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) and managed by Lockheed Martin UK IS&S.  PBBI has supported the Common Geospatial Tool Set (CGTS) research project delivery team since 2008, and recently participated in a high-level demonstration of its capabilities in front of over 100 senior representatives from the MOD, the emergency services and the Government.

The aim of the CGTS project is to establish a coherent geospatial capability for UK Defence through the provision of a set of standardised and common geospatial services and COTS (commercial off the shelf)-based functionality that is both integrated and interoperable.  PBBI’s software is already used by defence organisations such as NATO, but its expertise in the civilian space – particularly in the police market, where 80% of forces currently use PBBI’s products – and ability to quickly integrate multi-vendor data sets has proved to be invaluable in achieving interoperability. 

The MOD’s operations increasingly overlap with the civilian domain, so it is vital that the geospatial systems the military uses for planning and analysis can seamlessly interoperate and share information with government, public sector, security and royal protection agencies, plus the emergency services.  As part of the CGTS demonstration, a realistic Homeland Security scenario was simulated to assess the ability of open standards to deliver interoperability across multiple vendors and networks during an escalating emergency incident.

PBBI represented both the police and the NHS as part of the scenario, and demonstrated a range of capabilities around sharing geospatial information and real time intelligence with both the military and other agencies.  PBBI technicians used the company’s MapInfo Crime Profiler software to analyse the impact of the incident on critical infrastructure such as police stations, electricity substations and hospitals, plus its effect on the population.  PBBI’s ability to apply location intelligence across multiple demographic layers and seamlessly integrate with other vendors’ data sets was important to providing a real understanding of how many people were at risk and what the impact of various evacuation scenarios would be.

“The CGTS project has given us the opportunity to really show what our software can do under the challenging conditions of a Homeland Security scenario – and we’re very pleased with the level of insight we’ve been able to deliver,” says Chris Royles, Chief Technology Officer UK at Pitney Bowes Business Insight.  “We successfully mashed together data sets from a variety of geospatial providers, which really emphasises our role throughout as an integrator.  It’s the essential simplicity and ease of use of our software that enabled us to quickly produce results under pressure.”

“We’ve been very impressed by PBBI’s support and contribution throughout the CGTS project,” says John Tate, Geospatial Intelligence Consultant at Lockheed Martin.  “The relevance of geospatial information in an operational context is becoming increasingly important.  As such, it’s vital that the MOD and its allies have access to the best possible geospatial capability, and this can only be achieved through multi-vendor collaboration and open standard integration, an ethos which I know PBBI endorses.”