Interview: Providing better maps for troops

摘要

Bob Burkhardt, the U.S. Army's top mapping expert, arrived in Mosul in 2004 with a very specific order from the leadership. New regulations block him from discussing that task in detail, but as described by Army public affairs in 2005, he was sent to figure out how to scan convoy routes for changes in ground cover, such as damp dirt, that might be evidence of recently planted improvised explosive devices. At Burkhardt's urging, the Army invested in development of an airborne camera named Buckeye, named for the mascot of Ohio State University, his alma mater. Today, the Army flies Buckeye sensors on Cessna planes and UH-60 helicopters. They gather terrain elevations and imagery with resolutions as fine as 8 centimeters.