A study underwritten by Hitachi Vantara Federal and Rubrik found that 84 percent of geospatial intelligence practitioners in the government and higher education sectors believe organizations could improve mission outcomes through artificial intelligence adoption.
MeriTalk and the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation collaborated with the two data management companies to survey 100 GEOINT professionals in February about their priorities and anticipated challenges for the next decade.
The report noted GEOINT organizations are looking to prioritize the adoption of AI and other emerging technologies in the next 10 years, even though only 37 percent of the respondents have formalized a strategy to help implement AI.
Overall, 87 percent said they believe GEOINT technology is underutilized in the public sector and fewer than one-third gave an A grade to their organization for supporting key technology initiatives outlined in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s 2025 Technology Strategy, which recommends incorporating AI, cloud and supercomputing systems into the sector.
Looking forward, 48 percent of respondents are considering investing in data analytics over the next two years as they believe tools that offer data-driven insight will be the most important GEOINT technology development within a decade.
However, survey participants forecast that a skills gap will be the primary challenge in their discipline.
Respondents expect GEOINT to have the most significant advantages for disaster response, health geography, climate change and urban planning initiatives.
