Case Study | Google Earth Enterprise
Air Force Weather cuts mission prep time in half with a global view built on Google Earth Enterprise
At a Glance
What they needed • To synchronize weather data from around the world and make it available on one central site. • To reduce the confusion for pilots and weather squadron operators by making it easier to get weather information in one place. • To get relevant weather conditions “on the fly” to fulfill the hundreds of daily requests from pilots heading out on missions. What they did • Ended the need to stitch together weather and map information from several sources by using Google Earth Enterprise. • Smoothed the weather data information gathering process, allowing the information to be delivered more quickly and conveniently. What they accomplished • Reduced, by more the half, the time it takes to prepare weather briefings for flight missions by using Google Earth Enterprise. • Started customizing global data in specific regions. • Created an efficient, enterprise process that integrated weather data into air operation centers for command and control and situational awareness, and created a common operational picture for all users.
Organization Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) produces mission-tailored, global weather products and services 24 hours a day to meet the requirements of the Department of Defense. AFWA also ensures that all Air Force Weather (AFW) units have the training and tools needed to do their job. At the operational and tactical levels, AFW’s weather squadrons and weather flights support aircrews and other missions by monitoring and reporting the details of atmospheric conditions all over the world around the clock. These same units also support a wide variety of military exercises and missions on the ground. At its headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, AFWA develops and implements sophisticated and complex weather models that numerous customers rely upon for operational decisions, from local T-37 training missions to identifying environmental impacts on future weapons systems. Distributing these wideranging weather products from its headquarters to global customers has been a challenge. AFWA has a global mission to disseminate weather analyses, forecasts and briefings not only to Air Force personnel, but also to the Army, the National Guard, Reserve forces and other national agencies, via unclassified and classified networks. Its charge is to make the most of cutting-edge technologies and innovations, while supplying accurate, ever-changing weather information to aircrews and operators. Challenge For more than 15 years, AFWA and operational weather squadrons relied upon a mish-mash of web sites and technology products each covering a different region of the globe. With this patchwork solution, weather specialists who provide pre-mission briefs had to deal with a confusing array of information, stitching it together to get an accurate reading across large swaths of territory. To support unit deployments or long-range missions, it isn’t unusual for aircrews to take off from the United States, refuel over the Atlantic Ocean, and then land in the Middle East. A common mission scenario like this would cross several weather regions, so weather specialists would combine disparate sets of information from multiple web sites to deliver a complete briefing. Additionally, over the years, users would request weather information from around the world. To satisfy these requests, AFWA built a library of more than 800,000 static images that are now created on a daily basis and then kept for potential future use. But those static maps did not give pilots and other operators the ability to pan and zoom, or to interrogate the data. They had no global view to rely on. “We had to go to three different operational weather squadrons and three different websites to pull down a variety of static weather charts to support a single mission,” says Captain Christopher Kuhl, Chief, Web Enterprise Team at AFWA. “We thought we could do better than that.”
AFWA’s previous solution provided only static images with no ability for user input. Solution AFWA did do better. In May of 2009, under the sponsorship of Dr. Fred Lewis, Director of Air Force Weather, and under the direction of Colonel John Shepley, then HQ AFWA Director of Operations, Training, and Evaluation, AFWA formed a Commander’s Action Group to develop a global weather prototype using Google Earth Enterprise, a powerful and intuitive tool for visualizing all types of geospatial information, including weather data. The small group of 10 developers spent approximately six months evaluating the product. A key benefit was that most everyone they were developing for had already used Google Earth and, therefore, would feel comfortable using a version specialized for the Air Force’s needs. “Nearly everyone is familiar with Google Earth,” says Captain Perry Sweat, 16th Weather Squadron Product Applications Flight Commander. “We wanted to develop a cutting edge product while at the same time delivering something that was intuitive to the user.” In December, AFWA reached a decision, “We realized after a lot of rapid prototyping that this was where we wanted to go,” Sweat says. The biggest part of implementation was putting all the data into a format that’s easy for everyone to
Today, users can easily pan, zoom, add layers to customize the image to their needs.
About Google Earth Enterprise
Google Earth Enterprise connects geographic data to your people, work and processes by providing a fast and simple to use interface for non-specialist users to explore and interact with massive datasets of your own geospatial data. Asset tracking, marketing properties and site surveying are a few examples of the business processes that Google Earth Enterprise simplifies. Google Earth Enterprise makes it easy for people with any level of technical skill to find and understand even the most complex geospatial information. For more information, visit earth.google.com/enterprise “It’s definitely easier to get your mind around everything that’s going on. Nearly everyone is familiar with Google Earth.” —Captain Perry Sweat, AFWA.
work with. When the product went live, the reaction from a consortium of weather squadrons was swift and positive. The Air Force weather forecasters had long needed and wanted the benefits that Google Earth Enterprise provided. More than anything else, the software provided efficiencies that did not exist with the old system. That system was upgraded periodically with an assortment of maps and other data, but it was cumbersome. One of the many new features the forecasters enjoy is the capability to easily pan and zoom around the globe. “The beauty of it is with a quick pan, I can see the same data in another region of my choosing,” Sweat says. Doing the same thing previously required additional clicks through higher-level menus to find the region he was looking for. “Even then, the pre-defined window may not have been exactly where I wanted to see.” Results With Google Earth Enterprise, pilots and operators no longer have to grab a fistful of paper to get weather information. With one viewer and two clicks, weather forecasters can overlay the Air Force’s own satellite and radar shots over a background map. “It’s definitely easier to get your mind around everything that’s going on,” says Sweat. The Google product also saves AFWA time. Now, weather analyses are done by request, dynamically and on the fly, with more speed and accuracy than before. Pilots generally submit requests for weather information to forecasters about three hours before takeoff. They need to know about hazards, such as icing or high winds, temperature changes and other information. It now takes less than 10 minutes to prepare that briefing information. In the past, it took more than twice that amount of time for squadron weather forecasters to find all the necessary details for the weather briefing. They prepared by collecting several sets of images from different web sites and technology products. Now, the relevant information has become much easier for base commanders and others to obtain and share. Another major benefit is that the Air Force “owns” the data, and is able to build its own globe with it. AFWA is able to customize the product the way it wants, upgrading imagery for particular areas important to the Air Force Weather mission. “You fully define what you want in there,” Sweat says. In the near future, AFWA plans to use the 3D imagery with Google Earth Enterprise, a huge information asset that would greatly enhance the weather models and flight information. For example, in the case of a volcanic eruption, such as occurred in Iceland in 2010, squadrons would be able to see better how the ash plume is spreading. The ability to use Google Earth Enterprise in 3D would offer further value to AFWA and its customers since weather occurs, after all, in three dimensions.
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