Geospatial Data, Information, and Knowledge
It should be noted that the definitions and usage of the terms geospatial data, geospatial information, and geospatial knowledge are not used consistently or unambiguously further exacerbating the situation. Geospatial data can (usually) be applied to the output of a collector or collection system before it is processed, i.e., data that was sensed. Geospatial Information is geospatial data that has been processed or had value added to it by a human or machine process. Geospatial knowledge is a structuring of geospatial information, accompanied by an interpretation or analysis. The terms Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom (DIKW) are difficult to define, but cannot be used interchangeably.
Quite simply, geospatial intelligence could be more readily defined as, data, information, and knowledge gathered about enemies (or potential enemies) that can be referenced to a particular location on, above, or below the earth's surface. The intelligence gathering method could include imagery, signals, measurements and signatures, and human sources, i.e., IMINT, SIGINT, MASINT, and HUMINT, as long as a geo-location can be associated with the intelligence.
Read more about this topic: Geospatial Intelligence
Famous quotes containing the word knowledge:
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)