National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:01:25 +0000

Columbus Day isn’t much of a holiday anymore–it’s become yet another regular work and school day for many. It makes sense considering Christopher Columbus wasn’t really the guy that my 1st grade teacher taught me that he was. Still, I’m amazed by the feats of guys like Columbus (which is why I’ve written about Garmin and Facet Technology on past Columbus Days). Getting in a boat with an uncertain route to a far away destination still seems crazy to me, and these guys did it in a time when navigation equipment was quite basic. Their minds would be blown if they knew what kind of information the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly the National Imagery and Mapping Agency) has. The agency is headquartered in Springfield, VA and has major facilities in St. Louis, MO (I learned about them from one of my awesome interns whose boyfriend works for the NGA). They are part of the Department of Defense, and they are tasked with providing “timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.”

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

If you want an example of what the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does, you’re not going to get a full answer because a lot of what they do is classified. However, they have been identified as playing a “critical role” in Operation Neptune’s Spear, which was the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The agency’s employees operate in a number of areas including aeronautical analysis, cartography, geospatial analysis, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, photogrammetry, and more. The NGA website is ok, but I highly recommend that you check out Wikipedia’s entry on the agency for a really good overview of the organization’s history and what it does.

If you like what you read, then you’ll want to take a look at the NGA’s Careers page. (Remember that we’re dealing with the federal government, so this isn’t going to be simple.) First, you’ll probably want to visit the Occupations page, where you’ll see that the NGA offers the following positions:

Accountants
Aeronautical Analyst
Bathymetrist
Contract Specialist
Counterintelligence Officers
Enterprise Account Managers
Geodetic Surveyors
Geospatial Data Stewards
Geospatial Intelligence Analysts
HD Consultants
Imagery Scientists
Imagery Intelligence Analysts
Information Assurance Officers
Maritime Analysts
Open Source Analysts
Police Officers
Political Geographers
Program Management Execution Officers
Project Scientists
Recruiters
Regional Geographers
Regional Source Analysts
Scientific and Technial Program Managers
Source Strategies Analysts
Systems Engineers

You won’t see most of these positions in the NGA’s Current Opportunities, so you may be better off meeting them at one of their On-Campus Recruiting Events or by reaching out to them at recruitment@nga.mil. You may also want to read through the NGA’s Recruitment FAQs and looking at their Application Process. It’s all complicated, but that’s to be expected with one of our country’s intelligence agencies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you amazed by what the NGA does?

DigitalGlobe

Willy Franzen — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:00:02 +0000

After almost 60 years without having any clue how to use a computer, my Dad finally decided that it was time for him to change his ways. He’s getting lessons at the Apple store, and every week he’s getting more proficient. He’s learned how to upload photos from his camera to his computer, put photo galleries on the web, and e-mail them to me and my sister. He is now adequately adept at browsing the web, and he’s even a subscriber to One Day, One Job (hi Dad!). Of all the things that his new computer has brought him, the thing that he loves the most is Google Earth. It seems like every day he sends me a new e-mail with an image attached saying, “Do you recognize this place?” Most college students take this kind of technology for granted, but for a 60 year old guy who has put together quite a collection of maps (which have the primary purpose of locating fishing spots), being able to see a picture of any place in the world is utterly amazing. You might think that Google is behind these pictures, since they seem able to do almost anything (like help you find a job), but much of the credit must go to DigitalGlobe, the world’s leading provider of high resolution commercial imagery.

The Longmont, CO based company got its start when it acquired a license from the United States Commerce Department that made them the first “private enterprise to build and operate a satellite system to gather high resolution digital imagery of the earth for commercial sale.” Since then DigitalGlobe has been developing new technologies to improve their imaging capabilities. This has paid off, as DigitalGlobe lays claim to big name clients such as Google, NASA, the Department of Defense, as well as smaller businesses like urban planners, energy companies, and insurers. DigitalGlobe’s imaging capabilities allow them to help companies monitor their assets. Whether it’s a remote oil field or the aftermath of a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, DigitalGlobe is watching from above.

DigitalGlobe doesn’t appear to be big on entry-level hiring, since many of their jobs are highly technical and require significant experience; however, there is one job with three openings that appears to be well suited for a new college grad. The title is Collection Planning Analyst, which sounds like someone who calls you if you forget to pay your medical bills, but it’s actually nothing like that. At least we don’t think it is. The job description is riddled with acronyms and jargon that we don’t recognize, so we’re not exactly sure what this job entails. We do know that you’ll need a background in satellite planning systems and must hold or have the ability to obtain U.S. Government clearance. We’d imagine that people with a military or engineering background would be the best fits.

As for other jobs, there’s nothing entry-level, but you can take a look at DigitalGlobe’s jobs page or RSS feed to see if they add anything new.

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at DigitalGlobe.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the coolest thing that you’ve found on Google Earth? Tell us in the comments.

One Day, One Job » satellite imaging

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

DigitalGlobe