Why Open Data is the Future of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency - Nextgov.com

"Times are a changin’ for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. In the past, it was the supercool, secret sauce-worthy stuff NGA did to deliver world-class geospatial intelligence to warfighters, stakeholders and decision-makers on which the agency focused the majority of its efforts. In recent years, with the explosion of publicly available open data and tools like cloud computing, startups and talented data gurus have encroached on what used to be territory occupied by NGA and its partners.     The agency still relies heavily on its classified operations, but in recent months, NGA Director Robert Cardillo announced a 'seismic shift' underfoot that elevated the importance of unclassified sources of intelligence. To drive that effort, the agency has launched the 'GEOINT Pathfinder' team to answer intelligence questions with unclassified data, agile acquisition tools and commercial technology ..."