What's new for defense and intelligence

This topic describes what's new in the following ArcGIS versions for defense and intelligence: 10, 10 SP1, and 10 SP2.

Version 10 Service Pack 2

• More detailed information was added to the Migrating from Military Analyst and MOLE topic to better help users transition from using Military Analyst and MOLE to native ArcGIS functionality.
• New topics were added to better describe military features concepts and defense workflows, including:
  • Using UEI Features
  • Using military operations features
  • Graphic modifiers for military features
  • Labeling military features
  • Create military features from standard messages
  • Converting Date-Time Group (DTG) strings to Date-Time data
• A new template, Patrol Data Capture, has been added to the defense and intelligence resource center. This template, a download that comes with documentation, is designed to teach you how to import into ArcGIS locations collected from a GPS device carried by a soldier on a patrol. It also teaches you how to correct problems in the collected data and tie patrol report information to its corresponding patrol track.

Version 10 Service Pack 1

• The style files that are installed with this service pack contain new marker symbols that do the following:
  • Support additional affiliations for military features
  • Better support MIL-STD-2525B Change 2
• The Military Overlay layer package and defense templates available at the ArcGIS 10 release have been moved from the Defense Resource Center's template gallery to ArcGIS.com. In addition, new layer packages have been added, such as the Hostile Operations layer package. New templates have also been added, including the Topographic Basemap Template for NSG Entity Catalog Data and the Imagery Basemap Template for Controlled Image Base (CIB) data. To view all defense layer packages and templates released by Esri, follow these steps:
  1. In a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, access ArcGIS.com at http://www.arcgis.com.
  2. Click the Show drop-down arrow (near the top of the window) and click All Content (the default is to show Web content only).
  3. In the search text box, enter ArcGIS for Defense. All the layer packages, templates, and basemaps produced by Esri for the defense and intelligence communities are displayed.

Version 10

ArcGIS has changed significantly in this release to better accommodate the defense and intelligence user communities. Although the Military Analyst and MOLE extensions are still available at version 10, much of their functionality is now native to ArcGIS. You no longer need to download, install, or learn separate extensions to accomplish your defense and intelligence tasks in ArcGIS; you now only need to know ArcGIS.

If you used Military Analyst and MOLE prior to version 10, review this migration document to help you learn the new ways to do your tasks.

Below is a list of changes in ArcGIS 10 that affect the defense and intelligence communities:

• You can use feature templates to add military features (military symbology) to your map. For details, see Adding military features to a map.
• You can download, from ArcGIS.com, predefined layer packages that contain military features. The default military layer package for ArcGIS, MilitaryOverlay.lpk, contains feature templates for the following military features (military symbols):
  • All C2 military operations features in the supported specifications, such as main attack arrows.
  • Some units, equipment, and installations (UEI) features, such as a generic infantry platoon unit. You can create any military feature that isn't provided as a feature template in the layer packages available to you. For details, see Define new types of military features.
  • Features from other categories in the supported specifications, such as meteorological and oceanographic (METOC), emergency management, signals intelligence, and stability operations features.
  For details on the default layer package, see The Military Overlay layer package.
• You can add geodetic features on a map by drawing them or typing their location and measurement values. For details, see Creating geodetic features.
• Additional support for the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) has been added, including an MGRS locator. For details, see Support for MGRS in ArcGIS.
• Four of the new ArcGIS geoprocessing tools have a defense/intelligence focus:
  • Bearing Distance To Line—Converts a table containing information for constructing lines to a geodesic line feature class
  • Table To Ellipse—Converts a table containing ellipse definitions to a feature class of geodetic ellipses
  • XY To Line—Converts a table containing from- and to-points (as x,y pairs) to a geodesic line feature class
  • Convert Coordinate Notation—Converts a table or feature class from one coordinate format (DD, DMS, UTM, MGRS, and so on) to another coordinate format
• The Raster Type drop-down menu on the new Add Rasters To Mosaic Dataset geoprocessing tool dialog box allows you to select a raster type designed specifically for the type of military raster data you want to add to the mosaic dataset. The military raster types you can select are CADRG, CIB, DTED, and NITF. Advantages of using these military raster types (selecting them in the Raster Type drop-down menu) include these:
  • The logic the military raster types use to add military data to a mosaic dataset is specific to the military data type you are adding. For details on the way duplicates are handled, see Updating mosaic datasets containing military data.
  • The military raster types extract image metadata and write it to the mosaic dataset attribute table. For details and a list of fields extracted for each raster type, see Supported raster types.
• A new window, the Image Analysis window, was added to ArcMap to improve support for the analysis and exploitation of image and raster data.

For help getting started, see Getting started with defense in ArcGIS.