USAID GeoCenter to use satellite imagery, on-the-ground reports to inform aid disbursement

USAID officials are in the early stages of planning a Geospatial Intelligence Center, or GeoCenter, that will combine information from "satellite imagery and on-the-ground surveys and reports to cut down on field-based work and give the agency a better sense of where development dollars can do the most good," Nextgov reports.

"The GeoCenter's goal will be to collect best practices from [USAID country] missions and try to establish common data standards among both different missions and between USAID and other aid organizations working in a single country or region so data can be more easily shared," according to the news service. For example, workers involved with food security could "map data on conflict, economic development and population movements with satellite-based maps of agricultural production, roads and weather patterns to predict where food shortages are most likely to occur and focus resources there," Nextgov writes (Marks, 8/3).