GEOINT Singularity describes a hypothetical future time when capabilities of

geospatial intelligence In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on Earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and visu ...

(GEOINT) have advanced to full information availability and transparency. Physical activity on the earth's surface would then be monitored, analyzed and made available in real time and the information would be used by government, business, and individuals for decision making. The concept of the GEOINT Singularity was first proposed b
Dr. Josef Koller
a
Center for Space Policy and Strategy
i
"The Future of Ubiquitous, Real-Time Intelligence – A GEOINT Singularity"
describing the convergence of three major trends – the proliferation of remote sensing technologies (such as satellites, drones, and other sensors), the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) analytics to process and analyze large data sets, and the expansion of communication networks (such broadband connectivity from space). The convergence of these trends would eventually lead monitoring and analyzing all physical activity on the earth's surface. The potential consequences of approaching a GEOINT Singularity are not yet fully understood but could include improvements in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

disaster response Disaster response refers to the actions taken directly before, during, or immediately after a disaster. The objective is to save lives, ensure health and safety, and meet the subsistence needs of the people affected.UNGA (2016)Report of the open- ...

, and

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring is the processes and activities that are done to characterize and describe the state of the environment. It is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, and in many circumstances in which human activit ...

. However, there are also concerns about potential negative consequences such in

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

and the general misuse of information.

Use of GEOINT Singularity

In the book "National Security Intelligence and Ethics", the former NGA Director Robert Cardillo describes the GEOINT Singularity as technology enabling continuous sensing of all of the world's activity. The author postulated "Who will guard the guards?" discussing

privacy rights The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. Since the global ...

, benefits of technology, and potential misuse.

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Bush School of Government & Public Service
uses GEOINT Singularity as required reading in a course on Defense Intelligence. The course exposes students to "historical and contemporary Defense Intelligence capabilities as part of the military decision-making environment".
Sarah Scoles
describes in a

Popular Science Magazine Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

"Meet the GEOINT Singularity" that the increasing transparency would allow municipalities to fact-check housing developments, or international organization to monitor global shipping traffic.

GEOINT Singularity Composite Index

The GEOINT Singularity Composite Index includes a factorial combination of the following components and relevant indices. * Satellite remote sensors in orbit *

Spatial resolution In physics and geosciences, the term spatial resolution refers to distance between independent measurements, or the physical dimension that represents a pixel of the image. While in some instruments, like cameras and telescopes, spatial resoluti ...

Spectral resolution The spectral resolution of a spectrograph, or, more generally, of a frequency spectrum, is a measure of its ability to resolve features in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is usually denoted by \Delta\lambda, and is closely related to the resolvi ...

and spectral bands * Data availability * Data accuracy * Machine Learning Training Time * Data Connectivity GEOINT Singularity composite index provides a summary to communicate insights for

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

market analysis A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. It is part of the industry analysis and thus in turn of the global environmental analysis. Through all of these analyses the strengths, ...

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, environmental, or

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

In the Press

The GEOINT Singularity term has been referenced by

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, including Breaking Defense describing opportunities for civil, commercial and military uses.

In Popular Culture

In 2021, Merrimac Records published a song on

youtube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

with the title "GEOINT Singularity". The song references GEOINT Singularity from the perspective of increased

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...

and

police state A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exec ...

References

{{reflist Singularitarianism Geospatial intelligence

Use of GEOINT Singularity

GEOINT Singularity Composite Index

In the Press

In Popular Culture

See also

References