Welcome to NGA-Earth

First established in 2005 in direct response to Hurricane Katrina, NGA Earth provides access to geospatial data over the World Wide Web. This service brings timely geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to all users with an Internet connection. Via this access point, NGA has been able to bring current imagery to first responders, aiding in rescue and recovery efforts, while also providing unclassified views of the world in support of its traditional military and intelligence customers.

The MapApp Viewer provides a simple-to-use interface into the data sets available from NGA. Google Earth™ KML reflectors provide access to our imagery directly atop Google's base layers.

NGA Earth strives to deliver expanded area coverage, additional third-party data, and near real-time unclassified imagery for operational planning. This geospatial context allows the maximum availability of information to those who need it most: tactical military, first responders, state and local government, industry and the general public.

Bringing the Earth to the Web, from Military Geospatial Technology

Needing to provide unclassified imagery to first responders, rescue workers and the general public during time of crisis, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency decided to leverage commercially managed hosting services to provide this capability. READ MORE

Inside NASA, NGA’s Virtual Earth can quickly shift into crisis mode when disaster strikes, from Federal Computer Week

With the Virtual Earth application, NGA could focus on its mission — distributing aerial imagery — instead of aggregating map data sets.

The agency wanted to pull data from existing platforms as much as possible to reduce costs and provide users with a familiar-looking interface. Serving the public in this manner was unusual for NGA, which was established to serve government workers. READ MORE