Visualization for situational awareness

We focus on theater-wide situational awareness covering a large geographic area containing many military units. The Joint Operations Visualization Environment (JOVE), developed at Sarnoff to assist military decision makers, optimizes the display of tactical data for information presentation. JOVE uses three rear-projected displays driven from an SGI Onyx2 Infinite Reality2 computer. Stereoscopic display is available. A joystick, graphical user interface, and speech commands provide interaction. JOVE delivers accurate navigation through the model over a range of viewer positions. This case study describes techniques used for effectively modeling and navigating geospatial and tactical data for situational awareness. The visualization technology could be applied to commercial air traffic control, emergency management response, and geographic information systems as well.