Imagery analysis

Imagery analysis is the extraction of useful information from bi-dimensional graphic formats. This includes color and black-and-white photographs, screen shots, infra-red photographs and video, radar screens and synthetic aperture radar formats, ultrasound, EKG, EEG, MRI, echo cardiograms, seismographs and others. In short, any type of sensor-related data projected in 2- and 3-D formats qualifies as imagery.

Prior to the invention of early photography, military commanders depended on scouts that would survey or recon enemy activity, depending on simple eyesight and human memory. Once photography became available, tactical information became frozen in time, details could be preserved, enhancing the quality of available information.

World War I saw the start of ground-based and aerial photographic collection. For the first time commanders were able to access timely and accurate intelligence. Such was the value of this type of information that observers in tethered balloons and scout planes were attacked, first with crude weapons and later escalating to machine guns and the development of the fighter aircraft.

Frank Luke, an American pilot procured incendiary ammunition and used it to destroy numerous enemy observation balloons, gaining the title of Balloon Buster. The end of the war resulted in the scaling down of tactical and strategic capabilities, resulting in an almost dormant state in the development of photographic analysis. The perceived threat from Germany and Japan revived the collection and analytical capabilities of the major powers and helped military planners including U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower prepare for the next war.

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