Delivering Mission-Specific Solutions

Q&A with Elliot Ferguson, Vice President for Geospatial Programs at Hexagon US Federal

IMG2-Urban-Analysis

How would you describe Hexagon’s role in the GEOINT Community?

We are a trusted partner that delivers a wide range of virtual geospatial technologies and services for critical programs across the Department of Defense (DoD) and the intelligence community (IC). We bring a mix of our brands to the GEOINT Community, such as Luciad, Intergraph, Thermopylae, ERDAS, Leica, and Sigma Space. We take commercial off-the-shelf technologies and platforms and customize them to build mission-specific solutions that will better meet the requirements of our customers.

Who are the main customers and industries Hexagon serves?

Hexagon US Federal is an independent subsidiary of Hexagon AB’s US federal business. We explicitly bring a range of technical support services for our mission-specific customers in the U.S. federal government. Some of our key customers in the federal space include the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), DoD, the United States Department of Agriculture, several organizations under the Department of Interior, and NASA. 

What solutions and services do you provide for your customers?

We provide high-quality solutions, services, and products to help our customers in their missions. Our ERDAS tool suite allows for image processing and remote sensing. We have a capability called Cartographic Web Services, which creates off-the-shelf products in an automated fashion widely utilized for mission-specific needs. We offer advanced visualization for C4 and C5 ISR platforms, data production services, foundation GEOINT production services (specifically under NGA), and we provide cleared resources for off-site DoD and IC programs.

What makes you stand out within the GEOINT Community?

Hexagon US Federal has an incredibly diverse portfolio coupled with 35+ years of supporting NGA, and its predecessor organizations. We are set apart in that capacity just because we have a long-term relationship with the DoD and the IC specifically. In addition to traditional GEOINT capabilities, our company focuses on developing autonomous, connected ecosystems that harness IoT and the flow of information across entire ecosystems, all in support of driving more productive assets in complex environments.

How has Hexagon leveraged USGIF resources?

Hexagon has been a strategic member of USGIF since the organization formed in 2004; we were Intergraph at the time. It was a natural choice for us because the partnership offered a unique opportunity to build within the emerging GEOINT Community at the time. It provided a great way to establish vital connections with government and industry customers and gain a deeper understanding of critical requirements and trends in the community. The relationship has also helped us to understand our customers emerging needs, influencing our innovation, which results in much better end-to-end solutions. The annual GEOINT Symposium and other USGIF events provide excellent venues for us to hear firsthand from industry leaders and colleagues on changes occurring. It has provided Hexagon US Federal the opportunity to show the GEOINT Community that we ]acknowledge and can meet their needs.

What does the future hold for Hexagon?

The trend in the GEOINT Community is to increase the adoption of commercial technologies as we move into the future. Hexagon US Federal will continue to play a vital role in that, developing those end-to-end solutions to solve complex problems for our government clients. Hexagon aggressively and continuously innovates through acquisition and organic research and development. We are excited to take the resulting new technologies to our customers and assist them with their hard problems.

Feature image: Hexagon’s Luciad platform is a rich 3D visualization environment that supports integrated analysis of a wide range of geospatial data, such as point clouds, 3D meshes, and more while showing live updates of tracked planes, ships, and vehicles for improved situational awareness. (Photo credit: Hexagon)

,

USGIF Member Spotlight: Arete

We caught up with John Wilson, Director of IC Programs at Arete, to discuss the organization’s role in the advancement of geospatial intelligence and what the future holds

,

USGIF Member Spotlight: Satellogic

Satellogic's Matt Tirman shared why the organization joined USGIF and how it is helping to accelerate innovation.

,

USGIF Member Spotlight: Arcfield

Trajectory spoke to Arcfield Chairman and CEO, Kevin Kelly, about the services the company provides and what excites him most about the future of GEOINT.