The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) recently published a market research request for information (RFI), numbered RFI-191786-GEOOPS, titled "GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL DATA SOURCES IN SUPPORT OF OPERATIONS," seeking industry input on global geospatial data capable of supporting military operations. I went through it carefully, and the information revealed is quite interesting. Today I will share it with you.
Scope of Data Procurement
The requirement lists three priority areas: soil, transportation, and land cover (especially data related to forest characteristics).
Regarding soil data, NATO wants global soil information at a resolution comparable to 30 meters, primarily to assess whether the ground can support vehicle traffic.
For transportation data, beyond ordinary civilian information, it also requires load classification, road clearance, pavement and subgrade strength, bridge conditions, railway loading gauges, as well as data related to the interfaces between road, rail, air, and maritime networks.
For land cover data, in addition to commonly used information, it requires physical characteristics such as tree species, spacing, diameter at breast height, branch height, and canopy density, to determine whether terrain can be traversed or bypassed.
For each dataset, vendors are currently required to provide data sources, update cycles, coverage areas, production timelines, quality control, metadata, attribute schemas, and compatibility with the NATO CoreGIS environment. Quotes must also be provided separately for two licensing models: one for use within NATO enterprises, and one for use by NATO nations and approved third parties.
Can Civilian Datasets Meet the Requirements?
No. The civilian open data we commonly see today can indeed provide part of the information. For example, Overture Maps provides an open global transportation map, mainly sourced from OpenStreetMap and enhanced by companies such as TomTom; ESA WorldCover provides global land cover at 10-meter resolution; ISRIC's SoilGrids provides 14 soil properties on a global scale, but at only 250-meter resolution.
These datasets are fine for ordinary civilian and scientific research purposes, but for military operations they are too rudimentary. Specific military operational needs require separately produced, customized data; ordinary civilian data cannot satisfy those requirements.
The Logic Behind the Procurement
This procurement intention did not come out of nowhere. As early as October 17, 2024, NATO proposed the establishment of the Alliance Data Sharing Ecosystem (ADSE). During the 2026 Bold Quest exercise, multiple countries tested data exchange using this system platform, and the process exposed problems in quality, access, and speed, among other areas.
There are currently quite a few challenges. Only enterprises from NATO member states can participate, and the scope involves commercial base maps, navigation, satellite imagery, terrain and land cover, defense intelligence, and other fields. It remains uncertain whether a supplier can provide such a reliable, stable, and timely-updated data supply chain. It seems that the challenge of data governance is not a simple matter even for an organization like NATO.
Summary
As of the time I published this article, NATO has not disclosed its budget, procurement timeline, or specific requirements such as key infrastructure update frequencies—all of these are currently blank. Of course, such sensitive information may also simply not be made public. Those interested can keep an eye on NATO's official website.
References
- NATO Is Shopping for Geospatial Data That Can Survive the Real World: https://geoawesome.com/nato-operational-geospatial-data-procurement/
- NCIA Procurement Opportunities (RFI-191786-GEOOPS / IFB-CO-424311-GVB): https://www.ncia.nato.int/business/procurement/current-opportunities
- NCIA Sitemap (GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL DATA SOURCES IN SUPPORT OF OPERATIONS): https://www.ncia.nato.int/sitemap