Mashed intelligence
Tech Focus
As part of an effort to allow military planners to bring more data from varied sources together on one screen, Defense Intelligence Agency officials are taking a mashup approach. Their strategy resembles Google Maps. But DIA’s data and maps are classified, so instead of using Google’s services, the agency created its own system, known as Overwatch.
The application’s developers say they have gone further than any other Internet service by allowing users to easily toggle back and forth among different visualizations of the same data.
“Using these mashup capabilities, we can deliver any combination of information at any time to any user,” said Steven Willett, an information technology specialist at DIA who has been leading Overwatch’s development.
Mashup applications emphasize bringing together the elements of an application within a Web browser rather than relying on server-based integration and aggregation.
Mashups use technology based on JavaScript and Asynchronous JavaScript and Extensible Markup Language, a technique for updating Web pages that eliminates the need to reload the page. By making a client program responsible for aggregating data and displaying the results, a mashup can eliminate the need for a Web server to first collect the data.
However, an enterprise mashup must meet higher standards for security, governance, monitoring and availability. Overwatch does that with a layer of server software that regulates the entire process and provides the client-side code.