Application of GIS for Military Operations:A Case Study of Riyom Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria

The important role of GIS in tactical military operation cannot be overemphazed because its applications had helped military forces to perform their role more effectively. Military forces had used GIS in various operations which include the intelligence, battle field management, terrain analysis, deployment of military troops, military installation management and monitoring of possible terrorist activity and these made forces versatile in the job by providing geospatial-information for commanders to visualize the areas of operation and making strong decisions during combat operation.  The focus of this paper is to apply Geographic Information System (GIS) in military operations in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State where they often have land dispute yearly which can lead to loss of life and properties. Methodology for the study included database design, acquisition of geometric data from Ikonos satellite image, generation of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data, acquisition of attribute data through social survey, Garmin 12 Etrex was employed to capture the location of Towns, Military Base Camp, Army Check point, Health post, and other Facilities.1 m  Ikonos  resolution Satellite imagery was georefernced and extraction of  geometric features such as Roads, Rivers, and Boundary. Spatial analyses such as query, overlay, network analysis, terrain analysis were performed to derive useful information for the military operations in the study area.