Sep 5, 2014--STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NAVMETOCCOM), signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) last week with Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (Esri), the commercial industry leader in geographic information systems (GIS).

“This CRADA will be a key enabler for our mission and top priority -- providing unmatched battlespace awareness and environmental information to the warfighters that yields better decisions made faster than the adversary,” Gallaudet said.

The Esri software and system allows detailed geospatial data to be analyzed with all its time and geographic references. Strong spatial analytics and enterprise collaboration capability link Navy METOC resources with Navy commanders at sea. This marriage of analytics with METOC data help achieve the NAVMETOCCOM goal of Battlespace on Demand. With it, operational Navy commanders can make faster decisions, better incorporating weather and ocean conditions directly into their operational plans.

The three-year CRADA establishes a working relationship between Esri and NAVMETOCCOM, which has been an Esri software customer for more than a decade.

With the new CRADA, Esri personnel will see Naval Oceanography work first-hand and potentially develop additional applications as they collaborate with Navy operational oceanography modeling experts at the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), NAVMETOCCOM’s largest subordinate activity.

Navy oceanographers and Esri's Defense Solutions Team will cooperate on 10 objectives that will improve Esri's commercial off-the-shelf systems while also serving to improve geospatial reasoning in the oceans in support of naval warfare.

Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide, providing integrated technical solutions across an enterprise, integrating desktop, mobile, server, and internet platforms. Over 50 U.S. Naval commands use Esri software to enable their geospatial capabilities and decision-making.

NAVMETOCCOM, part of the Navy’s Information Dominance Corps, is comprised of approximately 2,500 officer, enlisted and civilian personnel stationed around the world. Naval Oceanography is the Navy’s physical maritime battlespace authority, a critical partner across the full range of Department of Defense operations, delivering decision superiority, operational effectiveness and safety to our operational forces.