Digital maps map more than just maps: any military operation is all but impossible without maps. Generals use them to plot their scheme of manoeuvre, admirals to map minefields or sonar coverage, and pilots to navigate to and from their targets. All three depend on maps to show them weather conditions, the local terrain or ocean and crucially the position of blue and red forces.

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Digital maps map more than just maps: any military operation is all but impossible without maps. Generals use them to plot their scheme of manoeuvre, admirals to map minefields or sonar coverage, and pilots to navigate to and from their targets. All three depend on maps to show them weather conditions, the local terrain or ocean and crucially the position of blue and red forces.

The growth of digital mapping has occurred as a result of the space race, notably the ability of earth observation satellites to stare at the ground below and return high-resolution pictures using photography or radar. More recently, the advent of Synthetic Aperture Radar has allowed aircraft to collect highly accurate pictures of overflown land. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of the Internet has helped dozens of specialist companies sell satellite pictures to commercial and government customers which use them for everything from surveying land for the possible construction of a new factory to plotting likely areas of flooding near a river.

The military and intelligence communities have found such imagery indispensable, although the accuracy of a map is paramount because in combat things can go wrong. The bombing of the C...

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