A lightweight device announced by BAE Systems will enable intelligence agents and soldiers to capture battlezone images and add them to critical information exchange during military or security operations.

New technologies are gaining support from defense acquisition groups not only because of their innovative features but also because of their portability, analysts said.

The BAE offering is called GXP WebView, which is lightweight, universally Web-based and allows users to fight and exploit mission-critical geospatial data using only a Web browser, BAE Systems said.

GXP WebView delivers on what has been a long-standing requirement for the intelligence community. That includes the need "to rapidly add imagery into intelligence reporting and situational awareness products," said BAE Systems' Vice President Dan London.

The Electronic Light Table will work to help users find and exploit mission-critical geospatial data in sensitive, time critical situations, requiring only a Web browser, said London, vice president of sales, marketing and customer support for Geospatial eXploitation Products at the company.

Developed using HTML 5, a component of GXP Xplorer empowers all-source analysts to view, annotate, and publish products on their own, without the need for assistance from a geospatial imagery specialist.

The innovative GXP WebView Pixel Server quickly turns any image, regardless of format or location, into a standards-based data stream that can be viewed in a Web browser.

"This allows us to provide a low-cost geospatial imagery option to our user base and the all-source community," London said in a company release.

The cost per unit of the system wasn't discussed.

BAE Systems says GXP WebView will be making use of more than 25 years of company experience in software development and support of commercial and national imagery formats to deliver the same geolocational accuracy that users have come to expect from more robust commercial software products.

Those high-end products include BAE Systems' own SOCET GXP.

That proprietary package of geospatial-intelligence software uses imagery from satellite and aerial sources to identify, analyze and extract ground features quickly, allowing for rapid product creation.

Ingesting imagery and video from government and commercial sources, SOCET GXP accurately displays, annotates, catalogs and extracts information.

Information is used to build maps, develop transportation infrastructure, manage natural resources utilities and communications networks, coordinate operational missions, designate troop maneuvers, and build geospatial-intelligence reports.

However, GXP WebView goes a few steps further in supplying soldiers with much needed visual information easily and security.

BAE Systems says its intelligence and security sector manages "big data, informs big decisions, and supports big missions."

The company says its products and services "enable the U.S. military and government to recognize, manage and defeat threats."