The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is an agency of the United States Government with the primary mission of collection, analysis, and distribution of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security. NGA was formerly known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and is part of the Department of Defense (DoD). In addition, NGA is a member agency of the United States Intelligence Community.
GEOINT stands for GEOspatial INTelligence, which is an intelligence discipline comprising the exploitation and analysis of satellite information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. GEOINT sources include imagery and mapping data, whether collected by commercial satellite, government satellite or by other means, such as UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or reconnaissance aircraft.
Geospatial is a term widely used to describe the combination of spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets. The term is often used in conjunction with geographic information systems and geomatics.
Many Geographic information system (GIS) products apply the term geospatial analysis in a very narrow context.