At first glance, it looks like a large, undeveloped Polaroid. Shine a flashlight on it and the film transforms into a three-dimensional holographic map that enables soldiers and commanders — without 3-D glasses or goggles — to better see the terrain in which they’re operating. Any unit preparing to deploy can ask for one to be custom-made for its area of operations.
The holograms fill the capability gap where two-dimensional maps and photographs cannot adequately represent a three-dimensional battlefield, said Lynn Schnurr, the Army intelligence chief information officer and director of the intelligence community’s information management directorate. Read more