Helicopter Landing Zone TAK Plugin #13
Description
The USMC HLZ Predictor plugin is an ATAK port of ARES (Augmented Reconnaissance and Estimate of the Situation) functionality for predicting potential Helicopter Landing Zones for USMC platforms given terrain coverage and elevation data. These HLZ landability predictions support planning and decision making by pilots or at the infantry platoon/squad level during medevac, casevac, infiltration and/or exfiltration operations.
USMC HLZ Predictor uses 2 datasets and a convolution algorithm to determine the viable HLZ(s) in an area of interest:
- Elevation data (DTED level 2: .dt2) to determine if terrain is suitably level for landing, and
- Terrain data (ESA Worldcover: .tif) to determine if non-elevation related terrain (trees, ice pack, etc) would preclude landing.
We recommend obtaining this data through TAK-TICS, a service provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, to download these data sources and subsequently sideload them on the ATAK devices that will be running the USMC HLZ Predictor. Please see the instructions on data provisioning hosted on the plugin repository (requires repository access).
https://tak.gov/plugins/hlz-predictor?product_variant=ATAK-MIL