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SALT LAKE CITY--Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. (E&S(R))--Viewers of ABC News will get an eyewitness perspective on the war in Iraq, thanks to new technology from Evans & Sutherland. As the events of the war unfold, ABC will use E&S' newest visualization technology to recreate operations in the Middle East with realistic 3D simulations. These simulations, which will depict actual events within hours of their occurrence, will be featured in ABC News reports of the progress of the war. Evans & Sutherland's Environment Processor, or EP(TM), technology is behind this breakthrough capability to accurately simulate visual images of real-world events. EP uses imagery from satellites and other sources together with state-of-the-art processing to create databases that can accurately represent any location in the world with high visual accuracy. Satellite imagery was obtained for this project through Digital Globe Corp. of Denver, and GIS Xpress, an imagery service provider for Photon Research Associates (PRA) of San Diego. For ABC News, E&S developed a 3D database that depicts Iraq and surrounding areas as well as other key locations in the Middle East. Modeling techniques were utilized to extract specific features in specified areas of interest. This database shows the aircraft, land vehicles, ships and infantry involved in the operations and depicts several possible scenarios for the U.S. operations. The staff at ABC News will integrate the database into their news creation process for viewing and can create new scenarios to reflect actual events as they receive information from the Pentagon and other sources. "This new technology will give our viewers a heightened understanding of the geography of this region," said Jeffrey W. Schneider, ABC News vice president. "It will be a terrific tool for ABC News to use in order to convey important information to the American people." "E&S EP technology creates whole new possibilities for a variety of visualization applications," said Gene Frazier, E&S Strategic Visualization vice president. "Until now, the time required to create visualization databases made their use impractical for anything that required rapid creation or quick changes. With EP, we have reduced the time required to create a realistic 3D database from months to weeks and days with updates performed within hours."