作为地理空间情报的主要来源，NGA以其利用影像来支持情报界和军方的能力而自豪。该机构的活动范围广泛，从使用卫星对北极进行地图绘制到使用人工智能自动检测高空图像中的物体目标。

但是至少一项任务仍然难以捉摸：对视频和音频记录的来源进行地理定位。

这就是NGA发起Soundscapes竞赛的原因，该竞赛将参赛者提供现金奖励，以使这些参赛者能够找到新方法来根据背景中的环境声音来识别唱片的位置。根据竞赛网站信息，将要求参赛者者提出“识别、分析和建模这些声音和声学场景指示符的方法，以将录音源唯一地分类为九个城市之一”。

此次比赛于已经于2020年10月20日启动，一直持续到11月27日。可能的解决方案将收到简短的非语音音频文件，每个文件记录在9个城市之一。使用提供的培训数据，参赛者将需要创建一种算法，该算法可以确定进行每次录制的未公开城市。

参赛者将首先在白皮书中描述他们提出的方法。然后，他们将在每个测试音频文件上贴上制作城市的标签，并说明他们对确定的信心。

在一共五周的时间内，潜在的解决方案提出者将能够提交和测试他们的解决方案，同时在小组排行榜上会看到他们的排名。

该机构将颁发八项现金奖励，其中包括27,000美元的最高奖励。最好的解决方案提出者将被邀请在2021年的研讨会上发表有关他们的努力的论文。

As the primary source of geospatial intelligence, the NGA prides itself in its ability to exploit imagery in support of the intelligence community and the military. The agency’s activities cover a wide range, from using satellites to map the Arctic to using artificial intelligence for automatic detection of objects in overhead imagery.

But at least one task remains elusive: Geolocating the source of video and audio recordings.

That’s why the NGA is launching the Soundscapes Competition, which will award cash prizes to entrees who can find new methods for identifying a recording’s location based on ambient sound in the background. Participants will be asked to come up with methods of “identifying, analyzing, and modelling these sound and acoustic scene indicators to uniquely classify audio recordings as originating in one of nine cities,” according to the competition website.

The competition was launched Oct. 20 and runs through Nov. 27. Would-be solvers will receive short non-speech audio files, with each file recorded in one of nine cities. Using provided training data, participants will need to create an algorithm that can determine the undisclosed city in which each recording was made.

Participants will first describe their proposed method in a whitepaper. Then they will label each test audio file with the city in which it was made, explaining how confident they are in their determinations.

Over the five-week period, would-be solvers will be able to submit and test their solutions while seeing their ranking on a group leaderboard.

The agency will award up to eight cash prizes, including $27,000 for the top participant. The best solvers will be invited to present a paper on their efforts at a workshop in 2021.