Wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) is an approach to surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence-gathering that employs specialized software and a powerful camera system—usually airborne, and for extended periods of time—to detect and track hundreds of people and vehicles moving out in the open, over a city-sized area, kilometers in diameter. For this reason, WAMI is sometimes referred to as wide-area persistent surveillance (WAPS) or wide-area airborne surveillance (WAAS).