A staging area is a location where organisms, people, vehicles, equipment or material are assembled prior to their use.

Construction

A staging area is a designated area where vehicles, supplies, and construction equipment are positioned for access and use to a construction site.

Ecology

The resting and feeding places of a bird on its way to the south in autumn are referred to as staging areas.

Entertainment

Staging areas are an area designated for setting up parades and other elaborate presentations.

Military

USMC convoys staging prior to going north into Iraq in March of 2004

Unlike normal bases, the facilities of a staging area are temporary, mainly because for a certain time it will hold much more troops and material than would be reasonable in peacetime.

Militaries use staging areas to deploy military units, aircraft and warships plus their materiel ahead of an attack or invasion. In former times this used to be generally the border area of one's own country, but in recent wars (Gulf War, Kosovo War, Iraq War) it may also be the border area of another unrelated country granting access.

Space exploration

In space exploration, the area where final assembly is done on space vehicles before they are moved out to their launch pad.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Staging area"