Understanding the Changing Planet Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences (2010) / Chapter Skim
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10 How Might We Better Observe, Analyze, and Visualize a Changing World?
10 How Might We Better Observe, Analyze, and Visualize a Changing World?
Pages 97-104
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From page 97... ...
, and many basic maps, including those covering izing, and understanding the increasing rate of change the United States, are no longer updated. Although that we observe on the planet's surface are far more Web-based virtual globes display stunningly detailed complex than traditional mapmaking, demanding an images of how the geographical world looks, they increasingly elaborate network of Earth-observing provide little sense of how the world is changing, how satellites, ground-based observers and sensors, servers, it will look in the future, how certain or uncertain we and broadband communications, and the tools to ana- may be about future states, and how the world works as an interconnected system.
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From page 98... ...
to provide detailed and useful maps of where houses are listed for sale, along with other information about the house -- something that neither Craigslist nor Google Maps is capable of providing on its own. A map of houses currently listed for sale in the $150,000-300,000 price range by Craigslist for part of Los Angeles.
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From page 99... ...
Access augment the sum of human knowledge about the geoto the products of remote sensing, once a task requiring graphical landscape, while remaining cognizant of the a great deal of technical knowledge, is now reduced inevitable uncertainty associated with that knowledge. for many users to the manipulation of the simple user Past investments in research into geographical interface of a desktop or laptop computer, or even a data and tools have produced dramatic progress.
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From page 100... ...
. New techniques of geovisualization tunities created by advances in mainstream information allow geographical data to be displayed simultane- technology, by new sensors, and by new ways of thinkously from many different perspectives, leading to ing about the role of the geographical perspective as a new insights and the generation of new hypotheses cross-cutting theme in science.
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From page 101... ...
Pas- related need for ocean fisheries habitat restoration and sive sensors gather radiation from the surface in visible conservation, and for seafloor or subseafloor energy exand near-visible wavelengths, while active sensors "ping" traction and tsunami modeling. The geographical scithe surface using radar, light, and microwave radiation ences have been central to the design of these systems; to create accurate maps of topography, of land cover to the techniques used to interpret imagery to identify and snow, and of the immediate subsurface.
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From page 102... ...
We run a real danger based remote sensing, using networks of fixed, autono- that, in the not too distant future, much of what we now mous sensors capable of gathering useful information know about the planet through our current programs on properties of the environment. Sensor networks now of remote sensing will be lost because of a lack of both provide a steady flow of information on worldwide sea the resources and the organizations needed for longlevels, allowing scientists to test predictions of sea- term preservation.
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From page 103... ...
• Standards and mechanisms that allow a user As change accelerates and as sensor networks begin to search not only for data, but also for simulation to provide densely sampled data in both space and time, models, and to implement them in a virtual globe we will need to add rapidly to our collection of spatioenvironment; temporal techniques of analysis. At this time, we know • Tools that allow models of a wide range of little about how to analyze and mine the increasing processes, from environmental to social, to be repre- supply of data resulting from the tracking of vehicles, sented using a common and reusable set of software people, and animals (Miller and Han, 2001)
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From page 104... ...
enable the geographical sciences to collect, analyze, and Spatial decision-support systems based on real-time share information in ways that are critical to the mulstreams of data could provide new levels of effectiveness tidisciplinary task of understanding and assessing the in the management of numerous social and environ human and environmental processes that are shaping mental problems. the future of the planet.
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