Anthonares

Mapping has finally come to the masses, and its name is Google Earth. Last June, Google released a software capable of quickly displaying satellite, aerial image, and map data for the entire globe. Since then, Google Earth has been used to aid rescue and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and in Pakistan after the earthquake there last fall. Its enormous rise in popularity is evidence of a deep desire in everyone to be able to see the world, and Google Earth offers the world just as we want to see it. It zooms in, tilts, displays maps, images, 3-D structures, and allows anyone to fly over the landscape effortlessly.

Last week, Nature ran a series of articles [free online access: 1, 2, 3] (and a couple of news updates today: 1, 2) about Google Earth and its NASA-borne cousin World Wind (collectively called Virtual Globes). Continuing their excellent coverage on how technology is reshaping science, the hit the nail right on the head, and I paraphrase:

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) give users the ability to manipulate and analyze spatial data in ways that were absolutely impossible before. But due to their complexity, many potential users were intimidated and GIS use was limited primarily to specialists. Google Earth and World Wind are changing all that by whetting scientists’ and the publics’ appetites for visual and spatial data.

Changing the Way the Public Views the World

Soon, virtually all relevant data will be tagged and input into virtual globes. Millions of individuals downloaded maps of disaster regions over the last two years which both allowed them to personalize and more fully appreciate the scope of those tragedies. Weather data is already available in near real-time, as are earthquakes, and crime statistics (in some areas). The envelope is expanding as GPS coordinates are uploaded and individuals and scientists track their travels or those of endangered species. Wikipedia entries are increasingly being geo-tagged, and the use of open standards supported by Google Earth, World Wind, and the Open Geospatial Consortium will help to assure that any and all data will be accessible across platforms. (image at right: New Orleans with 3-D buildings overlain, click icon to download placemark for this view)

Changing the Way Geography (and everything else) Is Taught

Besides tinkering at home, the public is about to witness an absolute revolution in the way that natural science and geography are taught to our students. Want to fix that appalling lack of geographic familiarity in the US? Give them NASA World Wind, or Google Earth, or whatever comes next. Each day, when the students discuss current events they can fly to see where it is happening and who might be affected.

Social geography will benefit as students can see census data right before their eyes and navigate to see the demographics of their neighborhood, or as the results of the last election are displayed in the “purple state” image at the left, not the false dichotomy of red state/blue state that the media prattles on about. Gone will be the days when students spend their time yawning over their drawing of the state of Colorado. Instead they will see Social Studies and Social Geography “live.” These two subjects are in part so boring because they are not very hands on, now that is changing.

Physical geography stands to benefit perhaps just as much. Do you remember learning about those strange geomorphic features? Use your Virtual Globe and see a fjord (and an impact crater, look at the roundish grey feature, this is Haughton Crater, and on its north-west rim sits the FMARS station), an isthmus, a peninsula, a bay, and a continental divide. Now class, for today’s assignment I’d like each of you to find the nearest one of these features to your hometown. Also, for each feature you find, locate the nearest major airport.

You get the idea, geographic education is going to change dramatically, but that’s not all that will change. After all, most other types of natural sciences are rooted in specific locations. Want to talk about glaciers melting? Download the latest datasets from NASA and show them the snows that once existed on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Or maybe you are talking about the latest science news and your students want to know about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Go into Google Earth and find the bayous of Louisiana and show the students the location of each reported sighting. I believe in this type of education so strongly that I am going to make an effort to locate and link every major scientific finding and discovery that I write about. We need to make science and all other aspects of education real for our children, and there is no better way to do it than by showing them where in the world science is happening.

Changing the Way Scientists Do Research

A few years ago I discovered Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS is an extremely powerful tool that allows me (and thousands of other geoscientists) to see maps and data in ways that we could not before. I can create layered models of the geology of a region, and then fly in between those layers to better understand features like buried river channels. I can take the data my group has gathered about water quality in Michigan streams and then overlay that on maps of human land-use to discover and hypothesize relationships. Other scientists use these tools to upload migration routes of animals, or range data for predators. In this way they can understand how the fragmentation of habitats will affect animals in the face of climate change.

GIS is a wonderful tool, but it is not nearly as widely used amongst scientists as it should be (don’t take my word for it, read the 2nd link to the Nature articles). Why? Historically, these tools were difficult to understand, and thus suited to GIS experts only. Now, experts in other fields can pick up GIS as a tool just like they adopted computers back in the PC revolution of the late 1970s and early 80s. To overcome the few remaining obstacles, software like Google Earth and NASA World Wind are effortless to use. They produce instant results that are exciting to scientists in profound ways. Imagine for the first time truly seeing the data you have collected. The first time I saw my data in a GIS was one of those “aha!” moments that I will never forget.

Virtually all science has some geographic aspect, including the planetary sciences. NASA World Wind and Google Earth both allow for globes of other planets to be added in. Now, planetary scientists can create databases of important features and discoveries that until now exist only in a maze of publications. The tracks of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers can be uploaded as well, allowing scientists and the public to watch those plucky little machines creep across Mars. In the future, virtual globes will be created for every single planet we explore either physically or visually. Asteroids will be mapped and mineral concentrations tagged. We finally have the computing power to experience the vastness of space the way that a god might see it (please accept the literary usage and not the egoistic theological implications of this statement).

Am I Being Overly Enthusiastic Here?

Not at all, in my most subjective opinion. GIS and Virtual Globes are poised to take off in a way that email was in 1995. We will see map data on television, and online news will include geographic markers for folks to see in real time. As the market grows, more powerful satellites will be launched that will enable for almost real-time views of most of the populated world. The public will be able to see and experience parts of the world on which they will never set foot, and our cultural understanding will grow. Education will be changed, and science will be changed more than it already has. If you’re still skeptical, you probably haven’t tried it yet.

Download Google Earth, then download NASA’s World Wind (if you have a PC). Try the Google user community and the World Wind Wiki, see what other people have made available. I promise you wont see your house, your street, your town, your country, or the world the same way afterward.

Resources

Virtual Globes

NASA World Wind- Windows only, but Mac support in forthcoming version. World Wind is slower than google earth, but it’s open source and thus has a slew of add-ins that Google Earth lacks.
Google Earth- Mac or Windows versions are available. This is the hallmark virtual globe software, and within five minutes of using it you will see the world differently. If you have a broadband connection, download it toady.
GeoPlayer Mars Demo- suggested by Bruce and discussed in his blog. A virtual globe for Mars that comes with a C++ software development kit (SDK), so it’s theoretically quite extensible. PC only.

Free GIS Tools

ArcExplorer- Currently this is the only free GIS offering from the biggest player in GIS, ESRI. It’s a meager GIS with only a few features, but it is available on most platforms and can view standard GIS files that the virtual globes cannot.
QGis- Based originally on the GRASS code (see next), it is very user friendly, capable (it is a fairly complete GIS), and open-source. Currently only at version 0.8, it is available on all platforms.
GRASS GIS- not for the faint of heart, but it is an extremely capable, full-featured, open-source GIS. It does have extensive, if not entirely well-written documentation and tutorials. Available on all platforms.

Other Resources

World Wind Wiki- (not a Wikipedia site) includes huge list of Add-Ons. Great resource.
Google Earth Blog
Google Earth Wikipedia Entry- very thorough
Google Earth Community- view placemarks submitted by Google Earth users