Geospatial information infrastructures

Manual of Digital Earth / Editors: Huadong Guo, Michael F. Goodchild, Alessandro Annoni .- Springer, 2020 .- ISBN: 978-981-32-9915-3Geospatial information infrastructures (GIIs) provide the technological, semantic,organizationalandlegalstructurethatallowforthediscovery,sharing,and use of geospatial information (GI). In this chapter, we introduce the overall concept and surrounding notions such as geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial datainfrastructures(SDI).WeoutlinethehistoryofGIIsintermsoftheorganizational andtechnologicaldevelopmentsaswellasthecurrentstate-of-art,andreflectonsome of the central challenges and possible future trajectories. We focus on the tension betweenincreasedneedsforstandardizationandtheever-acceleratingtechnological changes. We conclude that GIIs evolved as a strong underpinning contribution to implementation of the Digital Earth vision. In the future, these infrastructures are challengedtobecomeflexibleandrobustenoughtoabsorbandembracetechnological transformationsandtheaccompanyingsocietalandorganizationalimplications.With this contribution, we present the reader a comprehensive overview of the field and a solid basis for reflections about future developments

A Mirror of Our World: Google Earth and the History of Cartography

Google Earth is widely admired as one of the most advanced and powerful products of modern computerized cartography. It has been praised as a revolutionary new way of viewing the earth, as the first convincing attempt at a mirror-world or a simulacrum of the earth. Nonetheless, Google Earth is deeply rooted in the practices and conventions of Western cartography. This article examines what is new and what is old in Google Earth. It especially focuses on the extent to which Google Earth constitutes a mirror world, and on the philosophical meaning and validity of such concepts as cartographic mirroring and representation. It also speculates about the possible future development of Google Earth and similar efforts to mirror the world in digital form

Preservation of Data for Earth System Science- Towards a Content Standard

Various remote sensing agencies of the world have created a data rich environment for research and applications over the last three decades. Especially over the last decade, the volume and variety of data useful for Earth system science have increased quite rapidly. One of the key purposes of collecting these data and generating useful digital products containing derived geophysical parameters is to study the long-term trends in the Earth s behavior. Long-term observational data and derived products are essential for validating results from models that predict the future behavior of the Earth system. Given the significant resources expended in gathering the observational data and developing the derived products, it is important to preserve them for the benefit of future generations of users. Preservation involves maintaining the bits with no loss (or loss within scientifically acceptable bounds) as they move across systems as well as over time, ensuring readability over time, and providing for long-term understandability and repeatability of previously obtained results. In order to ensure long-term understandability and repeatability, it is necessary to identify all items of content that must be preserved and plan for such preservation. This paper discusses the need for a standard enumerating and describing such content items and reports on the progress made by NASA and the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP Federation) in the U.S. towards such a standard

The myth of the Digital Earth between fragmentation and wholeness

Daring predictions of the proximate future can establish shared discursive frameworks, mobilize capital, and steer complex processes. Among the prophetic visions that encouraged and accompanied the development of new communication technologies was the “Digital Earth,” described in a 1998 speech by Al Gore as a high-resolution representation of the planet to share and analyze detailed information about its state. This article traces a genealogy of the Digital Earth as a techno-scientific myth, locating it in a constellation of media futures, arguing that a common subtext of these envisionments consists of a dream of wholeness, an afflatus to overcome perceived fragmentation among humans, and between humans and the Earth

Public Engagement of Earth Science and Art Using Astronaut Photography

For over fifty years of crewed spaceflight missions, NASA astronauts have taken remarkable photographs of the Earth that offer various perspectives for viewing dynamic Earth processes. The International Space Station (ISS) today provides a unique platform to view and capture imagery of Earth at a variety of viewing angles, seasons, and times of day. Astronaut photos comprise a variable true-color (RGB - Red Green Blue) dataset taken with multiple handheld digital (and historically, film) cameras and lens types that differ from nadir-looking satellite-based remote sensing instruments with fixed temporal and spatial resolutions. The Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Facility within the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASAs Johnson Space Center supports the acquisition, analysis, and curation of astronaut photography of Earths surface and atmosphere. CEOs website, the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth (eol.jsc.nasa.gov), provides free public access to view, search, and download over three million images taken by astronauts from Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions to current ISS missions. Handheld images taken by astronauts from the ISS are used for scientific research and public engagement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields, particularly earth science. While segments of the public are actively interested in STEM fields, there may be groups who are underexposed to and disinterested in earth science or are unaware of astronaut photography from the ISS. A broader public audience can be introduced to earth science, STEM fields, and ISS research through artistic or abstract photos of the Earth. Wide angle pictures taken of Earth have identifiable landforms and bodies of water, however zoomed in, very high resolution photos without obvious geographic reference can attract new viewing audiences on a purely aesthetic basis. The CEO Facility actively curates a collection of exceptional astronaut photos of Earth as art used to reach a wider population through increased digital products and outreach events. This continuously-updated collection feeds development of freely accessible and high-quality downloadable materials including scientific articles, videos, computer wallpapers, and social media content. These materials are presented with science-based information that augments the artistic qualities of the imagery, and facilitate connection between art-engaged or non-STEM audiences to the ISS research platform and the need for future innovative STEM research

Multi-sensory Integration for a Digital Earth Nervous System

The amount of geospatial data is increasing, but interoperability issues hinder integrated discovery, view and analysis. This paper suggests an illustrative and extensible solution to some of the underlying challenges, by extending a previously suggested Digital Earth Nervous System with multi-sensory integration capacities. In doing so, it proposes the combination of multiple ways of sensing our environment with a memory for storing relevant data sets and integration methods for extracting valuable information out of the rich inputs. Potential building blocks for the implementation of such an advanced nervous system are sketched and briefly analysed. The paper stimulates more detailed considerations by concluding with challenges for future research and requesting a multidisciplinary development approach – including computer sciences, environmental sciences, cognitive and neurosciences, as well as engineering.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

A Mirror of Our World: Google Earth and the History of Cartography

Google Earth is widely admired as one of the most advanced and powerful products of modern computerized cartography. It has been praised as a revolutionary new way of viewing the earth, as the first convincing attempt at a mirror-world or a simulacrum of the earth. Nonetheless, Google Earth is deeply rooted in the practices and conventions of Western cartography. This article examines what is new and what is old in Google Earth. It especially focuses on the extent to which Google Earth constitutes a mirror world, and on the philosophical meaning and validity of such concepts as cartographic mirroring and representation. It also speculates about the possible future development of Google Earth and similar efforts to mirror the world in digital form

Stewardship of very large digital data archives

An archive is a permanent store. There are relatively few very large digital data archives in existence. Most business records are expired within five or ten years. Many kinds of business records that do have long lives are embedded in data bases that are continually updated and re-issued cyclically. Also, a great deal of permanent business records are actually archived as microfilm, fiche, or optical disk images - their digital version being an operational convenience rather than an archive. The problems forseen in stewarding the very large digital data archives that will accumulate during the mission of the Earth Observing System (EOS) are addressed. It focuses on the function of shepherding archived digital data into an endless future. Stewardship entails storing and protecting the archive and providing meaningful service to the community of users. The steward will (1) provide against loss due to physical phenomena; (2) assure that data is not lost due to storage technology obsolescence; and (3) maintain data in a current formatting methodology

Towards Our Common Digital Future. Flagship Report.

In the report “Towards Our Common Digital Future”, the WBGU makes it clear that sustainability strategies and concepts need to be fundamentally further developed in the age of digitalization. Only if digital change and the Transformation towards Sustainability are synchronized can we succeed in advancing climate and Earth-system protection and in making social progress in human development. Without formative political action, digital change will further accelerate resource and energy consumption, and exacerbate damage to the environment and the climate. It is therefore an urgent political task to create the conditions needed to place digitalization at the service of sustainable development