Janet Haven: The arrival of the "digital earth"

Declan Butler has written a great piece for Nature on the way scientists are starting to use Google Earth in place of far more complicated GIS software. Because Google Earth is easier to use than most GIS software (although doesn't include GIS analysis tools), scientists are finding they can "effortlessly" overlay mutliple data sets onto Google Earth, and use it as a visualization and live tracking tool. Butler writes that "increasing amounts of scientific data are becoming available, often in real time, in formats that can be displayed by virtual globes."

The good news here is not just for scientists, but also for citizens seeking to inform themselves on issues that are more easily grasped through data visualizations. Geographical display of advocacy data is one of my main interests -- from projects like Forward Track to Human Rights Watch use of maps to illustrate their study, " Off Target: The Conduct of War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq", I find the use of a geographical framework for data sets to be a powerful choice -- and one not employed often enough by advocates seeking to make an impression beyond reams of print. With tools like Google Earth, and an apparently increasing number of researchers interested in using these tools to track and visualize their data, the availability of these kinds of visual arguments is on the rise.

Google Earth is of course not open source, nor are its data formats. Other virtual globes, notably ESRI's coming free globe, will offer an open data format:

As part of the package, ESRI will also release a free visualization tool, ArcGis Explorer, which some GIS professionals are calling a Google-Earth killer. Data in Google Earth need to be in a specific format; ESRI's tool will allow users to view not only data from ESRI's own products, but also information in formats that are being increasingly standardized through the Open Geospatial Consortium. This international body is working to ensure that computers can understand descriptions of the spatial features of anything from highways and postcodes to icebergs.

And for those that are looking for open-source-only, Declan has highlighted (on his blog) a very useful and seemingly exhaustive list (in pdf format) of open source GIS and visualizations tools (this list spans the GRASS to GIMP -- there's a lot there).

Janet Haven

The arrival of the "digital earth"

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