Table 1 - uploaded by Karl Grossner
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-Digital Earth/Google Earth comparison
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The recent wave of interest in the geographic referencing of information and in geographic displays generally, highlighted by the mid-2005 release of the Google Earth "geobrowser," suggests the time is right to revisit the vision of a "Digital Earth" project proposed in 1998 by then US Vice-President Al Gore. Digital Earth was an ambitious global u...
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... that end we are adapting aspects of the unified process (UP) for software design, which has been successfully applied to many large projects (Larman 2002;Abler 2004Abler , 2006). In Table 1 we list some high-level requirements-for functionality, content, user interface and system architecture-described or implied in the speech and note whether they are found in Google Earth's free, "Plus" and "Pro" versions as of this writing. An "Enterprise" version offers enhancements we have been unable to appraise directly. ...
Citations
... Google Earth (GE), a virtual globe geo-browser software was initially developed to fulfill the ideas of Digital Earth project after the announcement of US Vice-President Al Gore in 1998 [1]. Since June, 2005, the interest of people increases working with GE data as it was openly accessible to the users. ...
... Google Earth (GE), a virtual globe geo-browser software was initially developed to fulfill the ideas of Digital Earth project after the announcement of US Vice-President Al Gore in 1998 [1]. Since June, 2005, the interest of people increases working with GE data as it was openly accessible to the users. ...
In this era of twenty first century, Google Earth (GE) delivered tangible advantage to the users. The reliability of
people searching the geographical location of the earth on GE service increases and to use its geospatial information
for different mapping purposes due to its high spatial resolution of raster data and other ancillary information. The
study aimed to generate three separate vector layers from three different time-series satellite data of GE on the same
geographical location of the earth. Since the vector layers were superimposed in a particular frame, it was observed that
layers were found to be not congruent, as the multi-temporal satellite imagery of GE were shifted from one another. In
order to examine the shifted error and to rectify the geometric distortion of vector data, the mathematical formulas were
used in the study. Initially, Haversine formula was used to measure the shifted distance between the corresponding
points of vector layers. After calculating the distance values of two corresponding points, Lagrange form of Interpolation
Polynomial formula was applied to minimize the distance value of vector layers. However, this formula did not provide
a satisfying result to reduce the average distance value of vector data. Finally, Affine transformation formula was fit to
reduce the distance value and to rectify the geometric distortion of vector layers in comparison with Lagrange form of
Interpolation Polynomial formula. Therefore, in order to obtain the correct vector data, the geometric correction of data
was required for any ‘Change Detection’ study on multi-temporal satellite imagery of GE.
... Today, it is not surprising that DE-related credentials support the acquisition, understanding, management, analysis, visualization and (to some extent) ethics of data. According to Grossner and Clarke (2007), the term DE has come to represent a global technological initiative, but also "an intellectual movement." While the human aspects of DE were articulated by Foresman (2008), the current DE focus is still on the technical issues of the problem without much regard to its human aspects. ...
Digital Earth (DE) education provides students with geospatial knowledge and skills to locate, measure, and solve geographic problems on Earth’s surface. The rapid development of geospatial technology has promoted a new vision of DE to embrace data infrastructure, social networks, citizen science, and human processes on Earth. The high demand for a geospatial workforce also calls for an ever-changing, diverse form of learning experiences. Limited efforts, however, have been made regarding DE education to adapt to this changing landscape, with most interventions falling short of expectations. This chapter gives an overview of current teaching and learning structures with DE technologies. Successes and obstacles for K-12 education are explored first, followed by classroom technologies and experiential learning and outreach exercises such as academic certificates and internships in higher education. Taking the geospatial intelligence model from the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) as an example, recent advancements in DE education for professional careers are described via its geospatial competencies, hierarchical frameworks, and credentials. In alignment with the principles of DE development, future DE education calls for an integrated learning framework of open data, real-world context, and virtual reality for better preparedness of our students in the geospatial world.
... Then Esri launched ArcGIS 9 to visualize multi-resolution global data. In 2005, Google launched Google Earth, which integrates computer technology and 3D technology for freely browsing Earth in 3D, allowing querying, measurement, analysis, and location services based on a mass of remote sensing data (Grossner and Clarke 2007). Since then a number of virtual globes have been produced, including Skyline Globe Virtual Earth (Skyline), WorldWind (NASA), GeoGlobe (Wuhan University), and Virtual Earth and Bing Maps (Microsoft). ...
Digital Earth has seen great progress during the last 19 years. When it entered into the era of big data, Digital Earth developed into a new stage, namely one characterized by ‘Big Earth Data’, confronting new challenges and opportunities. In this paper we give an overview of the development of Digital Earth by summarizing research achievements and marking the milestones of Digital Earth’s development. Then, the opportunities and challenges that Big Earth Data faces are discussed. As a data-intensive scientific research approach, Big Earth Data provides a new vision and methodology to Earth sciences, and the paper identifies the advantages of Big Earth Data to scientific research, especially in knowledge discovery and global change research. We believe that Big Earth Data will advance and promote the development of Digital Earth.
... The future of the Digital Earth framework and its applicability to different use cases have been the subject of extensive discussion and anticipation [169,170,72,171,172,173,174,172,175,176,177]. Thus far, a number of these insights and visions have been realized in applications for a variety of different fields. ...
The creation of a digital representation of the Earth and its associated data is a complex and difficult task. The incredible size of geospatial data and differences between data sets pose challenges related to big data, data creation, and data integration. Advances in globe representation and visualization have made use of Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGSs) that discretize the globe into a set of cells to which data are assigned. DGGSs are well studied and important in the GIS, OGC, and Digital Earth communities but have not been well-introduced to the computer graphics community. In this paper, we provide an overview of DGGSs and their use in digitally representing the Earth, describe several current Digital Earth systems and their methods of Earth representation, and list a number of applications of Digital Earths with related works. Moreover, we discuss the key research areas and related papers from computer graphics that are useful for a Digital Earth system, such as advanced techniques for geospatial data creation and representation.
... ). Il termine " neogeografia " in pochi anni è diventato di comune impiego per descrivere l'unione di complesse tecniche di cartografia e strumenti GIS, al fine di metterli alla portata di utenti e sviluppatori (Turner 2006). Per geobrowser si intende la tipologia di strumenti in grado di accedere ai dati georeferenziati, anche localizzati nella rete Internet, e di visualizzarli in due (2D) o tre dimensioni (3D -Gore 1998 in Grossner 2007, Sandvik 2008, Höffken 2009). Il risultato è dato dalla rielaborazione computerizzata di un insieme di strati informativi composti da immagini telerilevate, basi cartografiche e algoritmi per la visualizzazione tridimensionale (Giorda 2006). ...
The spread of geobrowsers as tools for displaying geographically referenced information provides insights and opportunities to those who, not being specialists in Geographic Information Systems, want to take advantage from exploration and communication power offered by these software. Through the use of web services such as Google Maps and the use of suitable markup languages, one can create interactive maps starting from highly heterogeneous data and information. These interactive maps can also be easily distributed and shared with Internet users, because they do not need to use proprietary software nor special skills but only a web browser. Unlike the maps created with GIS, whose output usually is a static image, the interactive maps retain all their features to users advantage. This paper describes a web application that, using the Keyhole Markup Language and the free service of Google Maps, produces choropleth maps relating to some forest indicators estimated by the last Italian National Forest Inventory. The creation of a map is done through a simple and intuitive interface. The maps created by users can be downloaded as KML file and can be viewed or modified via the freeware application Google Earth or free and open source GIS software like Quantum GIS. The web application is free and available at www.ricercaforestale.it.
... Support for the digital earth advocated ten years ago (Gore, 1998) has progressed. Grossner also defined a vision of the digital earth, comparing Google Earth and the digital earth (Grossner and Clarke, 2007). Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, NASA World Wind and ESRI ArcGIS Explorer are well-known geobrowsers. ...
... Georeferenced application output may be overlaid on the Earth surface in some geobrowsers. Nevertheless integration and fusion of data and simulation models from multiple disparate sources is rarely possible within the applications themselves (Grossner and Clarke, 2007). For example, although NASA's World Wind for Java provides an advanced system architecture implemented in an open-source code base, it does not provide generalized simulation functionality and requires Java developers to embed World Wind in their own applications. ...
Broad needs for digital models of real environments such as 3D terrain or cyber cities are increasing. Many applications related to modeling and simulation require virtual environments constructed from real-world geospatial information in order to guarantee relevance and accuracy in the simulation. The most fundamental data for building virtual environments, terrain elevation and orthogonal imagery, is typically acquired using optical sensors mounted on satellites or airplanes. Providing interoperable and reusable digital models in 3D is important for promoting practical applications of high-resolution airborne imagery. This paper presents research results regarding virtual-environment representations of geospatial information, especially for 3D shape and appearance of virtual terrain. It describes a framework for constructing real-time 3D models of large terrain based on highresolution satellite imagery. This approach is also suitable for underwater bathymetry. The Extensible D Graphics (X3D) Geospatial Component standard is applied to produce X3D Earth models with global scope. Efficient rendering, network retrieval and data caching/removal must all be optimized simultaneously, across servers, networks and clients, in order to accomplish these goals properly. Details of this standard-based approach for providing an infrastructure for real-time D simulation merging high-resolution geometry and imagery are also presented. This work facilitates open interchange and interoperability across diverse simulation systems and is independently usable by governments, industry, scientists and the general public.
... Ten years ago, U.S. Vice-President Al Gore articulated a vision of "Digital Earth" (Gore, 1998) as a multi-resolution, three-dimensional representation of the planet that would make it possible to find, visualize, and make sense of vast amounts of georeferenced information on the physical and social environment ( Craglia et al., 2008). For some, the idea of a Digital Earth seems to be nearly fulfilled in the Google Earth geobrowser software (Grossner and Clarke, 2007). However, most key development and efforts about the Digital Earth concept that have been conducted for the past decade are distinct from the key definition of Digital Earth vision about data integration and sharing. ...
... However, Grossner and Clarke argued that Google Earth is not Digital Earth although there is a more than passing resemblance and the commercial forces driving Google Earth development. ( Grossner and Clarke, 2007) The definition of Digital Earth is being changed from the original concept of Al Gore"s vision by innovation in supporting technology and environmental change. There are efforts for defining a new digital earth system and reevaluating Digital Earth vision. ...
... In other words, standard formats, protocols, software and metadata requirements that allow information generated by one kind of application software to be read by another. KML has become a standard for sharing data for display in virtual globe software; the Google Earth primary database cannot be accessed by any non-Google software applications ( Grossner and Clarke, 2007). ...
Digital Earth is being re-evaluated and there are weakness and limitations in geobrowsers despite of its successful widespread adoption. Especially the interoperability of virtual globes, neutrality of digital earth model, and openness are tasks to be solved for putting forward the vision of the Digital Earth. This paper presents an open standard-based approach for digital representations of the Earth that enable a person to explore and interact with the vast amounts of natural and cultural information gathered about the Earth. The proposed approach is utilizing the Extensible 3D Graphics (X3D) Geospatial Component in order to guarantee interoperability of information interchange and prevent audience being bounded by single digital earth system that is statedly mass-market oriented such as Google Earth. The intent here is to provide a mechanism for producers to present and publish geospatial information and for users to navigate and search for it. This work facilitates users to build their own specially designed Digital Earth depending on their distinct set of needs for information visualization about our planet.
... Then in October, 2004, Google acquired Keyhole Corporation, foreshadowing a major development -the June, 2005 release of Google Earth , which has captured an enormous interest for a few key reasons: (1) it is free; (2) it is fast; (3) it has its own markup language (KML), which allows anyone to display and easily share their own data; and (4) it is by all accounts fun; this stems from its speed, an easy-touse interface, high quality imagery and a growing array of interesting content. That Google Earth so far falls far short of the Digital Earth vision despite its obvious relation is argued in Grossner and Clarke (2007). ...
In a 1998 speech before the California Science Center in Los Angeles, then US Vice-President Al Gore called for a global undertaking to build a multi-faceted computing system for education and research, which he termed “Digital Earth.” The vision was that of a system providing access to what is known about the planet and its inhabitants’ activities – currently and for any time in history – via responses to queries and exploratory tools. Furthermore, it would accommodate modeling extensions for predicting future conditions. Organized efforts towards realizing that vision have diminished significantly since 2001, but progress on key requisites has been made. As the 10 year anniversary of that influential speech approaches, we re-examine it from the perspective of a systematic software design process and find the envisioned system to be in many respects inclusive of concepts of distributed geolibraries and digital atlases. A preliminary definition for a particular digital earth system as: “a comprehensive, distributed geographic information and knowledge organization system,” is offered and discussed. We suggest that resumption of earlier design and focused research efforts can and should be undertaken, and may prove a worthwhile “Grand Challenge” for the GIScience community.
... Georeferenced output from other applications may be overlaid on the Earth surface or at elevation of some geobrowsers. Integration, and fusion of data from multiple sources are, however, hardly possible within the applications itself (Grossner and Clarke, 2007). Although NASA World Wind provides advanced system architecture through open source code base of its SDK for Java programming language, it still does not provide simulation functionality and requires Java developers to embed World Wind in their own applications, i.e. they need their own simulation capability. ...
The needs for digital models of real environment such as 3D terrain or cyber city model are increasing. Most of applications related with modeling and simulation require virtual environment constructed from geospatial information of real world in order to guarantee reliability and accuracy of the simulation. The most fundamental data for building virtual environment, terrain elevation and orthogonal imagery is acquired from optical sensor of satellite or airplane. Providing interoperable and reusable digital model is important to promote practical application of high-resolution satellite imagery. This paper presents the new research regarding representation of geospatial information, especially for 3D shape and appearance of virtual terrain, and describe framework for constructing real-time 3D model of large terrain based on high-resolution satellite imagery. It provides infrastructure of 3D simulation with geographical context. Details of standard-based approach for providing infrastructure of real-time 3D simulation using high-resolution satellite imagery are also presented. This work would facilitate interchange and interoperability across diverse systems and be usable by governments, industry scientists and general public.
