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Articles on Mapping

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New satellite mapping techniques can quickly locate washed out and damaged areas. Ricardo Arduengo / AFP via Getty Images

New satellite mapping with AI can quickly pinpoint hurricane damage across an entire state to spot where people may be trapped

Artificial intelligence can spot differences in images from before and after a storm over wide areas in almost real time. It showed Hurricane Ian’s vast damage in Florida.
Gene-based vaccines had never been approved for humans before the coronavirus pandemic. Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

3 medical innovations fueled by COVID-19 that will outlast the pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has driven a lot of scientific progress in the past year. But just as some of the social changes are likely here to stay, so are some medical innovations.
Tharp with an undersea map at her desk. Rolled sonar profiles of the ocean floor are on the shelf behind her. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp

Marie Tharp pioneered mapping the bottom of the ocean 6 decades ago – scientists are still learning about Earth’s last frontier

Born on July 30, 1920, geologist and cartographer Tharp changed scientific thinking about what lay at the bottom of the ocean – not a featureless flat, but rugged and varied terrain.
A section of Beijing Daxing International Airport from the first 3D images released by China National Space Administration using data from the recently launched Gaofen-7 Earth observation satellite, which can resolve objects less than a metre wide. China National Space Administration/Xinhua

As Digital Earth gains momentum, China is setting the pace

China has embraced the concept of Digital Earth – the use of data from satellites to create a visual map of what’s happening at every point on the planet – and is now a key player in making it happen.
One nine-year-old chose his local supermarket as a place he valued because he could “spend time with mum and help decide what goes in our trolley”. Shutterstock

Public places through kids’ eyes – what do they value?

When primary school children in a disadvantaged part of Sydney were asked to map what they valued in the area, their choices were revealing and sometimes surprising.
Maps can be a tool in the defense of Indigenous communities against extractive industries. Canadian Centre for Architecture; Grant Tigner, painter. Seagrams Limited, publisher. The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project, in The St. Lawrence Seaway: The Realization of a Mighty Dream, 1954.

Using maps as a weapon to resist extractive industries on Indigenous territories

Historically, western corporate maps have been privileged over Indigenous ones. But given the essential debate of territory in resource conflicts, maps are a crucial tool.

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