tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/mapping-1040/articles
Mapping – The Conversation
2024-02-14T03:56:08Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223322
2024-02-14T03:56:08Z
2024-02-14T03:56:08Z
The world’s coral reefs are bigger than we thought – but it took satellites, snorkels and machine learning to see them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575519/original/file-20240214-20-mjiqz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4607%2C2592&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-great-barrier-reef-whitsundays-1496224889">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world’s coral reefs are close to 25% larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and working on coral reefs, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949790624000016?via%3Dihub">we found</a> an extra 64,000 square kilometres of coral reefs – an area the size of Ireland. </p>
<p>That brings the total size of the planet’s shallow reefs (meaning 0-20 metres deep) to 348,000 square kilometres – the size of Germany. This figure represents whole coral reef ecosystems, ranging from sandy-bottomed lagoons with a little coral, to coral rubble flats, to living walls of coral. </p>
<p>Within this 348,000 km² of coral is 80,000 km² where there’s a hard bottom – rocks rather than sand. These areas are likely to be home to significant amounts of coral – the places snorkellers and scuba divers most like to visit. </p>
<p>You might wonder why we’re finding this out now. Didn’t we already know where the world’s reefs are? </p>
<p>Previously, we’ve had to pull data from many different sources, which made it harder to pin down the extent of coral reefs with certainty. But now we have high resolution satellite data covering the entire world – and are able to see reefs as deep as 30 metres down. </p>
<p>We coupled this with direct observations and records of coral reefs from over <a href="https://allencoralatlas.org/attribution">400 individuals and organisations</a> in countries with coral reefs from all regions, such as the Maldives, Cuba and Australia. </p>
<p>To produce the maps, we used machine learning techniques to chew through 100 trillion pixels from the Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove CubeSat satellites to make accurate predictions about where coral is – and is not. The team worked with almost 500 researchers and collaborators to make the maps. </p>
<p>The result: the world’s first comprehensive map of coral reefs extent, and their composition, produced through the <a href="https://allencoralatlas.org/">Allen Coral Atlas</a>. </p>
<p>The maps are already proving their worth. Reef management agencies around the world are using them to plan and assess conservation work and threats to reefs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Researcher towing a GPS on Great Barrier Reef during an expedition." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575477/original/file-20240213-26-wxc8ic.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We combined satellite data with real world observations. Here, Dr Eva Kovacs tows a GPS on the Great Barrier Reef.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://allencoralatlas.org/blog/meet-the-team-university-of-queensland/">Allan Coral Atlas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where is this hidden coral?</h2>
<p>You can see the difference for yourself. In the interactive slider below, red indicates the newly detected coral in reefs off far north Queensland. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1015" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1015/df887cb0211a347030b52f7e8261bcacbc7e9463/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This infographic shows the new detail we now have for the Tongue Reef, in the seas off Port Douglas in Far North Queensland. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1017" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1017/21ab9e743c8e2a3a716df327b0946c4bf8e47468/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Our maps have three levels of detail. The first is the most expansive – the entire coral reef ecosystem. Seen from space, it has light areas of coral fringed by darker deeper water. </p>
<p>Then we have geomorphic detail, meaning what the areas within the reef look like. This includes sandy lagoons, reef crests exposed to the air at low tide, sloping areas going into deeper water and so on.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1016" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1016/ba3212ee64a358a16ca6b5ccfb454b415a72afe1/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>And finally we have fine detail of the benthic substrates, showing where you have areas dominated by coral cover. </p>
<p>Coral can’t grow on sand. Polyps have to attach to a hard surface such as rock before they can begin expanding the reef out of their limestone-secreting bodies. </p>
<p>Some of our maps include fine detail of benthic substrates, meaning where coral is most likely to be and the substrates (seafloor) available to the polyps, such as existing coral, sand, rubble, or seagrass. </p>
<iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/16796582/embed" title="Interactive or visual content" class="flourish-embed-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%;height:600px;" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;"><a class="flourish-credit" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/16796582/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/16796582" target="_top"><img alt="Made with Flourish" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg"></a></div>
<iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/16784641/embed" title="Interactive or visual content" class="flourish-embed-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%;height:600px;" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;"><a class="flourish-credit" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/16784641/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/16784641" target="_top"><img alt="Made with Flourish" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg"></a></div>
<p>It’s a crucial time for the world’s coral reefs. We’re discovering the full extent of shallow water reefs – while other researchers are finding large new <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/19/deep-sea-coral-reef-atlantic-coast">black coral reefs</a> in deeper water. </p>
<p>But even as we make these discoveries, coral reefs are reeling. Climate change is steadily heating up the sea and making it more acidic. Coral polyps can’t <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-heroic-effort-to-save-floridas-coral-reef-from-extreme-ocean-heat-as-corals-bleach-across-the-caribbean-210974">handle too much heat</a>. These wonders of biodiversity are home to a quarter of the ocean’s species.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Scientist doing coral reef research." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575481/original/file-20240213-20-h7bnsp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making these maps took plenty of underwater research as well as satellite data. This photo shows Dr Chris Roelfsema conducting a photo transect in a remote area of the Great Barrier Reef.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://allencoralatlas.org/blog/new-funds-for-coral-reef-field-engagement/">Allen Coral Atlas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In good news, these maps are already leading to real world change. We’ve already seen new efforts to conserve coral reefs in Indonesia, several Pacific island nations, Panama, Belize, Kenya and Australia, among others. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-coral-reefs-thrive-in-parts-of-the-ocean-that-are-low-in-nutrients-by-eating-their-algal-companions-212049">How do coral reefs thrive in parts of the ocean that are low in nutrients? By eating their algal companions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mitchell Lyons receives funding from Australian Research Council and Australian Commonwealth Government. Mitchell Lyons works for the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Phinn receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Queensland and New South Wales state governments, Geoscience Australia and other Commonwealth agencies, and SmartSAT CRC. He works for the University of Queensland and was the founding director of Earth Observation Australia and Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). </span></em></p>
Our new maps show coral reefs are more extensive than we thought.
Mitchell Lyons, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Queensland
Stuart Phinn, Professor of Geography, Director - Remote Sensing Research Centre, Chair - Earth Observation Australia, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219367
2024-01-03T16:00:11Z
2024-01-03T16:00:11Z
We used AI and satellite imagery to map ocean activities that take place out of sight, including fishing, shipping and energy development
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566911/original/file-20231220-19-b20mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4839%2C3265&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many commercial fishing boats do not report their positions at sea or are not required to do so.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/aerial-view-of-small-fishing-boat-in-open-ocean-royalty-free-image/1285320085">Alex Walker via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans are racing to harness the ocean’s vast potential to power global economic growth. Worldwide, ocean-based industries such as fishing, shipping and energy production generate at least <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264251724-en">US$1.5 trillion</a> in economic activity each year and support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264251724-en">31 million jobs</a>. This value has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.12.016">increasing exponentially</a> over the past 50 years and is expected to double by 2030. </p>
<p>Transparency in monitoring this “blue acceleration” is crucial to prevent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3553458">environmental degradation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0461en">overexploitation</a> of fisheries and marine resources, and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/16/the-crimes-behind-the-seafood-you-eat">lawless behavior</a> such as illegal fishing and human trafficking. Open information also will make countries better able to manage vital ocean resources effectively. But the sheer size of the ocean has made tracking industrial activities at a broad scale impractical – until now.</p>
<p>A newly published study in the journal Nature combines satellite images, vessel GPS data and artificial intelligence to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06825-8">reveal human industrial activities across the ocean</a> over a five-year period. Researchers at <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/">Global Fishing Watch</a>, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea, led this study, in collaboration with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ArWZ7X0AAAAJ&hl=en">me</a> and our colleagues at Duke University, University of California, Santa Barbara and <a href="https://skytruth.org/">SkyTruth</a>.</p>
<p>We found that a remarkable amount of activity occurs outside of public monitoring systems. Our new map and data provide the most comprehensive public picture available of industrial uses of the ocean.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A world map shows large areas where industrial fishing activity is not publicly tracked or recorded." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566373/original/file-20231218-27-k4cjbr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Data analysis reveals that about 75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked, with much of that fishing taking place around Africa and South Asia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global Fishing Watch</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Operating in the dark</h2>
<p>Our research builds on existing technology to provide a much more complete picture than has been available until now. </p>
<p>For example, many vessels carry a device called an automatic identification system, or AIS, that automatically broadcasts the vessel’s identity, position, course and speed. These devices <a href="https://shipping.nato.int/nsc/operations/news/2021/ais-automatic-identification-system-overview">communicate with other AIS devices nearby</a> to improve situational awareness and reduce the chances of vessel collisions at sea. They also transmit to shore-based transponders and satellites, which can be used to <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/our-map/">monitor vessel traffic and fishing activity</a>.</p>
<p>However, AIS systems have blind spots. Not all vessels are required to use them, certain regions have poor AIS reception, and vessels engaged in illegal activities may <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-fishing-boats-go-dark-at-sea-theyre-often-committing-crimes-we-mapped-where-it-happens-196694">disable AIS devices</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/Azm4yKKIlqE?si=vvng8to_Hsa13E1p">tamper with location broadcasts</a>. To avoid these problems, some governments require fishing vessels to use proprietary vessel monitoring systems, but the associated vessel location data is usually confidential.</p>
<p>Some offshore structures, such as oil platforms and wind turbines, <a href="https://www.amsa.gov.au/safety-navigation/navigation-systems/automatic-identification-systems-offshore-structures">also use AIS</a> to guide service vessels, monitor nearby vessel traffic and improve navigational safety. However, location data for offshore structures are often incomplete, outdated or kept confidential for bureaucratic or commercial reasons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fishermen wade into the ocean, pulling large nets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566375/original/file-20231218-23-bd69hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishermen haul their nets by hand from the beach in Muanda, Democratic Republic of Congo. Unregulated fishing by foreign trawlers and other factors have depleted fishing stocks and impoverished local fishermen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fishermen-haul-their-nets-by-hand-from-the-beach-in-muanda-news-photo/1237283044">Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shining a light on activity at sea</h2>
<p>We filled these gaps by using artificial intelligence models to identify fishing vessels, nonfishing vessels and fixed infrastructure in 2 million gigabytes of satellite-based <a href="https://sentinels.copernicus.eu/web/sentinel/missions/sentinel-1">radar images</a> and <a href="https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/missions/sentinel-2">optical images</a> taken across the ocean between 2017 and 2021. We also matched these results to 53 billion AIS vessel position reports to determine which vessels were publicly trackable at the time of the image.</p>
<p>Remarkably, we found that about 75% of the fishing vessels we detected were missing from public AIS monitoring systems, with much of that activity taking place around Africa and South Asia. These previously invisible vessels radically changed our knowledge about the scale, scope and location of fishing activity.</p>
<p>For example, public AIS data wrongly suggests that Asia and Europe have comparable amounts of fishing within their borders. Our mapping reveals that Asia dominates: For every 10 fishing vessels we found on the water, seven were in Asia while only one was in Europe. Similarly, AIS data shows about 10 times more fishing on the European side of the Mediterranean compared with the African side – but our map shows that fishing activity is roughly equal across the two areas.</p>
<p>For other vessels, which are mostly transport- and energy-related, about 25% were missing from public AIS monitoring systems. Many missing vessels were in locations with poor AIS reception, so it is possible that they broadcast their locations but satellites did not pick up the transmission.</p>
<p>We also identified about 28,000 offshore structures – mostly oil platforms and wind turbines, but also piers, bridges, power lines, aquaculture farms and other human-made structures. Offshore oil infrastructure grew modestly over the five-year period, while the number of wind turbines more than doubled globally, with development mostly confined to northern Europe and China. We estimate that the number of wind turbines in the ocean likely surpassed the number of oil structures by the end of 2020.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="World map with locations of wind turbines, oil and gas platforms and other structures highlighted along coastlines." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566913/original/file-20231220-23-fa89lc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers combined machine learning and satellite imagery to create the first global map of offshore infrastructure, spotlighting previously unmapped industrial use of the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global Fishing Watch</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Supporting real-world efforts</h2>
<p>This data is freely available through the Global Fishing Watch <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/datasets-and-code/">data portal</a> and will be maintained, updated and expanded over time there. We anticipate several areas where the information will be most useful for on-the-ground monitoring:</p>
<p>– <strong>Fishing in data-poor regions</strong>: Shipboard monitoring systems are too expensive to deploy widely in many places. Fishery managers in developing countries can use our data to monitor pressure on local stocks. </p>
<p>– <strong>Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing</strong>: Industrial fishing vessels sometimes operate in places where they should not be, such as <a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/news/the-african-coastline-is-a-battleground-for-foreign-fleets-and-artisanal-fishers/">small-scale and traditional fishing grounds</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fishing-illegal-oceana-going-dark-marine-protected-areas-2018-4">marine protected areas</a>. Our data can help enforcement agencies identify illegal activities and target patrol efforts.</p>
<p>– <strong>Sanction-busting trade</strong>: Our data can shed light on maritime activities that may breach international economic sanctions. For example, <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1718/resolutions">United Nations sanctions</a> prohibit North Korea from exporting seafood products or selling its fishing rights to other countries. Previous work <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb1197">found more than 900 undisclosed fishing vessels</a> of Chinese origin in the eastern waters of North Korea, in violation of U.N. sanctions. </p>
<p>We found that the western waters of North Korea had far more undisclosed fishing, likely also of foreign origin. This previously unmapped activity peaked each year in May, when China bans fishing in its own waters, and abruptly fell in 2020 when North Korea closed its borders because of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZRLW-3Niseg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Better monitoring may help nations coordinate offshore activities in busy regions like the North Sea.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>– <strong>Climate change mitigation and adaptation</strong>: Our data can help quantify the scale of greenhouse gas emissions from vessel traffic and offshore energy development. This information is important for enforcing climate change mitigation programs, such as the European Union’s <a href="https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/transport/reducing-emissions-shipping-sector_en">emissions trading scheme</a>. </p>
<p>– <strong>Offshore energy impacts</strong>: Our map shows not only where offshore energy development is happening but also how vessel traffic interacts with wind turbines and oil and gas platforms. This information can shed light on the environmental footprint of building, maintaining and using these structures. It can also help to <a href="https://skytruth.org/cerulean/">pinpoint sources of oil spills</a> and other marine pollution. </p>
<p>Healthy oceans <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/why-care-about-ocean.html">underpin human well-being</a> in a myriad of ways. We expect that this research will support evidence-based decision-making and help to make ocean management more fair, effective and sustainable.</p>
<p><em>Fernando Paolo, senior machine learning engineer at Global Fishing Watch; David Kroodsma, director of research and innovation at Global Fishing Watch; and Patrick Halpin, Professor of Marine Geospatial Ecology at Duke University, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The study described in this article was funded by Oceankind, Bloomberg Philanthropies and National Geographic Pristine Seas. The European Space Agency made radar and optical imagery freely available, and Google provided computing resources and technical support. Jennifer Raynor has worked at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Global Fishing Watch.</span></em></p>
A new study reveals that 75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are hidden from public view.
Jennifer Raynor, Assistant Professor of Natural Resource Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197410
2023-01-15T19:00:44Z
2023-01-15T19:00:44Z
They say we know more about the Moon than about the deep sea. They’re wrong
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504341/original/file-20230112-21-7zgk62.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C2580%2C1924&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Jamieson</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>We know more about the Moon than the deep sea.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This idea has been repeated for decades by <a href="https://www.minderoo.org/deep-sea-research/news/launch-of-minderoo-uwa-deep-sea-research-centre-reveals-the-world-in-the-deep-east-indian-ocean/">scientists and science communicators</a>, including Sir David Attenborough in the 2001 documentary series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Planet">The Blue Planet</a>. More recently, in Blue Planet II (2017) and other sources, the Moon is replaced with Mars.</p>
<p>As deep-sea scientists, we investigated this supposed “fact” and found it has no scientific basis. It is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/78/3/797/6042988">not true in any quantifiable way</a>. </p>
<p>So where does this curious idea come from?</p>
<h2>Mapping the deep</h2>
<p>The earliest written record is in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-navigation/article/abs/exploration-of-the-deep-sea/E1C7BCDB586128FA188841503E160379">a 1954 article</a> in the Journal of Navigation, in which oceanographer and chemist George Deacon refers to a claim by geophysicist Edward Bullard. </p>
<p>A 1957 <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41366206">paper</a> published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts states: “the deep oceans cover over two-thirds of the surface of the world, and yet more is known about the shape of the surface of the moon than is known about that of the bottom of the ocean”. This refers specifically to the scant amount of data available on the topography of the sea floor and predates both the first crewed descent to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench (1960), and the first Moon landing (1969). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/just-how-little-do-we-know-about-the-ocean-floor-32751">Just how little do we know about the ocean floor?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This quote also predates the practice of using ship-mounted echo-sounders to map the sea floor from acoustic data, known as <a href="https://www.hydro-international.com/content/article/a-note-on-fifty-years-of-multi-beam">swathe bathymetry</a>. </p>
<p>Almost a quarter of the world’s sea floor (<a href="https://seabed2030.org/news/seabed-2030-announces-increase-ocean-data-equating-size-europe-and-major-new-partnership-un">23.4%</a>, to be precise) has been mapped to a high resolution. This amounts to about 120 million square kilometres, or about three times the Moon’s total surface area. This may be why the comparison has shifted to Mars, which has a surface area of 145 million square kilometres. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An image of the western half of the Pacific Ocean, showing sea floor depths in different shades of blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504343/original/file-20230112-14-4glul5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Almost a quarter of the world’s seafloor has been mapped in detail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/imagery/">GEBCO</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, high-resolution maps do not constitute the <a href="https://theconversation.com/just-how-little-do-we-know-about-the-ocean-floor-32751">total sum of knowledge</a>. The deep ocean must be considered in three dimensions – and, unlike the Moon, it is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534709002997">diverse and dynamic ecosystem</a>.</p>
<h2>A surprising number of visitors</h2>
<p>Another related and incorrect comparison is that more people have set foot on the Moon than have visited the deepest place on Earth. </p>
<p>This statement is difficult to substantiate. “The deepest place on Earth” could refer to the Mariana Trench, or just the deepest part of it (the Challenger Deep, named for the British survey ship HMS Challenger). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo of a submarine with a round protrusion on the bottom, hanging in the air from a hoist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504345/original/file-20230112-16-uuivvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bathyscaphe Trieste was the first crewed vessel to reach Challenger Deep, in 1960.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_Deep#/media/File:Bathyscaphe_Trieste.jpg">US Navy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nevertheless, at least 27 and as many as 40 or more people have visited the Challenger Deep as of early 2023. On the other hand, only <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/890/who-has-walked-on-the-moon/">12 people have “set foot” on the Moon and 24 people have visited it</a>.</p>
<h2>Out of sight, out of mind</h2>
<p>So why do people keep saying we know more about the Moon or Mars than the deep sea?</p>
<p>It feels natural to compare the deep sea to space. Both are dark, scary and far away. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of a full moon over the sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504346/original/file-20230112-15-tzonw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We see the Moon all the time – but the depths of the ocean are much harder to imagine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/IpK3kFBNJzQ">Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we can see the Moon very easily by simply looking up. By being able to see it, we accept an apparently glowing rock hanging in the sky more easily than that parts of the ocean are very deep. We can see the Moon wax and wane and we can experience the push and pull of the tides. </p>
<p>It feels like we know more about the Moon than the deep sea, because we are forced to accept its presence. It intrudes on our lives in a tangible way that the deep sea does not. </p>
<p>We don’t think much about the deep sea unless we’re watching a documentary or horror film, or perhaps reading about some “horrific alien-like monster” dredged up by a deep-sea trawler.</p>
<h2>A useful analogy</h2>
<p>Because the deep sea is so physically inaccessible, comparing it to space may offer a useful analogy for an otherwise difficult-to-imagine ecosystem. But <a href="https://youtu.be/Mu0cjWof2ug">some deep-sea scientists</a> argue that the persistent estrangement of the deep sea minimises the vast amount of research about it that has emerged in recent decades. </p>
<p>Deep-sea biology is relentlessly referred to as a discipline that knows less about its own field of study than a relatively small, barren rock devoid of atmosphere, water and life. And yet this self-deprecating line is repeated by scientists themselves, who may find that highlighting the deficit of knowledge about the deep sea helps to promote the need for ocean research.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the idea we know more about the Moon than the deep sea is at best about 70 years out of date. We know much more about the deep sea – but there is even more left to be known.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/final-frontiers-the-deep-sea-13270">Final frontiers: the deep sea</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prema Arasu receives funding from Inkfish.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Jamieson receives funding from the Minderoo Foundation and Inkfish.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Linley works for Armatus Oceanic Ltd. He is affiliated with The Deep-Sea Podcast. </span></em></p>
The idea we know more about the Moon than the deep sea is seductive – but it’s 70 years out of date.
Prema Arasu, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Western Australia
Alan Jamieson, Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology, Newcastle University
Thomas Linley, Research Associate, Marine Ecology, Newcastle University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192078
2022-10-07T12:49:18Z
2022-10-07T12:49:18Z
New satellite mapping with AI can quickly pinpoint hurricane damage across an entire state to spot where people may be trapped
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488764/original/file-20221007-22-u8ego1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=887%2C1083%2C2942%2C1830&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New satellite mapping techniques can quickly locate washed out and damaged areas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-aerial-picture-taken-on-october-1-2022-shows-a-broken-news-photo/1243654287">Ricardo Arduengo / AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricane Ian left an extraordinarily broad path of destruction across much of South Florida. That was evident in reports from the ground, but it also shows up in satellite data. Using <a href="https://gers.users.earthengine.app/view/nrt-conus">a new method</a>, our team of spatial and environmental analysts was able to quickly provide a rare big picture view of damage across the entire state.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="State of Florida with red dots across a large swath of the state from Charlotte Harbor to the Space Coast and for large distances on either side showing likely damage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488765/original/file-20221007-12-pip7x2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Satellite images and artificial intelligence reveal Hurricane Ian’s widespread damage. The dark areas have a high probability of damage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://gers.users.earthengine.app/view/nrt-conus">Su Ye</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By using satellite images from before the storm and real-time images from four satellite sensors, together with artificial intelligence, we created a disaster monitoring system that can map damage in <a href="https://gsp.humboldt.edu/olm/Lessons/GIS/08%20Rasters/FourResolutions.html">30-meter resolution</a> and continuously update the data.</p>
<p>It’s a snapshot of what faster, more targeted disaster monitoring can look like in the future – and something that could eventually be deployed nationwide.</p>
<h2>How artificial intellegence spots the damage</h2>
<p>Satellites are already used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5772/8341">identify high-risk areas</a> for floods, wildfires, landslides and other disasters, and to pinpoint the damage after these disasters. But most satelite-based disaster management approaches rely on visually assessing the latest images, one neighborhood at a time. </p>
<p>Our technique automatically compares pre-storm images with current satellite images to <a href="https://gers.users.earthengine.app/view/nrt-conus">spot anomalies quickly over large areas</a>. Those anomalies might be sand or water where that sand or water shouldn’t be, or heavily damaged roofs that don’t match their pre-storm appearance. Each area with a significant anomaly is flagged in yellow.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A damaged narrow roadway with water on both sides and damaged homes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488761/original/file-20221007-18-3uq376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dump truck works to repair a washed out road after Hurricane Ian hit Matlacha, Florida, on Oct. 3, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-aerial-picture-taken-on-october-3-2022-shows-a-dump-news-photo/1243707869?phrase=Matlacha&adppopup=true">Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488641/original/file-20221006-7794-60mcif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damage detected in the same area of Matlacha as in the photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Su Ye</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Five days after Ian lashed Florida, the map showed yellow alert polygons all over South Florida. We found that it could spot patches of damage with about 84% accuracy.</p>
<p>A natural disaster like a hurricane or tornado often leaves behind large <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112167">areas of spectral change</a> at the surface, meaning changes in how light reflects off whatever is there, such as houses, ground or water. Our algorithm compares the reflectance in models based on pre-storm images with reflectance after the storm.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rows of closely spaced homes next to an inlet or lake. Several have clearly damage roofs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488762/original/file-20221007-20-zivwys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Punta Gorda, Florida, was hit by storm surge and high winds from Hurricane Ian.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-aerial-view-damaged-homes-are-seen-after-hurricane-news-photo/1428747090">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488645/original/file-20221006-24-4id8g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damage in the same part of Punta Gorda shown in the photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Su Ye</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The system spots both changes in physical properties of natural areas, such as changes in wetness or brightness, and the overall intensity of the change. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112167">increase in brightness</a> often is related to exposed sand or bare land due to hurricane damage.</p>
<p>Using a machine-learning model, we can use those images to predict disturbance probabilities, which measures the influences of natural disaster on land surfaces. This approach allows us to automate disaster mapping and provide full coverage of an entire state as soon as the satellite data is released.</p>
<p>The system uses data from four satellites, <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-8">Landsat 8</a> and <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-9">Landsat 9</a>, both operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, and <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2">Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 2B</a>, launched as part of the European Commission’s Copernicus program.</p>
<h2>Real-time monitoring, nationwide</h2>
<p>Extreme storms with destructive flooding have been documented with increasing frequency over large parts of the globe in recent years. </p>
<p>While disaster response teams can rely on airplane surveillance and drones to pinpoint damage in small areas, it’s much harder to see the big picture in a widespread disaster like hurricanes and other tropical cyclones, and time is of the essence. Our system provides a fast approach using free government-produced images to see the big picture. One current drawback is the timing of those images, which often aren’t released publicly until a few days after the disaster.</p>
<p>We are now working on developing near real-time monitoring of the whole conterminous United States to quickly provide the most up-to-date land information for the next natural disaster.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhe Zhu receives funding from the USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team Program for Toward Near Real-time Monitoring and Characterization of Landsat Surface Change for the Conterminous US (140G0119C0008)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Su Ye does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
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.
Zhe Zhu, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut
Su Ye, Postdoctoral researcher in environment and remote sensing, University of Connecticut
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179069
2022-03-21T12:13:04Z
2022-03-21T12:13:04Z
Maps show – and hide – key information about Ukraine war
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452890/original/file-20220317-13-hh77h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1533%2C463%2C1682%2C1451&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maps contain useful information, but that means leaving out other information that is also useful.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Russia-Ukraine-Invasion/3aff5f26d9704dd7be89fc2c174c6b4b/photo">Associated Press</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“All maps are lies,” my colleague, <a href="https://geography.richmond.edu/faculty/dsalisbu/">geographer David Salisbury</a>, says.</p>
<p>He’s right. All maps are inherently incomplete, focusing on certain subjects and areas to the exclusion of others. These are crucial aspects of rhetoric, the field I study. Every map distorts the world, whether it’s of a local area or the whole Earth. No map can do otherwise, except a map exactly as large as the territory it depicts – though as the author Jorge Luis Borges famously pointed out, <a href="https://genius.com/Jorge-luis-borges-on-exactitude-in-science-annotated">that map would be useless</a>.</p>
<p>But maps’ lies can be productive. Maps can simplify the world and make it more easily comprehensible.</p>
<p>Geographers often speak in terms of what they call the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1151014">silences</a>” of maps – what’s missing and unseen, hidden in the margins. Those silences are just as meaningful as what’s on the page. It’s important to ask what has been left out.</p>
<p>That’s certainly true when looking at maps depicting aspects of Russia’s war on Ukraine. News organizations around the world have published many maps of the crisis, but their standard views are not the only way maps can help people understand what is happening in Ukraine.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Ukraine with arrows showing Russian forces' advances" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452887/original/file-20220317-13-tpsvmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maps like this one from The Washington Post can signal an inevitability of Russian advancement and make a chaotic conflict seem orderly and organized.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/02/ukraine-russia-war-timeline-photos-videos-maps/#feb-26">Washington Post</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Surrounded</h2>
<p>Most typical news maps show Ukraine as an encircled and embattled nation.</p>
<p>Even without other markings, Ukraine appears small, with <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682">Russia looming over it</a> from the north and east. Once <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/03/15/the-war-in-ukraine-explained-in-maps">annotated with arrows</a> showing the general directions of invasion forces, icons showing specific attacks, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-visual-explainer-maps/index.html">dots highlighting Ukrainian nuclear plants and other strategic targets</a>, these maps can signal an inevitability of Russian advancement. They also tend to exaggerate the idea that it’s a coordinated, controlled assault – when, of course, war is famously chaotic.</p>
<p>These maps don’t show the topography of Ukraine or its road network. They mostly show political borders crossed by lines and arrows representing the movements of Russian soldiers, part of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-military-comparison-1.6365115">second-most-powerful military</a> in the world.</p>
<p>Ukraine appears on these maps as a puzzle piece amid the rest of the puzzle of Europe, a shape at the center surrounded by small pieces of surrounding nations. It could be an open container waiting to be filled with chaos, or one that is spilling chaos into the rest of Europe.</p>
<p>These maps do not often show the location or strength of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-weapons-get-to-ukraine-and-whats-needed-to-protect-vulnerable-supply-chains-179285">Ukrainian resistance</a>. Nor do they depict the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukrainian-refugees-are-welcomed-with-open-arms-not-so-with-people-fleeing-other-war-torn-countries-178491">complex flow of refugees</a> fleeing the fighting, which is usually either simplified or left out altogether.</p>
<p>The everyday experiences of civilians on the ground in this war remain elusive in these maps. The maps appear to be authoritative and absolute, but the reality is much messier and uncertain.</p>
<p>This is not a critique of mapmakers who are depicting the war on Ukraine. Their work has often been productive and insightful, helpfully simplifying an incredibly complicated situation into one or two clear statements. They use a familiar mapping style, one that came into its own during World War II. Maps in the media were portrayed as documents that could help everyday citizens connect with the war. President Franklin Roosevelt even asked Americans to “<a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fireside-chat-6">look at your map</a>” as he spoke over the radio about fighting in Europe and the Pacific. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white map of the world with key locations marked, such as Berlin and Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453102/original/file-20220318-10592-16vu46x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Newspapers in the U.S. printed this map for readers to refer to when listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the radio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.incendiarytraces.org/articles/2015/9/10/imagining-global-war-popular-cartography-during-world-war-ii">Los Angeles Times, Feb. 23, 1942.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/rhetoric-faculty-publications/16/">news maps</a> of that time projected the anxiety and vulnerability of strategic areas for the United States and their allies. They signaled directly that U.S. involvement was necessary. As the Cold War emerged, and maps shifted their anxiety toward the Soviet Union, the simplicity and directness of many maps sought to sound the alarm about Soviet encroachment into the heart of Europe, and communist threats in Asia and Africa.</p>
<p>The maps of the war in Ukraine are often more sophisticated and sometimes interactive, but they still carry the alarm of inevitable Russian advancement and project the familiar concept of the battle between East and West.</p>
<h2>Multiple perspectives</h2>
<p>There are, of course, other ways to map this war. Some global news outlets are presenting a series of maps, rather than just one. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/mapping-russian-attacks-across-ukraine-interactive">Al Jazeera</a>, <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/zdpxokdxzvx/">Reuters’ graphics division</a> and the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4351d5b0-0888-4b47-9368-6bc4dfbccbf5">Financial Times</a> offer prime examples of putting a series of maps into conversation with one another and creating a kind of narrative of the war – for example, putting maps of NATO members alongside maps of oil and gas resources, while still portraying the essential military advancements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two maps showing various aspects of Ukraine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452889/original/file-20220317-23-uwe70q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Showing more than one map can help people understand different aspects of the issues at hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/mapping-russian-attacks-across-ukraine-interactive">Al Jazeera</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Specific approaches</h2>
<p>Groups other than news outlets are showing additional ways to use maps. The Centre for Information Resilience, a U.K. nonprofit seeking to expose human rights abuses, is using <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/27/follow-the-russia-ukraine-monitor-map/">crowdsourcing technologies to populate maps</a> of Russia’s war on Ukraine with civilian casualties, incidents of gunfire and explosions, and evidence of damage to infrastructure. That method gives readers themselves a chance to choose where and what they want to see of the invasion.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="576" src="https://maphub.net/embed/176607?panel=1&panel_closed=1" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" class="iframe-class"></iframe>
<figure><figcaption><span class="caption">Maps like this “Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map” from the Centre for Information Resilience offer alternative and interactive ways to understand the war.</span></figcaption></figure>
<p>The <a href="https://liveuamap.com">Live Universal Awareness Map</a> is an independent journalism site that draws on news stories and social media from all over the world and connects them to an interactive online map. Its Ukraine map shows where reported incidents occur, with colored icons showing who is reportedly involved at each location. The icons represent many types of events, including speeches and rallies, refugees and hostage situations, and even computer hacking.</p>
<p>These alternatives to the more standard news maps of war also have their benefits and drawbacks. Maps like the Live Universal Awareness Map rely on crowdsourced data that might be tricky to verify. But more importantly, they point out that mapmaking is a political and cultural effort that creates compelling and useful stories – even if not necessarily unvarnished truth. A critical eye and a sense of context can go a long way toward keeping the lies of maps productive.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Barney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Geographers often talk about the ‘silences’ of maps – what’s missing and unseen. Those silences can be as meaningful as what’s shown.
Timothy Barney, Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Communication Studies, University of Richmond
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176514
2022-02-07T16:01:12Z
2022-02-07T16:01:12Z
Mountain glaciers may hold less ice than previously thought – here’s what that means for 2 billion downstream water users and sea level rise
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444660/original/file-20220206-27-1x4umu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=106%2C44%2C3628%2C2323&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mountain glaciers are under threat from global warming.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-taken-on-may-17-mountaineers-make-their-way-news-photo/962297762">Phunjo Lama/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Mountain glaciers are essential water sources for nearly a quarter of the global population. But figuring out just how much ice they hold – and how much water will be available as glaciers shrink in a warming world – has been notoriously difficult.</em></p>
<p><em>In a new study, scientists mapped the speed of over 200,000 glaciers to get closer to an answer. They discovered that widely used estimates of glacier ice volume <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">may be off by about 20%</a> in terms of how much Earth’s glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could contribute to sea level rise.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/mathieu-morlighem">Mathieu Morlighem</a>, a leader in ice sheet modeling and a coauthor of the study, explains why <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">the new results</a> hold a warning for regions that rely on glaciers’ seasonal meltwater, but barely register in the big picture of rising seas.</em> </p>
<h2>1) If mountain glaciers hold less ice than previously believed, what does that mean for people who depend on glaciers for water?</h2>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-mountain-water-towers-are-melting-putting-1-9-billion-people-at-risk-128501">almost 2 billion people</a> rely on mountain glaciers and snowpack as their main source of drinking water. Many also rely on glacier water for hydropower generation or agriculture, particularly in the dry season. But the vast majority of glaciers around the world are losing more mass than they gain during the year as the climate warms, and they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03436-z">are slowly disappearing</a>. That will <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-2/">profoundly affect these populations</a>.</p>
<p>These communities need to know how long their glaciers will continue to provide water and what to expect as the glaciers disappear so they can prepare.</p>
<p>In most places, we found significantly lower total ice volumes than previous estimates indicated.</p>
<p>In the tropical Andes, from Venezuela to northern Chile, for example, we found that the glaciers have about 23% less ice than previously believed. This means downstream populations have less time to adjust to climate change than they may have planned for. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herder moves sheep down a road next to a large water pipe with mountains in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444748/original/file-20220207-85126-106wv1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A herder walks beside a water pipe near La Paz, Bolivia. A glacier long relied on for water there is nearly gone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/local-indigenous-sheep-herder-walks-past-a-water-pipe-at-news-photo/523905156">Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even in the Alps, where scientists have a lot of direct ice thickness measurements, we found that the glaciers may have 8% less than previously thought.</p>
<p>The big exception is the Himalayas. We calculated that there may be 37% more ice in these remote mountains than previously estimated. This buys some time for communities that rely on these glaciers, but it does not change the fact that these glaciers are melting with global warming.</p>
<p>Policymakers should look at these new estimates to revise their plans. We do not provide new predictions of the future in this study, but we do provide <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">a better description</a> of what the glaciers and their water supplies look like today.</p>
<p><iframe id="0Qk4G" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0Qk4G/13/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2) How do these finding affect estimates of future sea level rise?</h2>
<p>First, it’s important to understand that melting glaciers are only one contributor to sea level rise as the climate warms. About one-third of today’s sea level rise is due to <a href="https://sealevel.nasa.gov/understanding-sea-level/global-sea-level/thermal-expansion">thermal expansion</a> of the ocean – as the ocean warms, water expands and takes up more space. The other two-thirds come from <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level">shrinking mountain glaciers and ice sheets</a>. </p>
<p>We found that if all the glaciers, not including the big ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, were to melt entirely, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00885-z">sea level would rise by about 10 inches</a> instead of 13 inches. This may sound like a large difference, considering the size of the ocean, but you have to put things in perspective. A complete disintegration of the Antarctic ice sheet would contribute <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2749/ramp-up-in-antarctic-ice-loss-speeds-sea-level-rise/">190 feet</a> to sea level and the Greenland ice sheet would contribute <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-greenland-mission-completes-six-years-of-mapping-unknown-terrain">24 feet</a>.</p>
<p>The 3 inches that we are talking about in this study do not call into question current projections of sea level rise.</p>
<h2>3) Why has it been so hard to figure out the ice volume of glaciers, and what did your study do differently?</h2>
<p>You might be surprised by how much is still unknown about some of the basic characteristics of remote mountain glaciers.</p>
<p>Satellites have transformed our understanding of glaciers since the 1970s, and they provide an increasingly clear picture of <a href="https://www.glims.org/RGI/">glacier locations and surface area</a>. But satellites cannot see “through” the ice. In fact, for 99% of the world’s glaciers, there is no direct measurement of ice thickness. Scientists have spent more time mapping the <a href="https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and-climate/estimating-glacier-contribution-to-sea-level-rise/">Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets</a> and the terrain below, and we have much more detailed volume measurements there. NASA, for example, dedicated an entire airborne mission, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/mission/index.html">Operation IceBridge</a>, to collect ice thickness measurements in Greenland and Antarctica.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444625/original/file-20220206-501-1ts25eb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new mapping techniques are more precise, as a comparison of Iceland’s Vatnajökull ice cap shows. The image on the left is the new map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00885-z">R. Millan et al., 2022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists have come up with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0300-3">various techniques</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2014RG000470">determine the volume</a> of glaciers, but the uncertainty for remote mountain glaciers has been pretty high.</p>
<p>We did something different compared to previous studies. We used satellite imagery to map the glaciers’ speed. Glacier ice, when it is thick enough, behaves like thick syrup. We can measure how far the ice is moving using two satellite images and map its speed, which goes from a few feet to about 1 mile per year. Mapping the displacement of more than 200,000 glaciers was no easy task, but that created a data set nobody had seen before.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444626/original/file-20220206-17-kwn95c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Images show the velocity of glacier ice in regions around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00885-z">R. Millan et al., 2022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We used this new information of ice speed and simple principles of ice deformation to determine the thickness of the ice at each pixel of these satellite images. In short, the ice speed we observe from space is due to the ice sliding on its bed and also its internal deformation. The internal deformation depends on its surface slope and ice thickness, and the slipperiness of its bed depends on the temperature of the ice at its base, the presence or absence of liquid water, and the nature of the sediments or rocks underneath. Once we could calibrate a relationship between ice speed and sliding, we could calculate ice thickness.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>To map the flow speed of all of these glaciers, we analyzed 800,000 pairs of images collected by satellites from the European Space Agency and NASA.</p>
<p>Of course, as with any indirect method, they are not perfect estimates and they will be further improved as we collect more data. But we have made a lot of progress in reducing the overall uncertainty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathieu Morlighem receives funding from NASA, NASA and the Heising-Simons Foundation.</span></em></p>
Glaciers in North America, Europe and the Andes, in particular, have significantly less ice than people realized.
Mathieu Morlighem, Professor of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/165412
2021-08-11T14:58:02Z
2021-08-11T14:58:02Z
Disaster-mapping drones often neglect deadliest, costliest events and hardest-hit areas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415288/original/file-20210809-13-ownnan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C6%2C4573%2C3442&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Drones are increasingly being used in disaster management.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, disasters <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019">kill an average of 60,000 people, affect 200 million and cause US$150 billion in damage</a>. To combat these devastating impacts, governments and other stakeholders <a href="https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-activations-rapid">routinely rely on images captured by satellites and crewed aircraft</a> for crucial tasks such as identifying and monitoring areas most at risk, evacuation routes, damage severity and extent, and recovery progress. </p>
<p>Alongside these standard spaceborne and airborne platforms, small aerial drones equipped with cameras are relatively newer tools. Praised for their low cost, easy use and capture of on-demand visuals, drones may be a <a href="https://dronesense.com/customers">game-changing technology</a> for emergency response.</p>
<p>Drones are now routine photojournalistic tools used to capture compelling images and videos of the devastation occurring from major events. Their fly-through videos are a staple feature of many news articles covering <a href="https://www.the-sun.com/news/3296316/germany-floods-drone-footage-flood-of-death-germany/">floods</a>, <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/drone-footage-captures-massive-landslide-002108320.html">landslides</a>, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/drone-footage-terrifying-glimpse-hawaiian-volcano-damage/story?id=54987152">volcanic eruptions</a>, <a href="https://www.cbs17.com/news/south/drone-video-shows-destruction-after-tornado-hits-small-town-in-wake-of-tropical-storm-claudette/">storms</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drone-footage-shows-wildfire-scorched-oregon-neighborhood-n1240130">wildfires</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nepal-earthquake-drones-used-by-canadian-relief-team-1.3051106">earthquakes</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QFnqDPd2AfI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Drone footage of floods in Belgium and Germany.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Drones and disaster management</h2>
<p>International organizations like the Red Cross have been using drones across their global networks. But there exists a <a href="https://americanredcross.github.io/rcrc-drones/index.html">critical knowledge gap of standard applications and lack of standard procedures</a> within and across the humanitarian sector. This contrasts with the highly standardized use of satellites and crewed aircraft by disaster management organizations.</p>
<p>To help illuminate common uses and disparities of disaster-mapping drones around the world, we looked at a variety of research papers. In our new study published in <em>Remote Sensing of Environment</em>, we examined <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112577">over 600 scientific case studies of pre- and post-disaster mapping</a>. We identified global trends and gaps in terms of disaster management application, technology and geography, leading to a list of priorities for future research.</p>
<h2>Drone use in emergencies</h2>
<p>Disaster management activities serve four core functions: <a href="https://www.victoria.ca/assets/Departments/Emergency%7EPreparedness/Documents/City%20of%20Victoria%20Emergency%20Plan.pdf">mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery</a>. </p>
<p>We found that the majority of studies (87 per cent) were focused on demonstrating drone-based support of mitigation and recovery activities. Commonly supported activities included mitigation-related vulnerability assessment and risk modeling, as well as environmental recovery. Drones were often used to map and monitor the topography and surface features of areas susceptible to and impacted by landslides, earthquakes and floods.</p>
<p>We found a relative lack of response-related research, with only 16 studies indicating that data collection occurred during the emergency phase of a real event. This contradicts a major selling point of drones as on-demand information retrieval tools for disaster response. </p>
<p>We attribute this research gap to the real-world challenges of flying drones in emergencies. These factors include <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-weathers-effects-on-commercial-drones-may-hinder-their-widespread-use-162581">adverse weather conditions</a> and the paramount <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-wildfires-firefighting-helicopter-grounded-by-drone-activity-near-nakusp">safety of first-response aircraft</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1414011945133371393"}"></div></p>
<h2>Understudied disasters</h2>
<p>Earthquakes, floods and storms are the natural hazard-related disasters associated with the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019">most deaths, affected populations and economic losses</a>. However, we found that only a small percentage of studies focused on these events: 14 per cent (earthquakes), 18 per cent (floods) and 12 per cent (storms). Landslides and other mass movements received the most research attention (38 per cent of studies). </p>
<p>This is likely related to the small footprint of landslides and mass movements relative to other disaster types, which is compatible with the typical area coverage of drone flights. Relatedly, we found that 76 per cent of studies flew drones over small areas (less than one square kilometre) and 70 per cent used multirotor drones with less than 30-minute endurance.</p>
<h2>Lower-income and urban areas are neglected</h2>
<p>Lower-income countries and territories are <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019">disproportionately impacted</a> by disasters in terms of deaths, people affected and economic losses. We found that the most studies — 64 per cent — were conducted in high-income countries and territories. We suspect this is due to a higher availability of research resources and <a href="https://surfshark.com/drone-privacy-laws">supportive airspace regulations</a> in high-income areas.</p>
<p>Studies also tended to perform research in rural areas (79 per cent), which likely reflects the challenge of obtaining <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/5/459">flight approvals in cities</a>. However, <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190922481/obo-9780190922481-0014.xml">the impact of disasters will tend to be greater where people and assets are concentrated</a>, so a lack of research in urban areas is concerning.</p>
<h2>Future research priorities</h2>
<p>Based on our review of the existing research, we propose that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112577">future research is directed toward demonstrating drone-based mapping support of neglected disaster management activities</a>. These include response-related applications where the advantages of drones are perhaps most striking. In emergencies, locally available drones have the potential to acquire visuals in a more timely manner than satellites and crewed aircraft.</p>
<p>We also recommend more focus on earthquakes, floods and storms to target the deadliest and costliest disaster types. Finally, future studies should be conducted in larger, urban and lower-income areas to help the hardest-hit locations. As research progresses, effective and standard applications of drones for supporting disaster management will emerge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new study highlights disparities and proposes research priorities for advancing the use of small aerial drones in disaster management.
Maja Kucharczyk, PhD Candidate, Geography, University of Calgary
Chris Hugenholtz, Professor, Geography, University of Calgary
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161097
2021-05-26T20:10:10Z
2021-05-26T20:10:10Z
How early Australian settlers drew maps to erase Indigenous people and push ideas of colonial superiority
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402798/original/file-20210526-21-1oebc2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C112%2C4910%2C3308&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231258061">National Library of Australia: 31258061</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new Netflix series Shadow and Bone opens with cartographer Alina Starkov crammed into the back of a rumbling wagon, sketching a war-torn landscape. A flashback to her childhood in an orphanage shows her looking at a map of a conflict zone. </p>
<p>A guardian tells her, “keep a pencil in your hand, or else someone will put a rifle in it instead”. The cartographers of this fictional world are crucial to the military, just as they are in the real world. But there is also a sense that cartographers played a peaceful role in the army.</p>
<p>In reality, the role of surveyors and cartographers throughout history was often far from peaceful. It was their initial explorations that paved the way for destructive waves of colonising armies and civilians.</p>
<p>At each stage of mapping an area, clues are preserved about the priorities and prejudices of the person wielding the pencil, and those instructing them. Today, researchers can spot these clues and draw out the contextual history of the time.</p>
<h2>Exploring the land</h2>
<p>Maps made it easier for the government back home to imagine the territory of a new colony, to claim to “know” and thus own it. Therefore, surveying expeditions into unknown lands were prioritised.</p>
<p>Some expeditions were huge, such as Lewis and Clark’s crossing of the United States. Others were small, such as <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/meehan-james-2443">James Meehan’s</a> treks around the Derwent River in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) between October 1803 and March 1804.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Page of handwritten text" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402265/original/file-20210524-23-1eyk8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A page from Meehan’s journal of his explorations around Pittwater (near today’s Hobart Airport).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tasmanian Archives: LSD355/1/1</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meehan kept a daily log of measurements and happenings as he explored. Like many, he occasionally included sketches, probably trying to ward off boredom during the long evenings at camp.</p>
<p>We know through journal records that Meehan met some palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal) people along the different routes, once firing on a group when he felt threatened.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thirteen-years-after-sorry-too-many-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-are-still-being-removed-from-their-homes-159360">Thirteen years after 'Sorry', too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still being removed from their homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Focused on sought-after utilities</h2>
<p>Meehan’s observations were then produced for their first external audience - the colonial government. It’s here we start to see the colony’s priorities. </p>
<p>Many of the map labels highlight the quality of the land in terms of potential for expansion and European-style agriculture. Meehan’s map of the Hobart area emphasises whether the land encountered was hilly or flat, covered with vegetation, or cleared pasture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="rough looking map showing Derwent River and surrounding terrain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402264/original/file-20210524-23-74aw61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plan of the Settlement at the River Derwent. Map by James Meehan, 1804.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tasmanian Archives: AF396/1/206</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the time Meehan drafted his “Plan of the Settlement at the River Derwent”, pictured above, the Europeans had moved from their initial camp at Risdon Cove to today’s site of Hobart. The Risdon settlement was <a href="https://gsp.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/200409420.pdf">considered a failure</a> as the fresh water ran out and soldiers threatened mutiny, so Meehan omitted any reference to it beyond a small name label.</p>
<p>More importantly, he excluded any reference to any Indigenous people, despite having encountered them on more than one occasion. </p>
<p>Meehan was playing his part in cultivating the narrative of Van Diemen’s Land as a successful colony on an “empty” island that had been (supposedly) waiting for the Europeans to arrive. This was the same as the <a href="https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/mabo-native-title/"><em>terra nullius</em></a> narrative perpetuated by the British government regarding the mainland.</p>
<h2>Propaganda in map form</h2>
<p>Sometimes the map would be destined for wider circulation and would be refined with simple decorative features such as a key, north arrow, coloured inks and detailed illustrations of ships or gardens. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402286/original/file-20210524-21-1hmm3ya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Route from the US city of Albany to the Fort Osswego (New York State), c.1750s. Note the ship in the harbour, and the list of distances in the bottom right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library of Congress Geography and Map Division: ar108000z</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within these more attractive maps, hidden clues became even more nuanced.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of land grants in Van Diemen's Land" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402780/original/file-20210526-17-8i8ito.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This well-worn map of an area in central Tasmania shows updated landholder names and a conversation between members of the Survey Office about the map’s origins (bottom left).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tasmanian Archives: AF396/1/951</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aspirational elements were introduced, giving the viewer a sense of what the cartographer, landholder or government perceived as a desirable landscape. Phrases such as “unexplored country” would be used, or an area of blank space sparked the imagination with some promise of undiscovered wealth.</p>
<p>Both sketch maps and their more refined siblings were used by the ruling powers as working maps to track their increasing expansion over the land. By reading the scribbled annotations carefully, stories of changing land ownership, population growth and acts of violence become apparent.</p>
<h2>Republishing and distribution</h2>
<p>Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, geographers, engravers and others combined data from maps and reports to print single sheets and atlases they could sell at a range of prices.</p>
<p>These maps transported the reading public to remote locations and made them sound educated at the dinner table. Accuracy was not required for this, so mistakes were copied from one chart to another, and outdated information often circulated for decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania. Macquarie Harbour on the west coast is enormous." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402299/original/file-20210524-13-6eqlwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Macquarie Harbour on the west coast on this map of Van Diemen’s Land is shown about three times the size of the real harbour. Where this error originated is unknown, but it is found on at least one other map of the same time, suggesting it was based on a dodgy report of the colony. Map by Sidney Hall, 1828.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Libraries Tasmania: 746063</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, explorers’ maps and reports sometimes included references to First Nations peoples or their significant sites. Abel Tasman observed the presence of palawa people in southern Tasmania. A century later, explorers in America named “<a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/r23w20">native guides</a>” in recognition of their invaluable assistance during cross-country expeditions.</p>
<p>But by the end of the 18th century, changing attitudes towards First Nations peoples started to see references to them disappear from maps of European colonies around the globe.</p>
<p>In 1804, Meehan omitted all mention of Tasmania’s palawa people from his Derwent River map. This is a reflection of emerging ideas of colonial superiority. The Europeans were increasingly reluctant to admit to needing help from Indigenous people, or even to admit there were other people already living on the lands. </p>
<p>So the next time you find yourself in front of a historic map, make sure you ask what details have been included, which have been excluded and — most importantly — why? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-mapped-the-super-highways-the-first-australians-used-to-cross-the-ancient-land-154263">We mapped the 'super-highways' the First Australians used to cross the ancient land</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Imogen Wegman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In many cases, colonial maps would portray conquered land as having been ‘empty’ and available when settlers arrived — even if it wasn’t.
Imogen Wegman, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/160374
2021-05-20T15:07:32Z
2021-05-20T15:07:32Z
Maps can bridge gaps between citizens, scientists and policymakers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401205/original/file-20210518-13-n4iq60.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Understanding how different bodies of water connect across South Africa may drive improved conservation and awareness.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jaco van Rensburg/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Maps can be many things: colourful, or dull; complex, or very simple; helpful, or very difficult to read. They also have the potential to support the public’s knowledge of environmental and social issues, and to lay out paths towards behavioural changes and conservation consciousness.</p>
<p>This potential is already being explored in some parts of the world. For example, the <a href="https://greatlakesconnectivity.org/fishApp">FishWerks App</a> uses maps to highlight the barriers to fish movement in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Based on the ongoing work with <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-learned-when-our-map-of-southern-africas-rivers-went-viral-110735">a map of southern African rivers</a> that went viral two years ago, the same potential exists to drive conservation awareness and action in the southern African region.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-learned-when-our-map-of-southern-africas-rivers-went-viral-110735">What we learned when our map of southern Africa's rivers went viral</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Two years on, people are still engaging with <a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://roddythefox.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Rivers-of-South-Africa-Annotated-Final-Low-Res-1.jpg&imgrefurl=https://roddythefox.co.za/?product%3Drivers-of-south-africa-annotated&tbnid=zAOYqXseW0F19M&vet=1&docid=i2luGm_1oiQpoM&w=988&h=1181&source=sh/x/im">that map</a> through the survey that goes with it. There were between three and 147 downloads a month during 2019 and 2020. As a <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/iwr/people/smantel/">water researcher</a>, I wanted to understand how people’s interest in the map might be turned into action around conservation and a better awareness of South Africa’s many water issues. These issues include <a href="https://theconversation.com/river-of-bacteria-a-south-african-study-pinpoints-whats-polluting-the-water-150551">water pollution</a>, which affects the quality of river water, <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-south-africa-have-a-microplastics-problem-our-research-says-yes-102995">microplastics</a> and their impacts on plants and animals, and invasive <a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-plants-have-a-much-bigger-impact-than-we-imagine-82181">alien plants</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/freshwater-crayfish-the-forgotten-invaders-wreaking-havoc-across-africa-58450">animals</a> that negatively affect water availability and biodiversity.</p>
<p>In the previous article, three themes emerged from the initial responses to the map. These themes parallel the <a href="https://theconversation.com/memetics-and-the-science-of-going-viral-64416">characteristics of popular internet memes</a>. First, the data in the map was genuinely useful to people. Second, it was aesthetically pleasing. Third, it interested people.</p>
<p>Now, based on learnings from the 2,593 responses to <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7l9qtmmhFV3O0rNVbzFCi3GgNjd87QLMHQLavKoD_-pBR_Q/viewform?c=0&w=1">the survey</a> that accompanies the map, I have gained a deeper understanding of public interest and how public driven science – specifically around the use and content of maps – might bridge the gap between policymakers, citizens and scientists.</p>
<h2>Respondents’ insights</h2>
<p>In the survey, over 82% of people (from 66 countries across six continents) stated that they were downloading the map for personal use. This was followed by “educational purposes” (27%). Only 8% of respondents wanted it for professional use. </p>
<p>Overwhelmingly, respondents found the map aesthetically pleasing. They were struck by the colourful representation of just how expansive southern Africa’s river systems are, as well as how many there are. People felt that the visuals helped them better understand geographic relationships – how rivers and catchments fit together. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person wearing a white hat and a red and white shirt, with white headphones, looks at a computer screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401631/original/file-20210519-23-1uw2w1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examining the map gave respondents a better sense of how various water bodies fit together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sukh Mantel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One respondent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It has made me realise how the river system is so vast and interconnected. All previous maps have shown one blue line saying “this is the Orange river” and then saying “it is a vast, important river” but only this map shows why that is the case … It made me think of the rivers as a system, rather than just lines on maps, that looked like a living, breathing structure like coral. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This greater understanding of interconnectedness could influence people to become more engaged with conserving river systems.</p>
<h2>Bringing the public on board</h2>
<p>Another important learning that comes out of the survey is the potential for publicly driven mapping. Science communications expert Dr Marina Joubert has <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-policy-commits-south-africas-scientists-to-public-engagement-are-they-ready-114832">highlighted</a> the communications gap between scientists and public, and the new South African policy that expects scientists to engage with the public. Publicly driven mapping could allow easier or greater public engagement with scientific findings as scientists can gain insights into public interests. </p>
<p>Some of the respondents queried whether additional data – river names, towns, aquifers, mountain ranges – could be plotted on the map, which would increase their understanding. </p>
<p>Respondents suggested, among other things, that the map could visually represent the degree of contamination and sustainable flow for each river, or that the map could be colour coded from “most stressed” to “least stressed”. </p>
<p>More than one respondent indicated an interest in a map of river permanence. One wrote: “I was surprised to see how much of South Africa is covered by rivers, it would be interesting to add a layer to indicate perennial and non perennial rivers”. Another respondent said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The other maps I have seen didn’t show as much detail and left the impression that there wasn’t as much drainage and yet I know from hiking that there is usually a perennial river everywhere you go. So this map matches my experience of Cape Town instead of my basic high school geography which didn’t match my personal experience. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following these suggestions, I have created a map of perennial rivers in South Africa using data available from the <a href="http://www.wrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/WaterSA_2007_01_1908.pdf">Department of Water and Sanitation</a>. Although the perenniality map is an estimation derived from the probability of groundwater contributing to river flows, it gives useful information for citizens who are interested in understanding river ecology instead of just seeing it as a line on a map. A river’s perenniality indicates the natural state of a river and its seasonaility, which can be disrupted by human development, including <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aqc.2739">small dams</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/culverts-the-major-threat-to-fish-youve-probably-never-heard-of-143629">culverts</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Lines of various colours, among them red, green and yellow, run along a black background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401630/original/file-20210519-17-uqqxvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of South Africa’s perennial rivers. Non-perennial rivers are indicated by red dashed lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sukh Mantel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Creating such maps, and others based on the public’s input, is possible. Many of the datasets that would form the basis of the maps suggested by the survey respondents already exist, since the South African government funds research which generates <a href="https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/science-into-policy-action/biodiversity-information-management/biodiversitygis-bgis/">open source data</a>, such as the recent <a href="https://www.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/NBA-front-cover.jpg">National Biodiversity Assessment</a>. </p>
<h2>The power of maps</h2>
<p>With the power of digital technology, maps with a 3D effect can further promote greater understanding of land and water connections. I recently took a class in digital storytelling and created a video that shows a local river’s journey to the sea using a flyover created with a couple of clicks in Google Earth. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Z3CvxTk_RQ/](https://youtu.be/0Z3CvxTk_RQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The author’s video explaining river connections.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My hope is that the story of the rivers map, combined with digital technology and storytelling, can inspire others to use their potential to raise the public’s environmental awareness and to create bridges between government agencies, citizens, and scientists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukhmani Mantel receives funding from Water Research Commission, a government funding body. The data used for the maps is from the Department of Water and Sanitation. </span></em></p>
A greater understanding of interconnectedness created by river maps could influence people to become more engaged with conserving river systems.
Sukhmani Mantel, Senior Research Officer Institute for water research, Rhodes University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/156464
2021-03-09T13:35:58Z
2021-03-09T13:35:58Z
3 medical innovations fueled by COVID-19 that will outlast the pandemic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388126/original/file-20210305-19-1xbafnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1233%2C95%2C5784%2C5892&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gene-based vaccines had never been approved for humans before the coronavirus pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/covid-19-rna-vaccine-illustration-royalty-free-illustration/1296294288?adppopup=true">Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A number of technologies and tools got a chance to prove themselves for the first time in the context of COVID-19. Three researchers working in gene-based vaccines, wearable diagnostics and drug discovery explain how their work rose to the challenge of the pandemic, and their hopes that each technology is now poised to continue making big changes in medicine.</em></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Genetic vaccines</h2>
<p><strong>Deborah Fuller, Professor of Microbiology, University of Washington</strong></p>
<p>Thirty years ago, researchers for the first time injected mice with genes from a foreign pathogen to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/356152a0">produce an immune response</a>. Like many new discoveries, these first gene-based vaccines had their ups and downs. Early mRNA vaccines were hard to store and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2017.243">didn’t produce the right type of immunity</a>. DNA vaccines were more stable but weren’t efficient at getting into the cell’s nucleus, so they <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrg2432">failed to produce sufficient immunity</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers slowly overcame the problems of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/mt.2008.200">stability</a>, getting the genetic instructions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1209367109">where they needed to be</a> and making them induce <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2017.243">more effective immune responses</a>. By 2019, academic labs and biotechnology companies all over the world had dozens of promising mRNA and DNA vaccines for infectious diseases, as well as for cancer in development or in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fvaccines7020037">phase 1 and phase 2 human clinical trials</a>.</p>
<p>When COVID-19 struck, mRNA vaccines in particular were ready to be put to a real-world test. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mrna-vaccines-from-pfizer-and-moderna-work-why-theyre-a-breakthrough-and-why-they-need-to-be-kept-so-cold-150238">94% efficacy of the mRNA vaccines</a> surpassed health officials’ highest expectations.</p>
<p>DNA and mRNA vaccines offer huge advantages over traditional types of vaccines, since they use only genetic code from a pathogen – rather than the entire virus or bacteria. Traditional vaccines take months, if not years, to develop. In contrast, once scientists get the genetic sequence of a new pathogen, they can <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.583077">design a DNA or mRNA vaccine in days</a>, identify a lead candidate for clinical trials within weeks and have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-020-0159-8">millions of doses manufactured within months</a>. This is basically what happened with the coronavirus.</p>
<p>Gene-based vaccines also produce precise and effective immune responses. They stimulate not only antibodies that block an infection, but also a strong T cell response that can <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/what-are-nucleic-acid-vaccines-and-how-could-they-be-used-against-covid-19#:%7E:text=Nucleic%20acid%20vaccines%20use%20genetic,immune%20response%20against%20it">clear an infection if one occurs</a>. This makes these vaccines better able to respond to mutations, and it also means they could be capable of <a href="https://www.genengnews.com/insights/immunotherapy-targets-emerging-infectious-diseases/">eliminating chronic infections</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03072-8">cancerous cells</a>.</p>
<p>The hopes that gene-based vaccines could one day provide a vaccine for malaria or HIV, cure cancer, replace less effective traditional vaccines or be ready to stop the next pandemic before it gets started are no longer far-fetched. Indeed, many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2020.01.006">DNA</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2017.243">mRNA</a> vaccines against a wide range of infectious diseases, for treatment of chronic infections and for cancer are already in advanced stages and clinical trials. As someone who has been working on these vaccines for decades, I believe their proven effectiveness against COVID-19 will usher in a new era of vaccinology with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.06.017">genetic vaccines at the forefront</a>.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person wearing a smart watch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388127/original/file-20210305-23-1yr4ab5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smartwatches and other wearable technologies allow users to capture more continuous health data than ever before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/smartwatch-gadget-technology-smart-828786/">Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wearable tech and early illness detection</h2>
<p><strong>Albert H. Titus, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo</strong></p>
<p>During the pandemic, researchers have taken full advantage of the proliferation of smartwatches, smart rings and other wearable health and wellness technology. These devices can measure a person’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78355-6">temperature</a>, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2196%2F10828">heart rate</a>, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2196%2Fjmir.9157">level of activity</a> and other <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2196%2F16811">biometrics</a>. With this information, researchers have been able to track and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26107">detect COVID-19 infections</a> even before people notice they have any symptoms.</p>
<p>As wearable usage and adoption <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-01-11-gartner-forecasts-global-spending-on-wearable-devices-to-total-81-5-billion-in-2021">grew in recent years</a>, researchers began studying the ability of these devices to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fnano9060813">monitor disease</a>. However, although real-time data collection was possible, previous work had focused primarily on chronic diseases.</p>
<p>But the pandemic both served as a lens to focus many researchers in the field of health wearables and offered them an unprecedented opportunity to study real-time <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00533-1">infectious disease detection</a>. The number of people potentially affected by a single disease – COVID-19 – at one time gave researchers a large population to draw from and to test hypotheses on. Combined with the fact that <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-01-11-gartner-forecasts-global-spending-on-wearable-devices-to-total-81-5-billion-in-2021">more people than ever</a> are using wearables with health monitoring functions and that these devices collect lots of useful data, researchers were able to try to diagnose a disease solely using data from wearables – an experiment they could only dream of before.</p>
<p>Wearables can detect symptoms of COVID-19 or other illnesses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-00640-6">before symptoms are noticeable</a>. While they have proved to be capable of detecting sickness early, the symptoms wearables detect are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00533-1">not unique to COVID-19</a>. These symptoms can be predictive of a number of potential illnesses or other health changes, and it is much harder to say what illness a person has versus simply saying they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2011.05.002">sick with something</a>. </p>
<p>Moving into the post-pandemic world, it’s likely that more people will <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-01-11-gartner-forecasts-global-spending-on-wearable-devices-to-total-81-5-billion-in-2021">incorporate wearables</a> into their lives and that the devices will only improve. I expect the knowledge researchers have gained during the pandemic on how to use wearables to monitor health will form a starting point for how to handle future outbreaks – not just of viral pandemics, but potentially of other events such as food poisoning outbreaks and seasonal flu episodes. But since wearable tech is concentrated within pockets of affluent and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ijinfomgt.2020.102209">younger populations</a>, the research community and society as a whole must simultaneously address the disparities that exist.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing proteins connections." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388128/original/file-20210305-23-cskouk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Every place that a coronavirus protein interacts with a human protein is a potential druggable site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://qbi.ucsf.edu/COVID-19">QBI Coronavirus Research Group</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new way to discover drugs</h2>
<p><strong>Nevan Krogan, Professor of Cellular Molecular Pharmacology and Director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco</strong></p>
<p>Proteins are the molecular machines that make your cells function. When proteins malfunction or are hijacked by a pathogen, you often get disease. Most drugs work by disrupting the action of one or several of these <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/targeted-therapies/targeted-therapies-fact-sheet">malfunctioning or hijacked proteins</a>. So a logical way to look for new drugs to treat a specific disease is to study individual genes and proteins that are directly affected by that disease. For example, researchers know that the BRCA gene – a gene that protects your DNA from being damaged – is closely related to the development of breast and ovarian cancer. So a lot of work has focused on finding drugs that affect the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-018-0055-6">function of the BRCA protein</a>.</p>
<p>However, single proteins working in isolation are usually not solely responsible for disease. Genes and the proteins they encode are part of complicated networks – the BRCA protein <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805242105">interacts with tens to hundreds</a> of other proteins that help it perform its cellular functions. My colleagues and I are part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2018.07.010">small but growing</a> field of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.044">researchers</a> who study these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04670">connections and interactions among proteins</a> – what we call protein networks. </p>
<p>For a few years now, my colleagues and I have been exploring the potential of these networks to find more ways drugs could ameliorate disease. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, we knew we had to try this approach and see if it could be used to rapidly find a treatment for this emerging threat. We immediately started <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-treatment-might-already-exist-in-old-drugs-were-using-pieces-of-the-coronavirus-itself-to-find-them-133701">mapping the extensive network of human proteins</a> that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks so it can replicate.</p>
<p>Once we built this map, we pinpointed human proteins in the network that <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-treatment-might-already-exist-in-old-drugs-were-using-pieces-of-the-coronavirus-itself-to-find-them-133701">drugs could easily target</a>. We found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2286-9">69 compounds</a> that influence the proteins in the coronavirus network. 29 of them are already FDA-approved treatments for other illnesses. On Jan. 25 we published a paper showing that one of the drugs, Aplidin (Plitidepsin), currently being used to treat cancer, is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf4058">27.5 times more potent than remdesivir</a> in treating COVID-19, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.24.427991">including one of the new variants</a> The drug has been approved for phase 3 clinical trials in 12 countries as a <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04784559">treatment for the new coronavirus</a>.</p>
<p>But this idea of mapping the protein interactions of diseases to look for novel drug targets doesn’t apply just to the coronavirus. We have now used this approach on <a href="http://hpmi.ucsf.edu">other pathogens</a> as well as other diseases including <a href="http://ccmi.org">cancer</a>, neurodegenerative and <a href="http://pcmi.ucsf.edu">psychiatric disorders</a>.</p>
<p>These maps are allowing us to connect the dots among many seemingly disparate aspects of single diseases and discover new ways drugs could treat them. We hope this approach will allow us and researchers in other areas of medicine to discover new therapeutic strategies and also see whether any old drugs might be repurposed to treat other conditions.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Fuller is a co-founder of Orlance, Inc that is developing a needle-free technology for delivery of DNA and RNA vaccines. She has grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Washington Research Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Albert H. Titus has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense. He has also received funding for research in this area from Garwood Medical Devices. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of BMES, ASEE, and is a member of the BME Council of Chairs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nevan Krogan receives funding from NIH, DARPA and Roche Pharmaceuticals.</span></em></p>
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.
Deborah Fuller, Professor of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington
Albert H. Titus, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo
Nevan Krogan, Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute & Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144699
2020-11-12T12:01:42Z
2020-11-12T12:01:42Z
The way we use data is a life or death matter – from the refugee crisis to COVID-19
<p>In moments of crisis we often turn to data in an attempt to both understand the situation we are in, and to look for answers of how to escape. </p>
<p>In response to COVID-19, governments around the world have employed algorithms, used data from apps installed on our phones, alongside CCTV, facial recognition and other data gathering tools to <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/14/in-the-blink-of-ai-how-facial-recognition-technology-capitalising-on-covid-19-crisis-view">fight the pandemic</a>. Data is being used to drive the daily movements of billions of people in a way that many of us have never before seen. People are being instructed to stay home, go to work, wear masks, or send their children to school based on the invisible hand of data. </p>
<p>Yet 2020 has also highlighted the dangers of this. The interpretations and collection of this data are not without their problems – doctors and politicians looking at the same data can draw <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-experts-disagree-so-strongly-over-how-to-tackle-the-disease-135825">wildly different conclusions</a> about the right course of action.</p>
<p>Without doubt, we should be harnessing all the tools we can in the fight to save lives, but the pandemic has also brought many issues with data mapping to the fore. COVID-19 disproportionately affects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-urban-poor-have-been-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-we-must-ask-who-cities-are-designed-to-serve-138707">poorest people</a> in many countries, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-black-and-asian-people-at-greater-risk-of-coronavirus-heres-what-we-found-140584">black and Asian communities</a>. This is is no small part due to data-driven regulations designed to stop the spread of the disease; often modelled on assumptions made by the people who design and run them. </p>
<p>These inequalities already existed, but models that slow a spread through the closing of offices, reduced transport and home schooling put enormous pressures on the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, who are not privileged enough to change their working or living arrangements. As digital technologies are further introduced, such as mobile track and trace, these communities will be marginalised even further. Even in the richest countries, those without a smartphone will be missed from any digital tracing apps designed to protect people. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-lockdowns-shine-a-light-on-britains-landscape-of-inequality-148032">Northern lockdowns shine a light on Britain's landscape of inequality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While these practices are newly confronting to many, such technologies – and their failings – have long been used to shape the lives, and deaths, of millions around the world. In the digital age, mapping and data continue to be seen as a fix-all. More people than ever are subjected to having their lives dictated not by elected officials, but by black box algorithms, maps, and data visualisations. As our attempts to hold the pandemic at bay continue, we must look at lessons from other crises and push for a more just world.</p>
<p>To do this, it is crucial that people understand the slippery quality of data. Statistics seem solid to many people. But data can mislead, and understanding how this happens is a huge step in the right direction of using data to improve the lives of millions of people around the world, and to tackling global crises such as COVID-19.</p>
<p>There are three main issues with data.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Dark data</h2>
<p>The first issue seems on the surface the easiest to fix. Dark data refers to data that is not collected at all. Many people believe that if we collected enough data about everything then we could solve any issue. Yet it is impossible to collect everything: there will always be dark data. </p>
<p>We don’t, for example, collect data about or from children in the same way as adults because of laws around consent. Data is often collected through tools that are not available to everyone – mobile phones share huge amounts of information, but not everybody has a phone. </p>
<p>The real trouble comes due to what are known as epistemic and ideological assumptions. These assumptions mean that even with the best intentions, we cannot gather data about things that we assume we do not need, or that we do not know that we need data about. Stark examples include how frequently women are excluded from trials and testing, either forgotten about, or based upon assumptions they are the same as men. This can have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes">deadly consequences</a>.</p>
<p>At times our biases also push us towards not collecting data that we sense goes against <a href="https://theconversation.com/confirmation-bias-a-psychological-phenomenon-that-helps-explain-why-pundits-got-it-wrong-68781">our own interests</a> or views of the world. A surprisingly powerful urge to retain our status quo paralyses us from breaking through this barrier.</p>
<h2>2. Data positivism</h2>
<p>The issues of dark data are closely linked to another issue, known as data positivism. This relates to what we do with the data we have captured. </p>
<p>It is all but impossible to present all the data we find. This might be because we have too much of it, or because we are trying to tell a specific story with our data. As we turn the data in to maps and visualisations, we must make choices about what is and isn’t included, which often takes the form of prioritising one type of knowledge over another. </p>
<p>Data that fits well with traditional mapping practices will be more likely to be included on a map than other forms of information. This can turn extremely complex and competing sets of ideas into overly simple sets of data, which in turn is transformed into an even further simplified data visualisation. These visualisations are rarely questioned, because the way they are made is beyond the expertise of most people. The expertise of the creator is trusted wholesale – they create a false sense of certainty, but one we hold on to, especially if they reinforce our status quo.</p>
<h2>3. Data washing</h2>
<p>Then there’s the issue of data washing. Let’s assume that you have avoided the problems of dark data and collected everything, including the data you didn’t know you needed, and that you have navigated data positivism in the cleaning and preparing of your data. </p>
<p>You then come to present your findings. Perhaps they don’t really show the story you wanted, or show the opposite of what you thought – what do you do? Do you tweak things so they look different? Do you skip that diagram and move to another that shows something closer to your hypothesis? Do you choose not to share anything at all? </p>
<p>These seem like easy questions to answer, easy to stay on the correct side of ethical practice. But even with the best of intentions we can dismiss our own data when it doesn’t conform to pre-held assumptions. We might tell ourselves we must have made a mistake in data collection, so shouldn’t share it. Or we might think: that doesn’t tell a good story, I’ll leave it out. Or perhaps: this should be more dramatic, I’ll change the colours and design to make it pop.</p>
<p>These are not always disingenuous, but these seemingly innocent decisions conceal or obscure data and knowledge. They are hard to avoid even with the best of intentions, and when it comes to issues of controversy, the best of intentions is often left wanting.</p>
<p>In turning people into pure data, life and death decisions are made about people without their consent. These are the dehumanising effects of an algorithm-driven world.</p>
<h2>Lessons from history</h2>
<p>Mapping and data visualisation have long been used in times of crisis to help us make sense of what is happening, and to find ways forwards that might preserve lives and create a better future. Prominent examples include Thomas Shapter’s 1832 maps of cholera in Exeter, UK, followed by the more famous maps of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/mar/15/john-snow-cholera-map">cholera deaths</a> produced by John Snow in London. These maps and their authors were credited with bringing new understanding of waterborne disease and saving many lives. </p>
<p>Florence Nightingale, whose name was given over to the emergency hospitals constructed around the UK in the wake of COVID-19, was also <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-healing-power-of-data-florence-nightingales-true-legacy-134649">a statistician</a>. </p>
<p>In 1861, as part of her consultation to the US army about care for Civil War casualties, Nightingale made data visualisations, and a lot of them. She created bar charts, stacked bars, honeycomb density plots, and 100% area plots. </p>
<p>Nightingale’s data visualisations were not about just showing what was happening, they were designed to call for change; to indicate required reform. She also invented a new type of chart to help her arguments: a comparative polar-area diagram known today as the <a href="https://datavizcatalogue.com/methods/nightingale_rose_chart.html">Nightingale rose</a> (she called them “wedges”). Her most famous diagrams showed the changes in survival rates of patients following sanitary improvements, such as washing hands regularly, and emphasised the effectiveness of these improvements by difference in size.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wedge style diagram with grey, pink and black areas indicating different causes of death." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363438/original/file-20201014-13-spesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Nightingale’s diagrams – in this case demonstrating the causes of mortality in the army in the East, published in 1858.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale#/media/File:Nightingale-mortality.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nightingale, Shapter, Snow, and many others have used charts and diagrams to build graphic arguments and easy-to-understand comparisons that saved many lives. But when looking back at them, we often only consider the final product (map or chart), rather than the process of their creation. Yet at the time, these works were widely dismissed, and often misinterpreted as supporting the prevailing thoughts of the period.</p>
<p>There were many who did not want to enact the reforms proposed by Nightingale, although they are now seen as transformative in how hospitals are run. And Snow’s maps became more famous than Shapter’s not only because they were of London, but because of the evocative story of him striding onto Broad Street and tearing off the handle of the community water pump. What’s forgotten is that this act was required precisely because his data and mappings were initially misinterpreted by those who chose to see Snow’s maps as supporting their own theories – an example of confirmation bias where we read data in a way that suits our own views. </p>
<p>Both Snow and Nightingale saved countless lives through their data work, but even they came up against many of the issues of dark data, data positivism and misinterpretation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map with red markings showing localities which experienced death from cholera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363437/original/file-20201014-17-vhsk1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shapter’s 1832 maps of cholera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Thomas-Shapter-HistoryOfCholeraInExeter1832-map.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the digital age, where data is collected on a massive scale, often without consent, and is increasingly organised, sorted and interpreted by computers and algorithms, data has become seen as both a fix all for everything, and a dangerous commodity. The use of data to track people and dictate their actions can mean the difference between life and death in a very real and present sense. While that has been made clear to many of us in relation to COVID-19, there are many more stories of data, crisis and the fight for survival.</p>
<p>In our new book, <a href="https://www.sas.ac.uk/publications/mapping-crisis">Mapping Crisis</a>, we look at the experiences of those who have been mapped or had their complex lives reduced to data, aerial photos or reports. From this we are able to draw out better ways of working, and better understandings of the various effects the secret world of data has on our everyday lives. </p>
<p>One of our examples is the case of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.</p>
<h2>Life, death and data</h2>
<p>The Mediterranean Sea is a place that for many conjures images of sun-kissed beaches, fine waterfront dining and turquoise seas. But this stretch of water is also one of the most heavily policed in the world. All movements in the region, whether deemed legal or not, are extensively mapped and monitored by the European Union.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bright blue sea laps at a beach." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363439/original/file-20201014-23-25yjfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s more out there than meets the eye.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Sm66YlqRjWs">Ahmed Gamal/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While individual countries on the Mediterranean have long fortified their borders, the formation of the EU effectively created a single border along the northern shores. Since then, European states have continued to put in place an ever more comprehensive, and complex, system for monitoring and exchanging information about irregular migrants trying to reach the continent. </p>
<p>Running under the label EUROSUR, the system combines high-resolution satellite images, long-endurance drones, automated vessel identification systems and seaborne military radars that allow for situational reports and risk analyses in next to real time. These reports give daily updates on “successfully” intercepted migrant vessels.</p>
<p>But this highly sophisticated tool of mapping the movements of migrants is only interested in those who are stopped. The extensive databases held by EU states hold next to no information about those who die or go missing as they attempt to seek refuge. Those who make it onto European shores, by contrast, are rigorously screened for biometric data, including electronic fingerprints, iris scans and medical checks, and also for personal details about their lives to verify their identity.</p>
<p>According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/20055/migrant-deaths-19-000-in-mediterranean-in-past-6-years">19,000 people</a> have drowned or gone missing on their way to Europe over the last decade. These figures are only estimates: there is no comprehensive system in place to document migrant fatalities across EU member states. European governments do not consider migrant deaths part of their legal responsibility and so do not keep a regular track record of them. This leaves humanitarian agencies like IOM dependent on eyewitness accounts and reports from search and rescue NGOs, medical examiners or the media. </p>
<p>The lack of knowledge regarding migrant deaths reveals how patchy real time tracking of movement across borders really is. It also serves political agendas, where data on the “risk” to Europe from migration can easily be found, but data on the true life and death risks of crossing the Mediterranean is occluded from public knowledge. This makes it easier to present migrants as a threat, rather than as refugees putting everything on the line to seek safety. </p>
<p>And for Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, this provides a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2019/11/14/the-eu-is-getting-a-shiny-new-border-force/">convenient backdrop</a> to legitimise the increasing militarisation of Europe’s borders under the pretext of preventing further deaths and human suffering.</p>
<p>Along the border, digital maps and statistical charts operate to reinforce the political and social aims of the organisations and governments that collate them. Data is selectively collected, and selectively presented by the EU and European governments, extending Europe’s migration policy of deterrence and containment deep into the digital domain.</p>
<p>In the specific context of the Mediterranean, this selective reading of data not only minimises the chances of successful asylum applications for those lingering in the reception centres of Greece and Turkey, it also allows governments and the EU as a whole to evade any legal and political responsibility for the human cost of border policing. By not collecting data on those who drown, the EU can hide the fact that for all its sophisticated mapping and tracking technologies, they have no interest in using the data to save lives, or for rescuing men, women and children lost at sea.</p>
<p>No records of deaths means no records of how many European governments watched drown.</p>
<h2>Radical data mapping</h2>
<p>That said, Europe’s wilful “unseeing” of migrants has not gone uncontested. Numerous civil society initiatives and humanitarian activists have made it a point to keep a regular track record of those who die or go missing and to hold Europe to account.</p>
<p>Initiatives such as the <a href="https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2018/06/19/TheList.pdf">List of Deaths</a>, compiled by organisations such as UNITED and FORTRESS Europe, meticulously document each and every reported incident, using these figures for advocating a radical revision of European asylum policy. While these counter-mappings certainly manage to disrupt the wall of silence surrounding the human cost of border policing, the death lists have done little to disrupt or redirect the priorities of the state. </p>
<p>The transnational network Alarm Phone marks a rare exception in this regard. <a href="https://alarmphone.org/en/">Alarm Phone</a> offers a 24/7 hotline for migrants in distress. The organisation secures their rescue by notifying national coastguards and port authorities of unfolding emergencies at sea. Using a combination of mobile phones and online messaging apps such as Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp and Skype, alongside logistical platforms such as AIS (The global Automatic identification system used for vessel tracking) and call management software, they attempt to preempt deaths, and prompt action to rescue people at risk of drowning. </p>
<p>The organisation has aided thousands of people in distress. The summer of 2020 was an especially difficult one. With Europe’s borders closed tighter than ever, Alarm Phone was inundated with calls. In the seven days following August 13, nearly <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/med-series-deadly-shipwrecks-while-civilian-search-and-rescue-fleet-blocked">900 people on 14 boats</a> called Alarm Phone with pleas for help. Alarm Phone raised the alert, and while some were helped to safety, either in Europe or Libya, more than 260 people perished or remain missing.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1305039684125569024"}"></div></p>
<p>By bring together technology, networking capacities, and through solidarity and compassion the volunteer network is able to both aid migrants in times of trouble, and to help them pass more effectively under the radar of the EU. The hotline is more than just a distress call: it brings together the knowledge of migrants into effective “maps” that aid in the logistics of crossing the med. In doing so it also highlights the wilful misuse, and sporadic data collections of the EU member states.</p>
<h2>A warning</h2>
<p>A lot can be learned from the data mapping of the migrant crisis. Maps and data can only ever be partial representations of reality, but as we gather more and more data we can be lured into thinking that these representations are infallible. </p>
<p>Yet, it is clear from the example above that the processes in place do not preserve life: they are tools of control rather than support. There are glimmers of hope in the counter-mapping projects that have arisen to give voice to those who are condemned to silence as they seek a new life. But even the most well-intentioned projects can fall foul of misunderstanding data. Data tends to have a life of its own.</p>
<p>COVID-19 has brought the world of data-driven crisis management to the doorstep of the whole world, but these are not new experiences. Many people have already been reduced to data points. From the Mediterranean to school grades, lives are increasingly dictated by algorithm, computation, and the biases built into these technologies. The way in which we use data is heavily influenced by politics, a desire to maintain the status quo and by conscious and unconscious decisions made at every stage of the process.</p>
<p>So we should question data: how it is collected, and how it is deployed. But data is also important, and we must not dismiss it all outright. The world has seen a push-back against science and a growth in “alternative facts”. The rise in anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, 5G conspiracy theorists and coronavirus deniers has shown <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-heres-how-to-stop-them-spreading-136564">how dangerous</a> this can be. Such arguments push backwards, not forwards. They do not seek to understand more, but are maintaining a status quo.</p>
<p>While some might try and twist the arguments we’ve presented here in order to reject science, we are instead saying that we should ask questions that take our <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-bogus-science-stories-and-read-the-news-like-a-scientist-133828">understanding further</a>. It is near impossible to eliminate issues caused by dark data, data washing, and data positivism. This can be purposefully, or accidental, but the effects can be far reaching. </p>
<p>So, next time you look at a map and or data visualisation, ask: who is this for? Whose power does it enhance or consolidate? Who is missing from the data? Who was never asked, forgotten or excluded? Who loses? And how can we do it better?</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-unidentified-zimbabweans-lie-in-secret-mass-graves-and-i-want-to-find-them-122586?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Thousands of unidentified Zimbabweans lie in secret mass graves – and I want to find them</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-periods-can-now-be-sustainable-and-cheap-133025?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The future of periods can now be sustainable and cheap</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/mammoth-task-the-russian-family-on-a-resurrection-quest-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-138142?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Mammoth task: the Russian family on a resurrection quest to tackle the climate crisis</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An algorithm driven world is dehumanising – but by understanding this we can call for a more equitable and human use of data.
Doug Specht, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Westminster
Monika Halkort, Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Social Communication, Lebanese American University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142451
2020-07-28T12:16:34Z
2020-07-28T12:16:34Z
Marie Tharp pioneered mapping the bottom of the ocean 6 decades ago – scientists are still learning about Earth’s last frontier
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349770/original/file-20200727-35-1udrgwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C1198%2C883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tharp with an undersea map at her desk. Rolled sonar profiles of the ocean floor are on the shelf behind her.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/join-us-celebrating-marietharp100">Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite all the deep-sea expeditions and samples taken from the seabed over the past 100 years, humans still know very little about the ocean’s deepest reaches. And there are good reasons to learn more. </p>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/tsunamis">tsunamis</a> start with earthquakes under or near the ocean floor. The seafloor provides habitat for fish, corals and <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/hydrothermal-vent-creatures">complex communities</a> of microbes, crustaceans and other organisms. Its topography controls currents that <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/climate.html#:%7E:text=Ocean%20currents%20act%20as%20conveyer,influencing%20both%20weather%20and%20climate.&text=The%20ocean%20doesn't%20just,distribute%20heat%20around%20the%20globe.">distribute heat</a>, helping to regulate Earth’s climate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C4%2C2968%2C1715&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing geographic features of world's oceans" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C4%2C2968%2C1715&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349478/original/file-20200726-29-189de0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hand-painted rendition of Heezen-Tharp 1977 ‘World ocean floor’ map, by Heinrich Berann.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/g9096c.ct003148/">Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/remembered-marie-tharp-pioneering-mapmaker-ocean-floor">Marie Tharp</a>, born in 1920, was a geologist and oceanographer who created maps that changed the way people imagine two-thirds of the world. Beginning in 1957, Tharp and her research partner, Bruce Heezen, began publishing the first comprehensive maps that showed the main features of the ocean bottom – mountains, valleys and trenches. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ruUF3z4AAAAJ&hl=en">As a geoscientist</a>, I believe Tharp should be as famous as Jane Goodall or Neil Armstrong. Here’s why.</p>
<h2>Traversing the Atlantic</h2>
<p>Well into the 1950s, many scientists assumed the seabed was featureless. Tharp showed that it contained rugged terrain, and that much of it was laid out in a systematic way. </p>
<p>Her images were critical to the development of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/plate-tectonics">plate tectonic theory</a> – the idea that plates, or large sections of Earth’s crust, interact to generate the planet’s seismic and volcanic activity. Earlier researchers – <a href="https://www.livescience.com/37529-continental-drift.html">particularly Alfred Wegener</a> – noticed how well the coastlines of Africa and South America fit together and proposed the continents had once been connected; Tharp identified mountains and a rift valley in the center of the Atlantic Ocean where the two continents could have been ripped apart.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sketch of undersea profile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349739/original/file-20200727-63428-1lb6xwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tharp’s East-West profiles across the North Atlantic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE65-p1">The Floors of the Ocean, 1959</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thanks to Tharp’s hand-drawn renditions of the ocean floor, I can imagine a walk across the Atlantic Ocean bottom from New York City to Lisbon. The journey would take me out along the continental shelf. Then downward towards the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sohm-Abyssal-Plain">Sohm Abyssal Plain</a>. I’d need to detour around underwater mountains, called <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/seamounts.html">seamounts</a>. Then I’d start a slow climb up the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mid-Atlantic-Ridge">Mid-Atlantic Ridge</a>, a submerged north-south mountain range. </p>
<p>After ascending to 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) below sea level to the ridge’s peak, I would descend several hundred feet, cross the ridge’s central rift valley and proceed up over the ridge’s eastern edge. Then back down to the ocean floor, until I began trekking up the European continental slope to Lisbon. The total walk would be about 3,800 miles (6,000 kilometers) – almost twice the length of the Appalachian Trail.</p>
<h2>Mapping the unseen</h2>
<p>Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Tharp studied English and music in college. But then in 1943 she enrolled in a University of Michigan master’s degree program designed to train women to be petroleum geologists during World War II. “Girls were needed to fill the jobs left open because the guys were off fighting,” <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/marie-tharp/">Tharp later recalled</a>.</p>
<p>After working for an oil company in Oklahoma, Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia University in 1948. Women couldn’t go on research ships, but Tharp could draft, and was hired to assist male graduate students.</p>
<p>Tharp worked with Bruce Heezen, a grad student who gave her seafloor profiles to draft. These are long paper rolls that show the depth of the seafloor along a linear path, measured from a ship using sonar.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sketches of undersea features based on sonar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349741/original/file-20200727-15-69lzu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration of Marie Tharp’s mapping process. (a) shows the position of two ship tracks (A, B) moving across the surface. (b) plots depth recordings as profiles, exaggerating their height to make features easier to visualize. (c) sketches features shown on the profiles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://mirrorservice.org/sites/gutenberg.org/4/9/0/6/49069/49069-h/49069-h.htm">The Floors of the Ocean, 1959, Fig. 1</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Starting with a large blank sheet of paper, Tharp marked lines of latitude and longitude. Then she’d carefully mark where the ship had traveled. Next she’d read the depth at each location off the sonar profile, mark it on the ship’s track and create her own condensed profile, showing the depth to the ocean floor versus the distance the ship had traveled. </p>
<p>One of her important innovations was creating sketches depicting what the seafloor would look like. These views made it easier to visualize the ocean floor’s topography and create a physiographic map.</p>
<p>Tharp’s careful plotting of six east-to-west profiles across the North Atlantic revealed something no one had ever described before: a cleft in the center of the ocean, miles wide and hundreds of feet deep. Tharp suggested that it was a rift valley – a type of long trough that was known to exist on land.</p>
<p>Heezen <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/marie-tharp/">called this idea “girl talk</a>” and told Tharp to recalculate and redraft. When she did, the rift valley was still there. </p>
<p>Another research assistant was plotting locations of earthquake epicenters on a map of the same size and scale. Comparing the two maps, Heezen and Tharp realized that the earthquake epicenters fell inside the rift valley. This discovery was critical to the development of plate tectonic theory: It suggested that movement was occurring in the rift valley, and that the continents might actually be drifting apart.</p>
<p>This insight was revolutionary. When Heezen, as a newly-minted Ph.D., gave a talk at Princeton in 1957 and showed the rift valley and epicenters, geology department chair <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/marie-tharp/">Harry Hess replied</a>, “You have shaken the foundations of geology.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bGye6vlOpbY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Exploring mid-ocean ridges provides vast amounts of information about life on Earth.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tectonic resistance</h2>
<p>In 1959 the Geological Society of America published “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE65-p1">The Floors of the Oceans: I. The North Atlantic</a>” by Heezen, Tharp and “Doc” Ewing, director of the Lamont Observatory, where they worked. It contained Tharp’s ocean profiles, ideas and access to Tharp’s physiographic maps. </p>
<p>Some scientists thought the work was brilliant, but most didn’t believe it. French undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau was determined to prove Tharp wrong. Sailing aboard his research vessel, the Calypso, he purposely crossed the mid-Atlantic Ridge and lowered an underwater movie camera. To Cousteau’s surprise, the film showed that a rift valley existed.</p>
<p>“There’s truth to the old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words and that seeing is believing,” Tharp observed in a <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/marie-tharp/">1999 retrospective essay</a>.</p>
<p>What could have created the rift? Princeton’s Hess proposed some ideas <a href="http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist_oceanogr/hess-history-of-ocean-basins.pdf">in a 1962 paper</a>. It postulated that hot magma rose from inside the Earth at the rift, expanded as it cooled and pushed two adjoining plates further apart. This idea was a key contribution to plate tectonic theory, but Hess failed to reference the critical work presented in “The Floors of the Oceans” – one of the few publications that included Tharp as a co-author. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of Marie Tharp in 2001" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349691/original/file-20200727-25-1kaavmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marie Tharp in July 2001.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bruce Gilbert, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Still surveying</h2>
<p>Tharp continued working with Heezen to bring the ocean floor to life. Their collaboration included an <a href="https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/marie-tharp-pioneering-oceanographer/1967-indian-ocean-map/">Indian Ocean map</a>, published by National Geographic in 1967, and a 1977 <a href="https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/marie-tharp-pioneering-oceanographer/1977-world-ocean-floor-map/">World Ocean Floor map</a> that is now held at the Library of Congress. </p>
<p>[<em>Get our best science, health and technology stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-best">Sign up for The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>After Heezen died in 1977, Tharp continued her work until her death in 2006. In October 1978, Heezen (posthumously) and Tharp were awarded the <a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.6.20180730a/full/">Hubbard Medal</a>, the National Geographic Society’s highest honor, joining the ranks of explorers and discoverers such as Ernest Shackleton, Louis and Mary Leakey and Jane Goodall.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Today ships use a <a href="https://youtu.be/8ijaPa-9MDs">method called swath mapping</a>, which measures depth over a ribbon-like path rather than along a single line. The ribbons can be stitched together to create an accurate seafloor map.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349692/original/file-20200727-33-wfsk35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left. Detail of Canary Islands from Marie Tharp’s physiographic map of the North Atlantic. Right. Modern swath mapping depiction of the same area. Colors indicate depth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vicki Ferrini, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But because ships move slowly, it would take one ship 200 years to completely map the seafloor. An international effort to map the entire ocean floor in detail by 2030 is under way, using multiple ships, led by the <a href="https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/">Nippon Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://www.gebco.net/">General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans</a>. </p>
<p>This information is critical to beginning to understand what the seafloor looks like on a neighborhood scale. Marie Tharp was the first person to show the rich topography of the ocean floor and its different neighborhoods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne OConnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
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.
Suzanne OConnell, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, Wesleyan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129321
2020-03-18T12:06:04Z
2020-03-18T12:06:04Z
Balloon releases have deadly consequences – we’re helping citizen scientists map them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321404/original/file-20200318-1909-1qyf0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C1095%2C732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mylar balloon at Presqu'ile Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lara O'Brien</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Balloons are often seen as fun, harmless decorations. But they become deadly litter as soon as they are released into the air and forgotten. </p>
<p>Plastic pollution is one of today’s biggest environmental challenges. Microplastics have been found in our <a href="https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics/">drinking water</a>, <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/ENVIRONMENT-PLASTIC/0100B4TF2MQ/index.html">food</a> and even <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v74v3x/its-not-just-the-oceans-our-air-is-filled-with-microplastic-too">the air we breathe</a>. While many people are trying to reduce their use of single-use plastic bags, bottles, utensils and straws, balloons are often overlooked.</p>
<p>To help bring attention to the environmental dangers of released balloons, one of us (Lara O’Brien) created a citizen science survey to track and map balloon debris. This work is designed to raise awareness about the dangers of balloons, while also gathering data to help influence policies regulating celebratory balloon releases. </p>
<h2>Balloons cause many kinds of damage</h2>
<p>Deliberate releases of tens, hundreds or sometimes thousands of balloons are common sights at weddings, graduations, memorials, <a href="https://cbs4indy.com/2019/05/23/indystar-study-looks-at-environmental-impact-of-balloons-ahead-of-indy-500-release/">sporting events</a> and other celebrations. These fleeting feel-good acts inflict long-lasting and potentially deadly consequences on the environment and wildlife. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1132688400853741568"}"></div></p>
<p>Balloons filled with helium – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49715838">a finite and rapidly dwindling resource</a> – travel <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2017/10/birthday_balloon_travels_430_m.html">hundreds</a> or even <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287037/Incredible-10-545-mile-journey-balloon-launched-British-schoolboy-6-revealed-lands-AUSTRALIA.html">thousands of miles</a>. They land as litter on beaches, rivers, lakes, oceans, forests and other natural areas.</p>
<p>The two most common types of balloons are <a href="https://www.tekra.com/products/brands/dupont-teijin-films/mylar">Mylar</a> and latex. Mylar balloons, also called foil balloons, are made from plastic nylon sheets with a metallic coating and will never biodegrade. They also cause <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2019/05/11/you-are-now-entering-mylar-season-if-youre-not-careful-prepare-for-power-outages-fires/">thousands of power outages</a> every year when they come into contact with power lines or circuit breakers. </p>
<p>While some manufacturers claim that natural latex balloons made from liquid rubber are biodegradable, they still <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/environment/2019/05/23/indy-500-balloon-release-citizen-science-experiment-biodegradable/3743652002/">take years to break down</a> because they are mixed with plasticizers and other chemical additives that hinder the biodegradation process. Other latex balloons are <a href="http://www.industrialoutpost.com/petroleum-product-of-the-week-rubber-party-balloons/">synthetic</a>, made from a petroleum derivative called neoprene – the same material used to make scuba diving wetsuits – and will remain in the environment indefinitely, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces over time.</p>
<p>Both Mylar and latex balloons are a significant threat to <a href="https://www.wideopenspaces.com/usfws-dont-release-balloons-please/">wildlife</a>, <a href="https://www.king5.com/article/tech/science/environment/balloon-pollution-dangerous-for-farm-animals-and-wildlife/281-588896532">livestock</a> and pets, which can be injured or killed from eating balloon fragments, getting tangled in long balloon ribbons or strings, or being spooked by the falling debris.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321117/original/file-20200317-60879-dnu1hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More than 100 balloons collected at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/w6Bok5">USFWS/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Latex shreds: A deadly meal</h2>
<p>Unlike Mylar balloons, latex balloons burst in the atmosphere, shredding into small pieces that, when floating on the surface of water, resemble <a href="https://rubberjellyfishmovie.com/">jellyfish</a> or squid. Plastic debris in the ocean can also become coated with algae and other marine microbes that produce a chemical scent, which <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30115-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220301159%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">sea turtles</a>, <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1600395">seabirds</a>, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.1000">fish</a> and other marine life associate with food. Because they are soft and malleable, latex balloons easily conform to an animal’s stomach cavity or digestive tract and can cause obstruction, starvation and death.</p>
<p>As a result, latex balloons are the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36585-9">deadliest form of marine debris for seabirds</a>. They are 32 times more likely to kill than hard plastics when ingested. Balloons tied with ribbons and strings also rank just behind <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2016-threat-rank-report.pdf">discarded fishing gear and plastic bags and utensils</a> due to the high risk of entanglement and death that they pose to marine life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310967/original/file-20200120-69551-fr8tz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This juvenile Kemps Ridley sea turtle has ingested balloon debris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blog.marinedebris.noaa.gov/addressing-rising-concern-balloon-debris">Blair Witherington, Florida FWC/NOAA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Volunteers track debris in real time</h2>
<p>Environmental organizations are working to both clean up and record data on plastic pollution and marine debris, including balloons. Between 2016 and 2018, volunteers with the <a href="https://greatlakes.org/">Alliance for the Great Lakes</a> picked up and recorded more than <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/06/17/balloon-litter-oceans-great-lakes/1455903001/">18,000 pieces of balloon debris</a>. In 2019 the <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/?ea.tracking.id=20HPXGJAXX&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6sHzBRCbARIsAF8FMpX0iDiy09nV6kFB2OLAI5HJgarcq6LuX63As-sThHQz5J-LhYbWd-YaAuG6EALw_wcB">International Coastal Cleanup</a>, an annual event organized by the <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/">Ocean Conservancy</a>, recorded <a href="https://www.coastalcleanupdata.org/">over 104,150 balloons</a> found around the world, with almost half in the United States.</p>
<p>Utilizing <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07106-5">citizen science</a> as a way to collect more data and help raise awareness in the Great Lakes region and beyond, Lara O'Brien created an <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/">online survey</a> in June 2019 that people can use to record the date, location, condition and photo of balloon debris. The survey is completely anonymous and can be easily accessed on a smartphone, so users can document balloon debris they find while walking the dog, hiking or participating in a beach cleanup.</p>
<p>Since the survey began, citizen scientists have helped record more than 1,580 pieces of balloon debris found in an area stretching from remote <a href="https://www.nps.gov/isro/index.htm">Isle Royale National Park</a> in Lake Superior to <a href="https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/sandbanks">Sandbanks Provincial Park</a> in Lake Ontario. Surveys and <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/survey-photos.html">photos</a> have also been submitted from Washington state, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Kansas, Florida, Iceland and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p><style>.embed-container {position: relative; padding-bottom: 80%; height: 0; max-width: 100%;} .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container iframe{position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} small{position: absolute; z-index: 40; bottom: 0; margin-bottom: -15px;}</style></p><div class="embed-container"><small><a href="//umich.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=76c5ee971b89469495d000b131fe62f7&extent=-180,-25.9286,41.5781,71.0276&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&basemap_gallery=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light" target="_blank">View larger map</a></small><br><p></p>
<iframe width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" title="Balloon Debris" src="https://umich.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=76c5ee971b89469495d000b131fe62f7&extent=-180,-25.9286,41.5781,71.0276&home=true&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&basemap_gallery=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light"></iframe>
<p></p></div><p></p>
<p><em>Interactive map of balloon debris sightings submitted since June 2019. Zoom in and click/tap on individual points for more information, including photo attachments. Source: <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/debris-map.html">Balloondebris.org</a>.</em></p>
<p>The most important feature of this survey allows volunteers to pinpoint and submit the exact GPS coordinates of balloon debris in real time. This geospatial data is immediately uploaded onto <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/survey-map.html">an interactive map</a> that clearly and powerfully shows where released balloons end up, and how prevalent and widespread balloon waste is. It helps researchers see emerging patterns or trends that might be present, including <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/debris-heat-map.html">potential hotspots</a> where higher concentrations of balloon debris may occur.</p>
<p>In the United States, balloons float eastward with prevailing west-to-east winds. In the Great Lakes region, higher concentrations of balloon debris have been reported along the eastern shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron. This includes the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm">Indiana Dunes National Park</a> southeast of Chicago, where volunteers regularly come across balloons. One person reported finding 84 balloons in a single morning along a two-mile stretch of beach.</p>
<p><style>.embed-container {position: relative; padding-bottom: 80%; height: 0; max-width: 100%;} .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container iframe{position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} small{position: absolute; z-index: 40; bottom: 0; margin-bottom: -15px;}</style></p><div class="embed-container"><small><a href="//umich.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=4ab3ca2690004c5bba97920bdc010a48&extent=-98.1299,39.0875,-69.873,50.5065&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&basemap_gallery=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light" target="_blank">View larger map</a></small><br><p></p>
<iframe width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" title="Balloon Debris Heat Map" src="https://umich.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=4ab3ca2690004c5bba97920bdc010a48&extent=-98.1299,39.0875,-69.873,50.5065&home=true&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&basemap_gallery=true&disable_scroll=true&theme=light"></iframe>
<p></p></div><p></p>
<p><em>Interactive heat map showing where the greatest concentrations of balloon debris in the Great Lakes region have been found since June 2019. Source: <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/debris-heat-map.html">Balloondebris.org</a>.</em></p>
<h2>Ending balloon pollution</h2>
<p>Thanks to research like this and work by organizations such as <a href="https://balloonsblow.org/">Balloons Blow</a>, the <a href="https://greatlakes.org/2019/06/balloon-pollution-in-the-great-lakes/">Alliance for the Great Lakes</a> and the <a href="https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/prevention/reducing-balloon-litter-through-education-and-outreach-joyful-send-campaign-0">NOAA Marine Debris Program</a>, awareness of balloon pollution is growing. More people are choosing to use alternatives and urging <a href="https://www.easthamptonstar.com/2019613/balloon-release-banned">schools</a>, businesses and other organizations to stop balloon releases.</p>
<p>A growing movement across the United States is calling for more policies and laws restricting or eliminating single-use plastics, including balloons. California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia have all passed laws prohibiting the deliberate release of balloons in order to protect the environment and wildlife. Others, including <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/maryland-balloon-ban-bill/65-607b8710-aa6c-4a56-bd5a-d0f80e0d9d6e">Maryland</a>, <a href="https://www.kfvs12.com/2020/01/07/ky-bill-would-ban-plastic-bags-containers-straws-release-plastic-balloons/">Kentucky</a> and <a href="https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/tempe/local-girl-scouts-push-to-make-releasing-balloons-into-air-illegal">Arizona</a>, are considering similar bans.</p>
<p>Volunteers who want to collect data and map the location of balloon debris in their communities may visit the <a href="https://scistarter.org/balloon-debris-survey">project’s page</a> on the citizen science site SciStarter or at <a href="https://balloondebris.weebly.com/">balloondebris.org</a>. There they can find links to the survey, interactive maps, photos, suggestions for eco-friendly alternatives and more. By helping people visualize and understand balloon pollution, we hope to prevent future balloon releases. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Releasing balloons at weddings and other celebrations is festive, until they break into pieces and become plastic pollution. A citizen science project is spotlighting the problem.
Lara O'Brien, Master of Science in Conservation Ecology and Environmental Informatics, University of Michigan
Shannon Brines, Applied Geographer, Lecturer and Manager, Environmental Spatial Analysis Laboratory, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129557
2020-01-09T18:51:52Z
2020-01-09T18:51:52Z
6 things to ask yourself before you share a bushfire map on social media
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309222/original/file-20200109-80148-zyu1n7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C1302%2C693&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NASA’s Worldview software gives you a satellite view of Earth right now, and can help track the spread of fires. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=114.34749631694407,-50.093019230617045,181.39046506694407,-19.577394230617045&t=2020-01-04-T00%3A00%3A00Z&l=Reference_Labels,Reference_Features,Coastlines,MODIS_Combined_Thermal_Anomalies_All,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_Bands721(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_Bands721,VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor">Nasa Worldview</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent days, many worrying bushfire maps have been circulating online, some appearing to suggest all of Australia is burning. </p>
<p>You might have seen this example, decried by some as <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/lanesainty/viral-australian-bushfire-maps-confusing-false-information">misleading</a>, prompting this Instagram post by its creator:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B67bRtPnVzR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>As he explained, the image isn’t a NASA photo. What a satellite actually “sees” is quite different. </p>
<p>I’ll explain how we use data collected by satellites to estimate how much of an area is burning, or has already been burnt, and what this information should look like once it’s mapped.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-crisis-of-underinsurance-threatens-to-scar-rural-australia-permanently-129343">A crisis of underinsurance threatens to scar rural Australia permanently</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reflective images</h2>
<p>When astronauts look out their window in space, this is what they see: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1213531558113632256"}"></div></p>
<p>It’s similar to what you might see from an aeroplane window, but higher and covering a wider area.</p>
<p>As you read this, many unmanned satellites are orbiting and photographing Earth. These images are used to monitor fires in real-time. They fall into two categories: reflective and thermal. </p>
<p>Reflective images capture information in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum (in other words, what we can see). But they also capture information in wavelengths we can’t see, such as infrared wavelengths.</p>
<p>If we use only the visible wavelengths, we can render the image similar to what we might see with the naked eye from a satellite. We call these “true colour” images.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-107235-zihue2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is a true colour image of south-east Australia, taken on January 4th 2020 from the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Fire smoke is grey, clouds are white, forests are dark green, brown areas are dryland agricultural areas, and the ocean is blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/307pDDX</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Note that the image doesn’t have political boundaries, as these aren’t physical features. To make satellite imagery useful for navigation, we overlay the map with location points.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-107214-1493w5s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same image shown as true colour, with the relevant geographical features overlaid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2TafEMH</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From this, we can predict where the fires are by looking at the smoke. However, the fires themselves are not directly visible. </p>
<h2>‘False colour’ images</h2>
<p>Shortwave infrared bands are less sensitive to smoke and more sensitive to fire, which means they can tell us where fire is present. </p>
<p>Converting these wavelengths into visible colours produces what we call “false colour” images. For instance:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-107200-18mtd8x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same image, this time shown as false colour. Now, the fire smoke is partially transparent grey while the clouds aren’t. Red shows the active fires and brown shows where bushfires have recently burnt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2NhzRfN</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this shortwave infrared image, we start to “see” under the smoke, and can identify active fires. We can also learn more about the areas that are already burnt. </p>
<h2>Thermal and hotspots</h2>
<p>As their name suggests, thermal images measure how hot or cold everything in the frame is. Active fires are detected as “hotspots” and mapped as points on the surface. </p>
<p>While reflective imagery is only useful when obtained by a satellite during daytime, thermal hotspots can be measured at night – doubling our capacity to observe active fires.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-107204-1ax9guv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same image shown as false color, with hotspots overlaid in red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2rZNIj9</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This information can be used to create maps showing the aggregation of hotspots over several days, weeks or months. </p>
<p><a href="https://hotspots.dea.ga.gov.au/">Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth hotspots service</a> shows hotspots across the continent in the last 72 hours. It’s worth reading the “about” section to learn the limitations or potential for error in the map.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spread-the-word-the-value-of-local-information-in-disaster-response-11626">Spread the word: the value of local information in disaster response</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When hotspots, which show “hot” pixels, are shown as extremely big icons, or are collected over long periods, the results can be deceiving. They can indicate a much larger area to be under fire than what is really burning.</p>
<p>For example, it would be wrong to believe all the areas in red in the map below are burning or have already burnt. It’s also unclear over what period of time the hotspots were aggregated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-107249-1klv52u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘world map of fire hotspots’ from the Environmental Investigation Agency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Environmental Investigation Agency / https://eia-international.org/news/watching-the-world-burn-fires-threaten-the-worlds-tropical-forests-and-millions-of-people/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Get smart</h2>
<p>Considering all of the above, there are some key questions you can ask to gauge the authenticity of a bushfire map. These are: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Where does this map come from, and who produced it? </p></li>
<li><p>is this a single satellite image, or one using hotspots overlaid on a map? </p></li>
<li><p>what are the colours representing? </p></li>
<li><p>do I know when this was taken? </p></li>
<li><p>if this map depicts hotspots, over what period of time were they collected? A day, a whole year?</p></li>
<li><p>is the size of the hotspots representative of the area that is actually burning? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>So, the next time you see a bushfire map, think twice before pressing the share button.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Pablo Guerschman receives funding from the Australian Department of Agriculture. </span></em></p>
By understanding how bushfire maps are created, and what their features represent, you can get better at spotting fake ones.
Juan Pablo Guerschman, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127802
2020-01-05T18:51:00Z
2020-01-05T18:51:00Z
As Digital Earth gains momentum, China is setting the pace
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307077/original/file-20191216-124016-1961b95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C320%2C2963%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">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. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">China National Space Administration/Xinhua</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Al Gore’s 1992 <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=FYfcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA358&dq=%22I+have+proposed+something+called+the+Digital+Earth+program%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXtP-mwLHmAhWFoOkKHYYlDP8Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20have%20proposed%20something%20called%20the%20Digital%20Earth%20program%22&f=false">forecast of a Digital Earth</a> — where satellites beam data to reveal all the planet’s environmental dynamics – has gained momentum with the publication of the <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789813299146">Manual of Digital Earth</a> last month. The major anthology is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It’s a mark of the importance China attaches to what is now a United Nations-led project named the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (<a href="https://www.earthobservations.org/geoss.php">GEOSS</a>). </p>
<p>GEOSS seems like medical science’s worldwide collaborations to map the human genome and the human brain – but at a much bigger magnitude. Scientists want to data-visualise the whole Earth. The project’s scope ranges from deep subterranean core samples, volcanic tremors, ocean surface temperatures, flooding and solar storms to urban populations, migrations and sprawls. </p>
<p>A recent Australian contribution to the Digital Earth vision is the online mapping of bushfires. This includes the <a href="https://hotspots.dea.ga.gov.au/">Digital Earth Australia Hotspots</a> map run by Geoscience Australia and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service’s <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=2168b5162d61432c8b3499818a2d60df&fbclid=IwAR3uWehKIISo83xTGFRKCVbvwa7jPKkJ_7n5BhfGyW9KL2gjBMHttFpdsRA">Fire Map</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-earth-the-paradigm-now-shaping-our-worlds-data-cities-104938">Digital Earth: the paradigm now shaping our world's data cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>GEOSS began operating in 2005 (the same year as Google Earth) and is accelerating with the <a href="https://www.gislounge.com/mapping-through-the-ages/">most tumultuous technology revolution in the history of cartography</a>. It goes way beyond the satellite mapping we see on TV weather reports. And it relies on the grid of globally networked computers to access and crunch massive lakes and banks of geotagged data stored in high-security bunkers. </p>
<h2>China’s digital ‘religion’</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306757/original/file-20191213-85428-1nqu9bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Huadong Guo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is honorary president of the International Society for Digital Earth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>China’s support for the Digital Earth and GEOSS movement has become entwined with its foreign policy. Chinese authors wrote many papers in the 26-chapter manual. And the Chinese Academy of Sciences operates the secretariat and journal of the <a href="http://www.digitalearth-isde.org/">International Society for Digital Earth</a> (ISDE). </p>
<p>Recent ISDE conferences have included invitation-only workshops on how to evolve China’s <a href="http://www.dbeltroad.org/">Digital Belt and Road</a> program. It’s the high-tech aspect of China’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative">Belt and Road Initiative</a> to expand its historical Silk Road trading links. China’s map of <a href="https://reconnectingasia.csis.org/analysis/entries/traveling-60000km-across-chinas-belt-and-road/">desired international paths and connections</a> now includes non-Silk Road destinations, including the Malaysian peninsula, Ukraine, Germany, England, Portugal and Morocco. </p>
<p>A Geneva-based Australian pioneer of supercomputing and environmental simulations, Bob Bishop, welcomed the Manual of Digital Earth. He suggested to me it “somewhat proves” that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the religion of China in the 21st century is ‘science’ and their particular denomination is ‘digital’. China made Buddhism universal by documenting a previously oral philosophy coming from India. It seems China could make Digital Earth universal by documenting fragmented ideas coming from the US and the rest of the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The manual explains, in more than 250,000 illustrated words, what has been done, and what needs to be done, to develop different parts of Gore’s vast ambition.
Science now has all the basic capabilities to deliver a GEOSS/Digital Earth. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li>grid computing</li>
<li>ubiquitous sensors to monitor environmental variables</li>
<li>machine learning and robotics to automate processes</li>
<li>good expertise with remote sensing data and imagery</li>
<li>broadband networks to enable citizen scientists to add and access information</li>
<li>international protocols and standards for writing, using and storing metadata and for exchanging data across different hardware and software systems.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306747/original/file-20191213-85386-1lmy2zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The vision of Digital Earth that Al Gore first proposed in 1992 is becoming a reality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Conboy/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Challenges remain</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-planners-new-best-friend-we-can-now-track-land-use-changes-on-a-scale-of-centimetres-53493">The planner's new best friend: we can now track land-use changes on a scale of centimetres</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306755/original/file-20191213-85381-7rmtbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Bishop has pointed out the scale of the challenge of processing and storing data on such a scale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More questionable is whether there is enough processing speed and data-storage capacity to deliver the vision yet. Bishop has <a href="http://www.icesfoundation.org/Pages/CustomPage.aspx?ID=169">suggested</a> we probably will need to look beyond still-nascent quantum computing to far-ahead <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/intelligent-machines/brains-chip-neuromorphic-computing">neuromorphic engineering</a> (imitating the human nervous system at a very large scale) to evolve an effective sim-planet system. That’s because, as Gore predicted, vast amounts of environmental data will need to be processed in real time.</p>
<p>The intergovernmental <a href="https://www.earthobservations.org/index.php">Group on Earth Observations</a> (GEO) secretariat in the World Meteorological Organisation tower on the UN campus in Geneva is co-ordinating GEOSS. Leading space, meteorological, geoscience, surveying and UN technical agencies are among its more than 200 member organisations. </p>
<p>The Manual of Digital Earth is the world’s first comprehensive book of scholarly papers about Digital Earth/GEOSS theories, technologies, advances and applications. (It builds on a 2013 GEO-sponsored <a href="http://www.dcitynetwork.net/manifesto">report</a> edited by ISDE members.)</p>
<p>The book summarises recent advances and the current status of many relevant technologies. It highlights the challenge of how to smoothly transition scales during continuous zooming. It also discusses applications (including climate change, disaster mitigation and the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>); regional and national development (in Europe, Russia, China and Australia); and education and ethics.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/collecting-satellite-data-australia-wants-a-new-direction-for-earth-observation-84678">Collecting satellite data Australia wants: a new direction for Earth observation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Who’s who in Digital Earth studies?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306804/original/file-20191213-85412-1jon18k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ISDE founder Michael Goodchild has authored some of its most influential papers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than 100 experts from 18 countries contributed to the anthology. It was edited by three leaders of the International Society for Digital Earth: Huadong Guo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is a professor at its <a href="http://english.radi.cas.cn/">Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth</a> (RADI); Michael F. Goodchild, emeritus professor of geography at the University of California Santa Barbara; and Alessandro Annoni, head of the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-topic/digital-economy">Digital Economy Unit</a> at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306761/original/file-20191213-85397-11an8ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ISDE president Alessandro Annoni co-authored a European Union report that urged Europe and the US to keep up with China’s high-tech ambitions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Annoni is the ISDE’s president, Guo is the honorary president and Goodchild is an ISDE founder and a lead author of its most influential papers – including a next-generation Digital Earth <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/28/11088">vision statement</a> in 2012. </p>
<p>The ISDE secretariat is based at the RADI in Beijing, although its presidents and senior members work in various countries. It’s closely involved with the GEOSS in Europe and with the UN’s <a href="https://ggim.un.org/">Global Geospatial Information Management</a> group in New York. </p>
<p>A 2019 European Union report, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/china-challenges-and-prospects-industrial-and-innovation-powerhouse">China: Challenges and Prospects from an Industrial and Innovation Powerhouse</a>, examined China’s escalating industrial capabilities and international ambitions. Annoni and other senior European policy leaders were authors. The report said Europe and the United States needed to boost their industrial, research and innovation performances to compete with China in key high-tech sectors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Davina Jackson is an honorary life member of the International Society for Digital Earth and co-edited the Digital City chapter of the DE Manual. She edited the GEO-sponsored report D_City: Digital Earth | Virtual Nations | Data Cities (2012-14).
</span></em></p>
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.
Davina Jackson, Honorary Academic, School of Architecture, University of Kent
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126108
2019-11-14T19:06:32Z
2019-11-14T19:06:32Z
Public places through kids’ eyes – what do they value?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301057/original/file-20191111-194650-3glne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=275%2C32%2C4951%2C3392&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">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".</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boy-his-mother-choosing-fresh-pears-1514711468?src=55a14a64-403b-4a09-b6b1-46bd98ffd0a5-1-28">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, <a href="https://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=ccyp_pubs">adults make choices for children</a>, particularly about how they live and play.</p>
<p>In yet-to-be-published research* on behalf of a local council, we asked 75 children aged 7-12 from ten primary schools in a disadvantaged area of Sydney to map what they value in their local area. Using iPads, children pinned images of their choices to specific locations on a digital map of the local government area. Some of their choices may surprise you. </p>
<p>Places children selected revealed the importance to them of sharing decision-making power. Placing a drawing of his local supermarket on the map, a nine-year-old boy explained his choice of “grocery shopping” because he could “spend time with mum and help decide what goes in our trolley”. </p>
<p>The children typically mapped places of leisure, such as parks, swimming pools and community centres, used outside school time when adults usually have most authority over children. Here children had more autonomy to be decision-makers and exercise agency. Mapping his local park, a ten-year-old boy commented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can do what I want here, and there are lots of different playthings to choose from.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bang-bang-bang-the-shock-of-a-boy-playing-with-a-gun-on-a-suburban-street-85815">'Bang, bang, bang!': the shock of a boy playing with a gun on a suburban street</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Pathways for change and belonging</h2>
<p>Some children chose to map their school, seeing it as a pathway for change; they could imagine alternative futures with greater choices. An 11-year-old boy observed: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>School will help me get a good job.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Others selected their school for the opportunities it offered them now. An eight-year-old girl, pressing sparkles around the clock on her drawing of her school before positioning it on the map, explained that there are:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…lots of good things you can do at school. Read stories, have lots of space and a big play area. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300391/original/file-20191106-88387-1oh1wvv.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some children chose their school, where there are ‘lots of good things you can do’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Children's digital map</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Children’s choices also exposed the significance of places that promoted belonging and where they could make connections with others. A ten-year-old girl, mapping her local nature reserve, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is lots of space to play and I can make new friends there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, an 11-year-old girl explained the importance of her community centre: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s special because I have friends there. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Countering a dominant story about belonging and identity that gives little recognition to original Indigenous land ownership in Australia, a ten-year-old Aboriginal girl used the map to draw an Aboriginal flag onto her local park. She observed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is our land and I have fun here with my family.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300392/original/file-20191106-88382-1h669um.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One girl chose her local park and drew an Aboriginal flag to show it’s ‘our land’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Children's digital map</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Her claim on her local park is arguably not only about her own and her family’s belonging and identity but could also be read as referring to a broader body of Aboriginal people. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-in-their-own-land-how-indigenous-people-are-still-homeless-in-modern-australia-55183">Refugees in their own land: how Indigenous people are still homeless in modern Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Children advocate for their families</h2>
<p>By mapping their territory, children expressed their culture and sense of community through images, text and stories, recounting their valuable experiences and developing an alternative account of the public space. </p>
<p>Children experiencing disadvantage can be most reliant on what their urban environment offers. We were especially keen to unearth their viewpoints. </p>
<p>We found many of these children advocated for their families, not only themselves. Being able to access civic amenities free or at minimal cost was significant for their capacity to make choices and have spaces to connect with others. </p>
<p>A 12-year-old girl observed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For us to do things as a family, they have to be free.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And a nine-year-old boy said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We (speaking of his family) can do it if it’s free and we can go places if they are free. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A desire to take risks and explore</h2>
<p>Children are increasingly watched and kept safe by adults. Many children mapped places where they represented themselves as risk-takers and explorers. They frequently connected their choices with mastering skills. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-kids-need-risk-fear-and-excitement-in-play-81450">Why kids need risk, fear and excitement in play</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Urban spaces along with bushland were repeatedly selected. These areas were, for some, bound up with “risk”, adventure and imagination. A ten-year-old boy mapping a nature reserve explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That’s where I ride my motorbike. You get to see cows and pigs and horses and I’ve seen a crocodile in the dam. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Listing all the things she valued on her drawing of her local pool, a nine-year-old girl wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Has deep end and slide, good swimming teacher, try to swim butterfly to improve. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her choices illustrated the children’s desire to experience their competency and capacity in environments where there are elements of risk. </p>
<h2>Why digital mapping? Why not just ask children?</h2>
<p>Children are a digital generation. Given the unequal power between adults and children, digital mapping helped us minimise adult intrusion, inviting children to present their spatial narratives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-use-technology-as-a-bargaining-chip-with-your-kids-85599">Don't use technology as a bargaining chip with your kids</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Their age, socio-economic status, race and other intersecting factors mean <a href="http://theconversation.com/working-out-what-makes-a-good-community-where-young-children-can-thrive-104933">some children are more likely than others to have their perspectives heard</a>. Digital mapping promised a more inclusive approach than traditional research methods provide. </p>
<p>The digital map gives children an opportunity to add their viewpoints to community planning rather than just reinforcing adult views. As local councils and planning authorities <a href="https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/Services/Children-and-Families/Child-friendly-city">engage more with children</a> to plan urban space, the perspectives of all children, including disadvantaged children, need to be heard.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>*The data will be published in 2020. People interested in learning more about the research may contact the authors directly.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
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.
Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University
Michel Edenborough, Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/125475
2019-10-25T12:31:40Z
2019-10-25T12:31:40Z
We mapped how food gets from farms to your home
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297783/original/file-20191019-56203-1t90ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where has your produce been?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/vegetables-market-different-peppers-337018046?src=9WOIrdYXdo2yKrd1cmATtw-1-6">CoolR/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>My team at the University of Illinois just developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab29ae">the first high-resolution map of the U.S. food supply chain</a>. </p>
<p>Our map is a comprehensive snapshot of all food flows between counties in the U.S. – grains, fruits and vegetables, animal feed, and processed food items. </p>
<p>To build the map, we brought together information from eight databases, including the <a href="https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/faf/">Freight Analysis Framework from Oak Ridge National Laboratory</a>, which tracks where items are shipped around the country, <a href="https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/reference/products/catalog/port.html">and Port Trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau</a>, which shows the international ports through which goods are traded. </p>
<p>We also released this information in a <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/14/8/084011/media/erl_14_8_084011_sd_3.csv">publicly available database</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297784/original/file-20191019-56207-fdwweb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This map shows how food flows between counties in the U.S. Each line represents the transportation of all food commodities, along transit routes, like roads or railways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab29ae/meta">Environmental Research Letters (2019)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What does this map reveal? </p>
<h2>1. Where your food comes from</h2>
<p>Now, residents in each county can see how they are connected to all other counties in the country via food transfers. Overall, there are 9.5 million links between counties on our map.</p>
<p>All Americans, from urban to rural are connected through the food system. Consumers all rely on distant producers; agricultural processing plants; food storage like grain silos and grocery stores; and food transportation systems. </p>
<p>For example, the map shows how a shipment of corn starts at a farm in Illinois, travels to a grain elevator in Iowa before heading to a feedlot in Kansas, and then travels in animal products being sent to grocery stores in Chicago. </p>
<h2>2. Where the food hubs are</h2>
<p>At 22 million tons of food, Los Angeles County received more food than any other county in 2012, our study year. It also shipped out the most of any county: almost 17 million tons.</p>
<p>California’s Fresno County and Stanislaus County are the next largest, respectively. In fact, many of the counties that shipped and received the most food were located in California. This is due to the several large urban centers, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as the productive Central Valley in California.</p>
<p><iframe id="tkolv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/tkolv/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>We also looked for the core counties – the places that are most central to the overall structure of the food supply network. A disruption to any of these counties may have ripple effects for the food supply chain of the entire country. </p>
<p>We did this by looking for counties with the largest number of connections to others, as well as those that score highly in a factor called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betweenness_centrality">“betweenness centrality,”</a> a measurement of the places with the largest fraction of the shortest paths.</p>
<p>San Bernardino County led the list, followed again by a number of other California transit hubs. Also on the list are Maricopa County, Arizona; Shelby County, Tennessee; and Harris County, Texas. </p>
<p><iframe id="Rl95w" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Rl95w/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>However, our estimates are for 2012, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/final-2012-drought-report-shows-corn-harvest-took-hardest-hit/2013/01/13/a66113d2-5c45-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html">an extreme drought year in the Cornbelt</a>. So, in another year, the network may look different. It’s possible that counties within the Cornbelt would show up as more critical in non-drought years. This is something that we hope to dig into in future work.</p>
<h2>3. How food travels from place to place</h2>
<p>We also looked at how much food is transported between one county and another. </p>
<p>Many of the largest food transport links were within California. This indicates that there is a lot of internal food movement within the state. </p>
<p>One of the largest links is from Niagara County to Erie County in New York. That’s due to the flow of food through an important international overland port with Canada. </p>
<p>Some of the other largest links were inside the counties themselves. This is because of moving food items around for manufacturing within a county – for example, milk gets off a truck at a large depot and is then shipped to a yogurt facility, then the yogurt is moved to a grocery distribution warehouse, all within the same county. </p>
<p>The food supply chain relies on a complex web of interconnected infrastructure. For example, a lot of grain produced throughout the Midwest is transported to the Port of New Orleans for export. This primarily occurs via the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/maps-of-american-infrastrucure/">waterways</a> of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. </p>
<p>The infrastructure along these waterways – such as locks 52 and 53 – are critical, but have not been overhauled since their construction in 1929. They represent a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/business/economy/desperately-plugging-holes-in-an-87-year-old-dam.html">serious bottleneck</a>, slowing down innumerable supply chains nationwide, including that of grain. If they were to fail entirely, then commodity transport and supply chains would be completely disrupted.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aar.org/article/freight-rail-grain/">Railroads are also important for moving grain</a>. Fresh produce, on the other hand, is often moved around the country by <a href="https://www.shipabco.com/shipping-fresh-produce-what-you-need-to-know/">refrigerated truck</a>. This is due to the need to keep fresh fruits and vegetables – relatively high value agricultural products – cool until they reach the consumer. </p>
<p>In future work, we hope to evaluate the specific infrastructure that is critical to the U.S. food supply chain. </p>
<p><em>This story has been updated to correct the amount of food shipped and received by Los Angeles County.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Konar receives funding from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. National Science Foundation funding has supported research related to this article. </span></em></p>
Take a look at the first high-resolution map of the US food supply chain.
Megan Konar, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/123282
2019-09-11T11:37:22Z
2019-09-11T11:37:22Z
These artists paint with their feet – scans show how unique their brains are
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291964/original/file-20190911-190002-12bik1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Peter Longstaff, one of the participants in the study.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Peter Longstaff</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Your brain contains a highly organised map of your body. Not a normal kind of map – this one <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636901/">will vary ever so slightly</a> because of the particular way you use your body. What you do for a living might affect this, for example – your <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014446">brain’s hand map</a> might show subtle clues that you are a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8917171_Superior_tactile_performance_and_learning_in_professional_pianists_Evidence_for_meta-plasticity_in_musicians">pianist</a> or a surgeon. Or reflect that you rock climb or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15677703">write a lot</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve known subtle details of the brain’s body map can change as a result of our daily life experiences for a while. But <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdfExtended/S2211-1247(19)31061-7">new research</a> by myself and colleagues has now demonstrated how powerfully experience can affect the brain. </p>
<p>We used ultra high-res brain scanning to reveal clear maps of individual toes in two <a href="https://www.mfpa.uk/">foot painters</a>, born without either arm. While these organised toe maps are not found in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811917304901">typically developed humans</a>, they are found <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-014-0913-7">in monkeys</a> – who, like the foot painters, use their toes in skilled ways.</p>
<p>This suggests that all humans could have the potential for toe maps, but modern life in shoes prevents them by limiting individual movement of our toes.</p>
<h2>The body in the brain</h2>
<p>These maps were found in the somatosensory cortex of the brain, which contains a map of our whole body. All body parts are represented by an individual section of brain, and these sections are laid out in the brain as they are on the body. In <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/45/15815/tab-figures-data">the brain’s hand map</a>, for instance, there are small sections representing each of the five fingers – with the thumb next to the index finger, which is next to the middle finger, and so on.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291807/original/file-20190910-190012-179d9d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mapping toes in the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is because of this beautiful and clear organisation that this area is of big interest to scientists studying how the brain changes in response to experience – known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-brain-remembers-amputated-limbs-and-continues-to-control-them-111216">brain plasticity</a>. If we know how the body map normally looks, we can easily document any changes caused by how we use our body.</p>
<p>As an example, it has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7569982">been shown</a> that learning a musical instrument leads to increases in the size of finger maps for those fingers highly used to play. In a more extreme case, when two fingers are fused together with surgery, the brain maps of the two fused fingers also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1753275">combine into one</a>.</p>
<h2>The foot map</h2>
<p>Until very recently, it was generally assumed that the typical foot map should have clear sections to represent individual toes, like the hand map has fingers. Only recently did we find out that this, surprisingly, is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811917304901">not the case</a>. In fact, most people don’t have a sections for each of the five toes. And, those they do have are scattered all over the foot area, in <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdfExtended/S2211-1247(19)31061-7">no clear order</a>.</p>
<p>This lead my colleagues and I to wonder whether this is how the human foot map is naturally. Or, could it result from the fact that modern humans don’t really use their toes separately?</p>
<p>To help solve this mystery, we approached two incredible individuals for help. These two people were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4737249/">born without either arm</a>, and subsequently had to learn to use their toes to perform all tasks of daily life. This includes <a href="https://www.cell.com/cms/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.08.027/attachment/3d08d5bd-1eff-417c-a5f8-69fa70b1c46d/mmc1.pdf">almost any typical-hand task</a> most of us can do: including typing on a keyboard, answering the phone, putting on clothes (in one case, including doing buttons) and feeding themselves with a fork or spoon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291935/original/file-20190911-190061-10y225g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abstract diagonal lines by Tom Yendell, one of the painters in the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.mfpa.uk/artwork-collection/?p=0&pgSize=219">Reproduced with kind permission by the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It also includes some tasks that most two-handers would struggle with, like administering injections to animals with a syringe (one was a farmer), and – my favourite – one would apply nail varnish to his wife’s nails for her.</p>
<p>This skill with a brush made total sense because both individuals were actually sufficiently skilled with their toes so as to support their profession as <a href="https://www.mfpa.uk/the-artists/peter-longstaff/">foot artists</a>: they <a href="https://www.mfpa.uk/the-artists/tom-yendell/">make art with their feet</a> better than most people do with their hands.</p>
<h2>Looking in the brain</h2>
<p>We put these two artists in an ultra high-field fMRI scanner and stimulated each of their toes, one at a time. When we looked in the foot area of the artists’ brains, we found that they had individual, organised toe maps – just like the hand maps of you and I. We compared this to a group of two-handed people, who showed no such organised toe maps – replicating previous findings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291919/original/file-20190911-190012-1dcnwey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The foot artists showed clear maps of individual toes in the foot area of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reproduced with authors' permission</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/neuro.06.004.2008/full?utm_source=FWEB&utm_medium=NBLOG&utm_campaign=ECO_10YA_top-research">new analysis methods</a>, we showed the pattern of brain activity in the foot area resulting from touching the artists’ toes was highly similar to a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014446">typical hand pattern</a>. That is, the pattern generated by touching the fingers of two-handed people, in their brain’s hand area.</p>
<p>We next moved from looking in the foot area of the brain, to see what was happening in their (missing) hand area when we touched the artists’ toes. This could provide more extreme examples of brain plasticity. We found that the pattern of activity in the hand area was also “hand-like” in the artists. This might indicate the artists are recruiting some of the “unused” hand area to support their skilled toe movement.</p>
<p>All in all, our results suggest that using your toes in a hand-like manner causes hand-like activity in the brain.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YrPA0K4ykcU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Losing toe maps</h2>
<p>Our results make sense from a brain plasticity perspective – if you don’t use your toes separately in action, your brain does not need to represent each toe separately. The results also make sense given our primate cousins have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cne.901920402">organised toe maps</a>, in a similar brain position and orientation to the artists.</p>
<p>This could indicate one of two things. One, either all primates (human and non-human) have the genetic potential for toe maps, but typical humans don’t develop them because we don’t use our toes individually. Or, it could mean that we are born with toe maps as babies, but lose them over time if we don’t use our toes the right way.</p>
<p>Whether toe maps fail to develop or fail to persist remains to be determined. But looking at the toe maps of babies – or even populations who live without shoes – could be the key to unlocking this mystery of brain plasticity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harriet Dempsey-Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ultra-clear maps of individual toes were found in the brains of two foot painters – these are not found in typically developed humans.
Harriet Dempsey-Jones, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Neurosciences, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/118150
2019-06-04T22:19:54Z
2019-06-04T22:19:54Z
Canada’s UN submission will (eventually) draw the last lines on the map
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277696/original/file-20190603-69083-gely4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C1016&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A map showing Northern Canada and the Arctic Ocean.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://weather.gc.ca/satellite/index_e.html">Government of Canada</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In May 2019, Canada made <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_can1_84_2019.html">a partial submission to the United Nations to recognize an extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Arctic Ocean</a>. This means that Canada will soon have the last lines drawn on the map of Canada. </p>
<p>Canada’s submission was made to the <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm">UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)</a> under Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).</p>
<p>There was surprisingly little fanfare over this extraordinary accomplishment in a week of maritime-related accomplishments that included Canada acceding to an <a href="http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2019/05/30/canada-ratifies-international-moratorium-on-commercial-fishing-in-the-high-arctic/">international moratorium to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean</a>. </p>
<p>As a political scientist, I want to understand the processes used, the states involved and the international organizations and law that guided this extraordinary example of global governance.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vCttmsixQpc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This video, from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, outlines how the government measures and defines land that is hidden deep under water or ice.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shelf’s edge</h2>
<p>First, what is the continental shelf? Imagine you are standing on an ocean beach. You decide to keep walking for as long as you can feel ground beneath your feet. This ground is the seabed and subsoil, and coastal states have inherent right to explore and exploit the natural resources. </p>
<p>According to UNCLOS, this does not depend upon occupation or an express proclamation; in other words, Canada need not provide any justification. And if the coastal state can provide evidence that its continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles — the outer continental shelf — Canada can explore and extract mineral and other non-living resources from the seabed and subsoil.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277655/original/file-20190603-69071-18k0ihd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration showing the zones as pertaining to the limits of a state’s jurisdiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/continental_shelf_description.htm#definition">UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s partial submission to the CLCS, which includes written explanations and physical evidence, was led by branches of the federal government: <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/index.aspx?lang=eng">Global Affairs Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/science/geology/gsc/17100">Geological Survey of Canada</a> and <a href="http://www.charts.gc.ca/index-eng.asp">the Canadian Hydrographic Service</a>. </p>
<p>There was also extensive assistance and participation by various Indigenous groups, Canada’s territorial governments, Parks Canada, the Canadian Ice Service, the Canadian Coast Guard, Defence Research and Development Canada and the Department of National Defence.</p>
<h2>Collecting information</h2>
<p>Collecting data in the Arctic is extremely difficult and costly. It is only possible to navigate the Arctic in the summer months, and even then, the perennial ice coverage and weather, wind and current conditions pose challenges. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/files/pdf/polar/PCSP%20Report%202017_e.pdf">Data collected</a> for Canada’s submission included bathymetric, gravimetric, seismic, areo-gravity and areo-metric information. Retrieving 800 kg of rock samples and three piston cores involves engineering and scientific feats of marvel, bravery and sheer determination. </p>
<p>Considering Canada had <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/nasa-moon-rock-1.3896290">more rock samples from the moon than from the Arctic</a>, it is a reminder of how little is known about the Arctic. Imagine, therefore, the scientific breakthroughs Canada and the world have yet to discover with this data especially now that government scientists helping with Canada’s submission are now at liberty to publish their findings in academic journals. </p>
<h2>Collaboration and geopolitics</h2>
<p>Canada’s submission was aided by collaboration with the governments of Denmark, Sweden (<a href="https://polar.se/en/about-polar-research/icebreaker-oden/">and especially its icebreaker Oden</a>), the U.S. and Germany.</p>
<p>The Arctic Ocean is surrounded by five coastal states: Canada, Russia, the U.S., Denmark (via Greenland and the Faroe Islands) and Norway. It was anticipated by all of the Arctic states that Russia, the U.S., Canada and Denmark, by virtue of their adjacent and opposite locations, could have overlapping claims.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277680/original/file-20190603-69095-1a7qxhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of the Arctic Ocean, showing the surrounding countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was expected that all four would collect data from at least some of the same areas of extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm">Russia, Denmark and Canada have all made at least partial submissions to the CLCS</a> which will review the scientific evidence and provide technical feedback regarding the scientific integrity of the data provided.</p>
<p>The CLCS cannot reconcile overlapping claims. Annex 1 of the CLSC’s rules of procedure notes that “<a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_rules.htm">matters regarding disputes which may arise in connection with the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf rests with States</a>.” </p>
<h2>Establishing boundaries</h2>
<p>Canada, Russia, Denmark and the U.S. are expected to continue to negotiate, as they will have the final say in determining the extent of the boundaries. This means Canada has years to wait before the process is completed, and there are a few caveats to keep in mind.</p>
<p>First, given the highly technical nature of the evidence and the few number of commission members, Canada’s submission is not expected to be fully reviewed by the CLCS for many years. Canada’s Arctic submission is <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm">currently number 84 on the CLCS’ list</a>. </p>
<p>Second, the U.S. is not a party to UNCLOS although it does treat much of it, including Article 76, as customary law (meaning the U.S. agrees to the outlined principles). The U.S. has an active <a href="https://www.state.gov/missions-and-data-u-s-extended-continental-shelf-program/">Extended Continental Shelf program</a> and the government is collecting data in anticipation of ongoing negotiations.</p>
<p>Third, there is no time crunch for the resources of the extended continental shelf given the distance, cost and difficulties to access them. Many tend to assume that resources do exist for exploitation, but it could also be that there is nothing of commercial worth available. </p>
<p>Fourth, any resources and activity within the water and airspace beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastal baseline belongs to everyone and is governed by international law.</p>
<p>Finally, there are limitations in UNCLOS on the extent of the continental shelf and <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part6.htm">Article 82 of UNCLOS</a> provides for a system of revenue sharing by means of payments or contributions in kind with respect to the extraction of non-living resources of the continental shelf lying beyond 200 nautical miles. Given the small size of the Arctic Ocean, however, most of it is already captured within the Arctic coastal states’ exclusive economic zones.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_can1_84_2019.html">Canada’s Executive Summary submission</a> is available for anyone to review. Despite the complexity of the data, the submission is very readable and excellent scholarship. This reflects the extraordinary work of Canada’s scientists and civil servants, and is an example of global governance working well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Charron receives funding from SSHRC and the Department of Defence targeted engagement program. She is also a member of DND's Defence Advisory Board and the new Canadian Defence and Security Network.</span></em></p>
In May 2019, Canada made a partial submission to the United Nations on the limits of its extended continental shelf in the Arctic.
Andrea Charron, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, University of Manitoba
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111472
2019-04-22T17:47:17Z
2019-04-22T17:47:17Z
Using maps as a weapon to resist extractive industries on Indigenous territories
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269619/original/file-20190416-147483-kfekp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maps can be a tool in the defense of Indigenous communities against extractive industries.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/issues/2/what-the-future-looked-like/32752/1954-power">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. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Indigenous peoples across the Americas, urgent threats imposed by the industrial extraction of natural resources has characterized the 21st century. The expansion of industry has threatened Indigenous territories, cultures and sovereignty. These industries include: <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2325548X.2015.1050761">timber and pulp extraction</a>, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ri_TAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Subterranean+Struggles:+New+Dynamics+of+Mining,+Oil+and+Gas+in+Latin+America&ots=eTRrQzUUJJ&sig=AA5Rfz4MEMtYmdEYynPBQehj9ac#v=onepage&q=Subterranean%20Struggles%3A%20New%20Dynamics%20of%20Mining%2C%20Oil%20and%20Gas%20in%20Latin%20America&f=false">mining</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230368798_1">oil and gas</a> and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Alae0xoELNMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Power+from+the+North:+Territory,+Identity,+and+the+Culture+of+Hydroelectricity+in+Quebec&ots=tARJesDzJc&sig=r1OhUpZGlBLhih2S8yAAzxngVeU#v=onepage&q=Power%20from%20the%20North%3A%20Territory%2C%20Identity%2C%20and%20the%20Culture%20of%20Hydroelectricity%20in%20Quebec&f=false">hydroelectric development</a>. As well, the <a href="https://www.proc-int-cartogr-assoc.net/1/71/2018/">extraction of human beings</a> from their lands has real implications for the survival of communities.</p>
<p>The debate of territory is essential in these <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sknCvaxqXn8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=The+new+resource+wars:+Native+and+environmental+struggles+against+multinational+corporations&ots=29zI5o4B_5&sig=RP3c-lSC2yn0FrWtqR-rm-vB-jc#v=onepage&q=The%20new%20resource%20wars%3A%20Native%20and%20environmental%20struggles%20against%20multinational%20corporations&f=false">resource conflicts</a>. Maps — and those who make and shape them — are central to the discussion of land rights, especially when it comes to industrial resource extraction and Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>Our project, <a href="http://mappingback.org/">MappingBack</a>, envisions mapping as a weapon and tactic to resist extractive industries. We see it as an excellent way to express complex Indigenous perspectives and relationships with the land.</p>
<h2>Maps as resistance</h2>
<p>There is a long history of the use of maps and cartographic techniques by countries and governments <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.anthro.34.081804.120429">to claim ownership over Indigenous territories</a>. But since the 1990s, Indigenous communities have been deploying mapping tactics as a mode of <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/missing-murdered-native-women_us_5beb0e48e4b044bbb1a99db0">Indigenous resistance</a>, resurgence and education. These tactics use historical memory and ancestral knowledge to assert territorial rights and community visioning. </p>
<p>Indigenous communities have either led or collaborated with multiple players to launch a broad array of <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/ethnographicmapping/projects/index.php">mapping projects</a> as a way of reclaiming ownership on the multiple aspects of their territories. These projects range from low-tech <a href="https://vimeo.com/88688016">community mapping</a> approaches to the use of the <a href="https://gcrc.carleton.ca/index.html?module=module.gcrcatlas_atlases">latest online web mapping technologies</a>. </p>
<p>Some academics have criticized these cartographic practices because of the continued <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/carto.47.2.77">subordination of Indigenous spatial world-views to western technologies</a> and histories. It is time to revisit these dominant mapping representations and conventional processes so that we can present different conceptions of the world. Representing these different conceptions calls for supporting the development of <a href="https://aeon.co/videos/native-cartography-a-bold-mapmaking-project-that-challenges-western-notions-of-place">Indigenous cartographic languages</a>. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples conceive the diverse range of Indigenous territories as spaces of living relations; they are homelands since the beginning of creation; they are the reserve lands of forced resettlement, or they are spaces of refuge away from the violence and pressures of settler societies. </p>
<h2>MappingBack: A virtual community</h2>
<p>In 2017, MappingBack organized <a href="http://mappingback.org/project/mappingback-2017-workshop/">a three-day workshop in Montréal</a> that brought together 35 participants to collectively exchange ideas about mapping in Indigenous‐extractives conflicts. The discussion at the seminar helped to form the foundation of an online Indigenous mapping platform.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267174/original/file-20190402-177178-r0mn8c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The MappingBack platform is a tool to resist the industrial extraction of natural resources on Indigenous territories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://mappingback.org/home_en/resources/">MappingBack project</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The participants were members of Indigenous communities engaged with the representation of territory, cartographers interested in alternative forms of spatial expressions and researchers and practitioners with expertise on extractive industries.</p>
<p>These different players worked together to challenge and explore forms of cartographic expressions to represent multiple issues, perceptions, meanings, histories and emotions that are at stake when industrial extraction enters Indigenous territories. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267185/original/file-20190402-177163-1t0i1n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants of the MappingBack workshop in Montréal, Oct. 15, 2017.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="http://mappingback.org/">Mappingback – Indigenous Cartographies of Extractive Industries,</a>” grew into an online platform from those three days: it is a virtual collective space where Indigenous communities and allies can share their experiences and expertise related to mapping resource conflicts. Communities can also access experiences, stories and mapping tactics developed by others to fight against extractive industries on their homelands.</p>
<p>In developing MappingBack, we were inspired by the <a href="https://www.guerrillacartography.org/">Guerilla Cartography</a>’s collectively produced <a href="http://www.guerrillacartography.org/">atlases</a>. They aim to create a “new paradigm for cooperative and collaborative knowledge” to have a “transformative effect on the awareness and dissemination of spatial information.” </p>
<h2>Powerful collective knowledge</h2>
<p>The MappingBack platform helps to mobilize a broad range of alternative forms of spatial expression to serve the communities for public education and advocacy in defense of their territories.</p>
<p>We divided Mappingback into two main sections. <a href="http://mappingback.org/home_en/gallery/">Mapping Gallery</a> showcases a selection of mapping examples and processes designed with and by Indigenous communities. It includes maps designed during the 2017 Montréal workshop like <a href="http://mappingback.org/project/violation-and-restoration/">The Violation and Restoration Map</a> as well as other <a href="http://mappingback.org/project/mappingback-at-imw-2018/">examples crafted during</a> the <a href="https://www.indigenousmaps.com/2018imw/">2018 Indigenous Mapping Workshop</a>. Each example includes written or oral reflections about the mapping process. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267186/original/file-20190402-177167-1nh2d7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whose Land is it Anyway? (crafted by Charlotte Adams, Kaitlin Kok, Melissa Castron, Tom McGurk, Mary Kate Craig, Sébastien Caquard - Aug. 2018)</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://mappingback.org/home_en/resources/">Network, the second section of the platform,</a> offers a list of resources available for communities interested in using spatial representations to fight against extractive industries. </p>
<p>The resources have been mapped with <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/">uMap</a>, a free open source mapping application and include the names of Indigenous communities involved in fighting against extractive industries as well as a list of individuals indicating the expertise they are willing to contribute to the mapping project (Eg. GIS, legal, social or financial support).</p>
<p>Because some of the Indigenous communities involved in fighting against extractive industries have been exposed to high levels of threats and violence and have paid an expensive human cost, some of these resources will only be shared on a case by case scenario for privacy and security reasons.</p>
<p>MappingBack can support Indigenous perspectives on territories and resources through spatial representations. We hope it will serve Indigenous communities fighting against extractive industries. These fights are often at the forefront of broad and urgent environmental threats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sébastien Caquard received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to work on this project </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annita Lucchesi, Leah Temper, and Thomas Mcgurk do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
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.
Sébastien Caquard, Associate Professor in Geography, Concordia University
Annita Lucchesi, PhD student, University of Lethbridge
Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, Associate professor, Department of History, McGill University
Leah Temper, Research Associate, History and Classical Studies, McGill University
Thomas Mcgurk, Lecturer, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114798
2019-04-22T10:46:06Z
2019-04-22T10:46:06Z
What happens when a big business tries to take over and rename a neighborhood
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269815/original/file-20190417-139104-g9r6dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do you know where you are right now?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-lost-field-using-map-23639869?src=dBoi2Ao6PK5CRC2MPwmFrw-1-1">Ana de Sousa/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What if Google tried to rename your neighborhood?</p>
<p>That happened to some Californians in 2017, when Google Maps <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/google-maps-neighborhood-names.html">changed the moniker of three San Francisco neighborhoods</a> – Rincon Hill, Folsom and Transbay – to “East Cut.”</p>
<p>Given the extensive reach that Google has in the transmission of geographic data, through Google Maps and its geospatial analysis software Google Earth Engine, the name quickly spread and was adopted by other businesses, such as Uber. But residents decried the change. “It’s degrading to the reputation of our area,” one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/google-maps-neighborhood-names.html">told The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>Neighborhood renaming is nothing new. Name changes occur when historical names no longer fit, during rebranding campaigns and through gentrification – such as when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingate,_Brooklyn">Pigtown, Brooklyn</a> was renamed Wingate. The name Pigtown originally referred to a number of pig farms located in the area. In the 2000s, the area was renamed Wingate by developers to lure in new buyers.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why someone might want to change their neighborhoods name, but what’s driving current name-changing initiatives carried out by big businesses with little or no personal connection to the places they rename? As a geographer, I see three main driving forces – all of which can leave longtime locals feeling upset and left out.</p>
<h2>Marketing rebrand</h2>
<p>Take National Landing, Amazon’s new name for Crystal City, Virginia. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/11/national-landing-amazon-hq2-crystal-city-northern-virginia/575848/">The name was decided upon</a> by Amazon, local economics groups and JBG Smith, a real estate company based in Washington, D.C. The name change, revealed in Amazon’s November announcement on its new headquarters, was meant to unite the neighborhoods in Northern Virginia, Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard areas.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-news/amazon-faqs-what-northern-virginians-are-asking--and-being-told--about-the-impact-of-second-headquarters/2018/11/24/62b3782a-ec2a-11e8-baac-2a674e91502b_story.html">in a Washington Post article</a>, Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz suggested that the name change would not be adopted by the local government. </p>
<p>In most cases, it’s not individual companies making these changes. In the case of the East Cut label, it turns out that Community Benefit District Board – made up of residential, commercial and nonprofit representatives from the area – approved the change in 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/google-maps-neighborhood-names.html">working with Google to come up with the label</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269817/original/file-20190417-139084-1lhhznt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thanks to Amazon, Crystal City’s name may soon be on the way out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Amazon-HQ-Virginia/43332bce79c84f1ab7b13574b96b5c69/2/0">AP Photo/Cliff Owen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gentrification divisions</h2>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1978.tb01177.x">Gentrification of dilapidated urban neighborhoods</a> is a common driver of renaming. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.6sqft.com/race-drives-gentrification-and-new-neighborhood-boundaries-study-finds/">Research in Philadelphia</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087415570643">sociologist Jackelyn Hwang</a> shows that gentrification not only shifts the demographics of a given area, but leads to divergent definitions of neighborhoods. </p>
<p>Minority residents were more likely to call a wide area one neighborhood, named “South Philly.” White residents, by contrast, divided the same area into multiple neighborhoods, such as “Graduate Hospital,” “G-Ho,” “So-So,” “South Rittenhouse,” “South Square” and “Southwest Center City,” splitting up areas by their socioeconomic characteristics and crime levels.</p>
<p>In such cases, the use of different neighborhood definitions served to legitimize one’s presence in a community. Neighborhoods do this by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:1%3C6::AID-JCOP2290140103%3E3.0.CO;2-I">evoking a sense of place</a> for residents, describing a relationship that the place has with someone’s biography, imagination and personal experiences. The names create boundaries between those who are perceived to belong to these communities – and those who do not. </p>
<h2>Real estate ads</h2>
<p>Another driver of neighborhood label change is the real estate market. The use of catchy names, like SoHo in Manhattan, evokes images about the type of environment you might find there. Create the right vision for a buyer, and the area might seem more appealing to them. </p>
<p>In Detroit, Google is also responsible for renaming neighborhoods and even inserting new names, like the Eye. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/google-maps-neighborhood-names.html">The New York Times has speculated</a> that the real estate market is a likely culprit. </p>
<p>Real estate agents use neighborhood names in their marketing campaigns. These new labels can get picked up by companies like Google, legitimizing the changes through the company’s wide influences. <a href="https://theneighborhoods.org/">In the Detroit case</a>, officials created their own neighborhood map of Detroit, correcting errors in the Google Map. </p>
<p>In some cases, these types of changes aren’t welcome by neighborhood residents. For example, in Harlem, the Keller Williams real estate company began marketing the southern region of Harlem as SoHa without the approval of local residents. </p>
<p>This change spurred political action. State Senator Brian Benjamin <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2017/06/9/harlem-soha-controversy-proposed-bill-to-prevent-renaming">introduced legislation in 2017</a> banning these types of unsolicited name changes. </p>
<p>While these name changes might seem innocuous, official neighborhood names are recognized by the U.S. Geological Survey. Neighborhoods are one example of a type of populated place that does not have official federally recognized names. What happens when these official names do not correspond to the names on the map? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269818/original/file-20190417-139084-wev3ln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harlem residents were not pleased with the proposed SoHa nickname.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Harlem-Neighborhood-Name/b1bc0adf039b485d8a7f8c6a322f3227/4/0">AP Photo/Kathy Willens</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Resisting change</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5514383.html">Neighborhoods play a critical role</a> in creating a sense of belonging and camaraderie among neighbors. They are known by their institutions, crime rates and appearance, as well as the characteristics of their population. </p>
<p>Neighborhood names carry strong cultural and socioeconomic expectations. In a 2015 study, people in 12 major U.S. urban areas were shown <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414139112">online ads for used iPhones</a>. They were less likely to respond if the ad mentioned that the seller was a resident of a disadvantaged neighborhood. That suggests that racial and socioeconomic stigmas related to a neighborhood were transferred to their residents. </p>
<p>Whether name changes are driven internally by community members or from external pressures from big businesses like Amazon or Google, these changes have impacts on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-name-of-your-street-could-affect-your-houses-value-2015-2">social and spatial patterns of urban cities</a>. </p>
<p>For example, these types of changes can lead to increased property values, pushing out current residents. In Oakland, California,
<a href="https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/gentrification-changed-the-names-of-oakland-neighborhoods/Content?oid=20313470">neighborhood name changes</a> have led to <a href="https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/rent-prices-soar-in-oakland/Content?oid=3417061">soaring rental prices</a>, as higher-income residents from San Fransisco infiltrate the market.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a few successful cases of neighborhoods getting new names – usually when the renamers work together with the locals to include their opinions and celebrate their history. </p>
<p>For example, Nap Lab, a design collective located in Indianapolis, <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/12/11/its-been-10-years-since-first-naplab-map-created-heres-what-did/927375001/">took on the city’s lack of neighborhood names</a>. New names like University Heights, West Indy and Poplar Grove came out of detailed analysis of city records and community documents, as well collaboration with local experts and the internet. Their map, first released in 2008, is still sold today.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify when Pigtown was renamed and which neighborhoods were renamed East Cut.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raechel A. Portelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Google, Amazon and other powerful groups are renaming American cities and neighborhoods. That may make the area more appealing to newcomers – but, in many cases, residents aren’t happy.
Raechel A. Portelli, Assistant Professor of Geography, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115202
2019-04-15T10:53:19Z
2019-04-15T10:53:19Z
Mapping the US counties where traffic air pollution hurts children the most
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268491/original/file-20190409-2898-19ixlz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pollutants not shown.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/traffic-jam-rush-hour-554001493?src=OS7lXoMorMrlQ7qX8PxqKA-1-16">bibiphoto/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the U.S., <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.15585%2Fmmwr.mm6705e1">over 6 million children had ongoing asthma in 2016</a>. Globally, <a href="http://www.globalasthmareport.org/">asthma kills around 1,000 people every day</a> – and its prevalence is rising. </p>
<p>This condition has a high economic cost. Each year in the U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201703-259OC">more than US$80 billion is lost because of asthma</a>. This is mainly due to premature deaths, medical payments and missed work and school days. The burden is higher for families with asthmatic children, who, on average, spend $1,700 more on health care than families with healthy children.</p>
<p>One major <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1136%2Foem.2004.019216">environmental factor</a> that might contribute to the development of asthma is air pollution from traffic. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.041">In our study</a>, published on April 3, our team mapped where in the U.S. children are most at risk for developing asthma from this type of pollution.</p>
<h2>Traffic and asthma</h2>
<p>Asthma is likely the <a href="https://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/en/">most common chronic disease in childhood</a>, according to the World Health Organization. </p>
<p>Asthma presents as episodes of wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath due to the reversible, or partially reversible, obstruction of airflow. Six in 10 of children with asthma worldwide had <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/asthma_stats/severity_child.htm">a form of persistent asthma</a>, meaning that either they were on long-term medication or their condition could not be controlled even with medication. </p>
<p>Traffic pollution contains a mixture of harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, benzene and sulfur. These pollutants are known to harm health in many ways, causing a number of cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological diseases.</p>
<p>One 2013 review suggested that long-term exposure to common traffic-related air pollutants is linked to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-011-0144-5">development of asthma in children and adults</a>. </p>
<p>A much larger meta-analysis in 2017, which focused on children and included more recently published studies, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.11.012">found consistent connections between this type of pollution and childhood asthma development</a>. The researchers concluded that there is now sufficient evidence showing a relationship between this type of pollution and the onset of childhood asthma.</p>
<p>Studies from the nonprofit research group <a href="https://www.healtheffects.org/publication/traffic-related-air-pollution-critical-review-literature-emissions-exposure-and-health">Health Effects Institute</a> and the <a href="https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=310879">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> have concluded along these lines.</p>
<h2>Mapping the problem</h2>
<p>Despite this emerging evidence, the burden of childhood asthma due to traffic-related air pollution is poorly documented. Very few studies explore the geographic and spatial variations.</p>
<p>My research team wanted to quantify the connection between exposure to traffic pollution and the onset of childhood asthma across 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. We also wanted to make these data open to the public. </p>
<p>In our analysis, we looked at 70 million kids and conducted all calculations at the census block level, the smallest available geographical unit for census data. We collaborated with researchers from the <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/airqual/">University of Washington</a>, who modeled the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, a strong sign of traffic-related air pollution, using satellite imagery combined with environmental ground monitoring data.</p>
<p>We then took data extracted <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/02770903.2011.637594">from surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, estimating childhood asthma incidence in the U.S. Alongside data from our air pollution models, we used these data to estimate the number of childhood asthma cases caused by exposure to traffic pollution. </p>
<p>We then created a first-of-its-kind, <a href="https://carteehdata.org/library/webapp/trap-asthma-usa">county-by-county interactive heat map and city-by-city table</a> detailing the distribution of childhood asthma due to nitrogen dioxide across the U.S. in both 2000 and 2010. Each county is represented, and users can explore the data to see the findings for a particular county. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-383" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/383/231cc977a0a7b70aad241d8beb0a5d097c37f667/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A win for public health</h2>
<p>Our analysis found that childhood asthma cases attributable to traffic pollution across the U.S. decreased, on average, by 33% between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, we estimated that 209,100 childhood asthma cases could be attributed to traffic pollution, while this number dropped to 141,900 cases in 2010. That’s a major win for public health. </p>
<p>What caused the decline in traffic-related asthma cases? There may be multiple causes, including more fuel-efficient vehicles, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2019/03/02/us-factories-are-polluting-less-but-regulation-rollbacks-threaten-air-quality/">more stringent regulation</a> on <a href="https://gispub.epa.gov/air/trendsreport/2018/#naaqs_trends">nitrogen oxide emissions</a> and, potentially, reductions in total vehicle miles traveled <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1289%2Fehp.1409567">due to the recession</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this encouraging decrease in air pollution and its associated health burden, there were 141,900 childhood asthma cases due to traffic-related air pollution in the U.S. That’s 18% of all childhood asthma cases. </p>
<p>Moreover, we found that children living in urban areas had twice the percentage of asthma cases attributable to nitrogen dioxide exposures as compared to children living in rural areas.</p>
<p>Our estimates underline an urgent need to reduce children’s exposure to air pollution. We hope that our analyses and heat maps will better inform policymakers, transportation agencies, medical associations and anyone else interested in learning more about the burden of childhood asthma due to air pollution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Haneen Khreis receives funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Center. She is also affiliated with The Barcelona Institute for Global Health. </span></em></p>
Childhood asthma cases caused by traffic pollution are on the decline. But children in some parts of the country are faring better than others.
Haneen Khreis, Assistant Research Professor, Texas A&M University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113021
2019-03-08T11:44:13Z
2019-03-08T11:44:13Z
The US government might charge for satellite data again – here’s why that would be a big mistake
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262466/original/file-20190306-100790-n9xqh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Landsat view of Mount St. Helens in 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://remotesensing.usgs.gov/gallery/image_collections?img:281:3">U.S. Geological Survey</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Landsat is one of <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/NSTC/2014_national_plan_for_civil_earth_observations.pdf">the most important U.S. satellite systems</a>. Since the program’s launch in 1972, Landsat satellites have provided the longest-running terrestrial satellite record and collected <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/9/1363">more than 5.6 million images</a>. </p>
<p>For a long time, the U.S. government charged a fee for every Landsat image. But this changed on Oct. 1, 2008, when the U.S. Geological Survey <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/landsat">opened the Landsat archive</a> and made it free for everyone to use. </p>
<p>This open data policy has led to a dramatic increase in the use of Landsat data. Studies have used Landsat data to map <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6160/850">global forest loss</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20584">surface water extent</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2788/253582">human settlements</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2012.748992">land cover</a>, among other features. </p>
<p>However, the free and open Landsat data policy is now under scrutiny. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04874-y">An April 2018 news report</a> revealed that the Department of the Interior was considering putting a price on Landsat data again. The decision will come sometime this year.</p>
<p>This potential policy change is concerning. The <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/land-resources/nli/landsat/2018-2023-landsat-science-team?qt-science_support_page_related_con=3#qt-science_support_page_related_con">USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team</a>, of which <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9ODFYW4AAAAJ&hl=en">I am a member</a>, published a study on Feb. 27 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.016">highlighting the major benefits</a> of Landsat’s free data policy. For the Landsat program to remain successful, free and open data is the key. </p>
<h2>1. Encouraged more data use and research</h2>
<p>Before the free data policy, the USGS and private sector sold at most 3,000 Landsat images per month. At the time, a single Landsat image cost approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.010">US$600</a>.</p>
<p>In the first full year of free data policy, users downloaded more than 1 million images. That number has shot up over time, with more than 20 million images downloaded in 2017.</p>
<p>The number of Landsat-related scientific publications also increased rapidly. More than four times as many scientific publications came out in 2017 as did in 2005.</p>
<p><iframe id="rC6lA" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/rC6lA/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The free data policy has opened the doors for new research. The use of Landsat data to track landscape changes over time increased rapidly after the new policy, which has advanced remote sensing science in a variety of ways. With the denser Landsat data, scientists can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2018.1452075">create better land cover maps</a>; more accurately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2017.06.013">detect landscape changes</a>; and map <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034008">natural resources</a> in near real-time. </p>
<p>Landsat data is also archived by several commercial cloud computing services, such as Google Earth Engine and Amazon Web Services. This allows less-established institutions to use Landsat data and lets people share the code they used to analyze images more easily. Charging a fee for Landsat data would jeopardize the continued availability of Landsat data in private sector archives.</p>
<p><iframe id="MC3Jw" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MC3Jw/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. Created economic benefits</h2>
<p>In a 2014 paper, <a href="https://www.fgdc.gov/ngac/meetings/december-2014/ngac-landsat-economic-value-paper-2014-update.pdf">the National Geospatial Advisory Committee</a> analyzed 16 economic sectors – such as water consumption, wildfire mapping and agriculture – in which Landsat data has lead to substantial productivity savings. </p>
<p>Just for the year of 2011, the estimated economic benefit of Landsat data was more than $1.7 billion for U.S. users and $400 million for users outside the U.S. </p>
<p>For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency provides crop insurance to U.S. farmers. More than <a href="https://www.fgdc.gov/ngac/meetings/december-2014/ngac-landsat-economic-value-paper-2014-update.pdf">1.2 million policies are issued every year</a>. One in five policies are issued in areas subject to flooding, leading to higher premiums. </p>
<p>Before Landsat data was used for mapping crop flood zones, the flooding areas were very broad, causing many farmers with little potential for flooding to pay a lot more. Today, the flood rate maps are updated constantly based on newly collected Landsat images. These detailed zones reduced the cost to farmers by more than $300 million per year. The researchers estimated that the Risk Management Agency would have to raise premiums for more than 200,000 policies each year, if it could not use Landsat data.</p>
<h2>3. Tightened international partnerships</h2>
<p>In the past, some proportion of the Landsat data was downloaded directly from the ground stations. The Landsat satellites did not have enough capability to store the data. In areas without a U.S. ground station, data was not downloaded to a U.S. archive, but into international cooperator ground stations. </p>
<p>The U.S. Landsat Global Archive Consolidation program collects this internationally stored data, then reprocesses it into a central archive, where it is made available to all users free of charge. </p>
<p>Since this initiative launched in 2010, it has ingested <a href="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0034425719300719-gr2_lrg.jpg">large amounts of satellite data that were not available in the U.S. archive before</a>. This has made historical Landsat data more accessible, while greatly increasing the temporal and spatial coverage of the U.S. satellite data archive. </p>
<p>Without the free Landsat data, this initiative would likely never have existed. The discontinuation of the open policy could affect its continued success. </p>
<p>What’s more, Landsat’s open policy stimulated other international Earth observation programs, such as the Copernicus Program of the European Union, to <a href="http://newsletter.copernicus.eu/article/free-and-open-data-policy-copernicus">make their data free</a>. If the Landsat program reverts to asking users to pay for data, our group worries that it may indirectly encourage other programs to do the same.</p>
<p>The program also encouraged international satellite programs to collaborate so that their databases worked together and followed similar standards. This has made it easier for scientists to combine data from multiple satellite systems for analysis. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Landsat imagery shows how Hurricane Irma churned up sediment in the Florida Keys in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://remotesensing.usgs.gov/gallery/image_collections?img:723:3">U.S. Geological Survey</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Keeping Landsat free and open</h2>
<p>The U.S. is a global leader in the collection and application of Earth observation remote sensing data. Open access to Landsat, as well as other satellite data, has become the norm. </p>
<p>Officials at the Department of the Interior are exploring the possibility of recovering some of Landsat’s operation costs from users. This is understandable. However, if Americans want to continue enjoying its societal benefits, then our group feels that the data needs to remain free and open.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhe Zhu receives funding from USGS and Climate Corporation.</span></em></p>
Since 2008, Landsat data has been free for the world to use, spurring new applications and scientific research. But that door could soon slam shut.
Zhe Zhu, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109500
2019-01-21T18:41:43Z
2019-01-21T18:41:43Z
Video games could teach spatial skills lost to a society dependent on devices
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254653/original/file-20190121-100282-p9hany.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Players of Red Dead Redemption 2 use a detailed topographic map to navigate the landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/727794478?size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Video games have long been criticised for encouraging <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20192553">violence</a> and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/40/9882">antisocial behaviour</a>. And parents often express concern that they could have <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-adults-think-video-games-are-bad-76699">detrimental effects</a> on their child’s learning abilities. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102744">research has shown</a> that off-the-shelf video games can also aid learning – particularly when it comes to the development of spatial skills.</p>
<p>These issues have arisen once more with the most recent release from <a href="https://www.rockstargames.com/">Rockstar Games</a>: Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2). The game certainly contains a lot of violence, but it might inadvertently aid development of spatial skills – perhaps even more so than other video games.</p>
<h2>What are spatial skills and why do we need them?</h2>
<p>Spatial skills <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article/14/2/668/527298/spatial-skills-in-undergraduate-students-influence">refer to our ability</a> to rotate and conceptualise 3D objects, and to decipher maps, graphs and diagrams. These are essential skills within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) sector. </p>
<p>One spatial skill that is common to several engineering and science disciplines is the ability to <a href="https://youtu.be/hoa1RBk4dTo">visualise a 2D cross-section through a 3D object</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hoa1RBk4dTo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The development of spatial skills is particularly relevant to the field of geoscience. We use these skills every day when we graph and interpret results of various measurements and experiments, and when we create traditional 2D maps. </p>
<p>These skills are also incredibly important when it comes to extrapolating the 3D geometry of rock layers beneath the Earth’s surface. Take for example the <a href="https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/minecraft/images/Ingleborough_Geology_and_Topo.jpg">below</a> 3D geological model, which was created using Minecraft. This image shows the layers of rock beneath the ground and how these interact with the surface of the landscape.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253779/original/file-20190114-43541-ep8y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The British Geological Survey created 3D maps of parts of Britain using the game Minecraft. This example shows how the landscape surface (topography) interacts with layers of rock (light green and purple) beneath the surface.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Geological Survey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My experience teaching undergraduate geology and field-based mapping classes in the UK and Australia has shown me that students really struggle with the higher-level spatial skills. This is not a new problem, but it is perhaps more challenging for today’s students who have grown up navigating using Google Maps rather than a street directory. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00330124.2018.1479970">has shown</a> that our dependence on satellite navigational systems, such as those in our smartphones, is having a long term detrimental impact on spatial awareness and our ability to navigate. So, we need to consider other means to help students develop these skills. </p>
<h2>How does RDR2 teach spatial skills?</h2>
<p>In RDR2, you play the character of an outlaw in a fictional part of the Western United States in 1899. During the game, the outlaw protagonist struggles to find his place in a society that is increasingly introducing more law and order. The protagonist embarks on numerous missions, which guide the player through a linear story line.</p>
<p>The game also allows and encourages players to freely explore and interact with a virtual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_world">open world</a> before, after or between the story line missions. </p>
<p>The virtual world in RDR2 is <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-dead-redemption-2-can-a-video-game-be-too-realistic-106404">incredibly detailed</a> because it is derived from 3D laser scans and drone imagery of <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/quixel-scanning-red-dead-redemption-2">real-world landscapes</a>. </p>
<p>This complex landscape requires players to navigate using a detailed topographic map. A topographic map is a map with contour lines that show places of equal height. Closely spaced lines indicate a steep slope, and widely spaced lines indicate a gradual slope. </p>
<p>Players constantly use this map to visualise the terrain as they move around, allowing them to navigate and avoid obstacles – like falling off a cliff.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253777/original/file-20190114-43510-18a8p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The virtual world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is incredibly realistic as it was built using landscapes found in the real-world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot/Lloyd White</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moving from place to place in the game can take considerable time because the player typically travels to most places on horseback, or on foot. But players can save time by deviating from roads using the topographic map to plot out a faster route. </p>
<p>This saves time getting from A to B, so players are rewarded for learning to read the map. </p>
<p>Players are also encouraged to look for treasure and seek out unique hunting and fishing locations. Players need to use a series of clues and interpret mud maps to find these special locations. These experiences likely simulate the same thought patterns we use examining and interpreting maps of the real world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253775/original/file-20190114-43532-9al6ne.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of the topographic map used in Red Dead Redemption 2. Players need to use this map to navigate. While the game will suggest a path between two points, this often isn’t the fastest route, or may not even be a possible route. Players can figure this out for themselves by reading the map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rockstar Games/Lloyd White</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exercising our map reading muscles</h2>
<p>While RDR2 is certainly a violent game (rated M15+), I hope parents and players might both appreciate the potential learning benefit relative to other games. </p>
<p>It’s safe to say we should expect future video games to match or better the level of detail within RDR2. This level of realism combined with detailed maps will hopefully help to develop those spatial skills we’re losing by our dependence on location-based technology. </p>
<p>Another potential positive is that the entertainment industry will need to recruit future STEM graduates to help them build factual and increasingly realistic virtual worlds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lloyd White is affiliated with the University of Wollongong. He has received funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian and New Zealand International Ocean Discovery Program (ANZIC) consortium as well as from minerals and oil and gas companies. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London.</span></em></p>
Red Dead Redemption 2 has been criticised for its portrayals of violence, but it could also be teaching players the lost art of reading a map.
Lloyd White, Lecturer (Geology), University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104938
2019-01-01T19:48:58Z
2019-01-01T19:48:58Z
Digital Earth: the paradigm now shaping our world’s data cities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249184/original/file-20181206-128193-5ae42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The vast amounts of data from more than 650 Earth observation satellites are transforming how we see and shape urban landscapes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pitney Bowes Australia courtesy PSMA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today’s smart cities rely on networks: squillions of semiconductor devices that constantly pulse electromagnetic waves (light and radio frequencies) through telecommunications satellites.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250859/original/file-20181217-185240-1ww7oy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Data Cities, by the author.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.lundhumphries.com/products/106796">Lund Humphries (2018)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another genre of satellites, equipped especially for Earth observations, is accelerating a more advanced form of urbanism: data cities. These realms are not only “smart and connected” but also increasingly responsive to electronic evidence revealing real situations and challenges.</p>
<p>In various <a href="http://davinajackson.com/publications/">publications</a> and a new book, <a href="http://data-cities.net/data-cities-book-out-november-2018/">Data Cities: How satellites are transforming architecture and design</a>, I explain how this century’s Earth observation science paradigm is destined to transform traditional practices among built environment professionals. That includes land surveyors, architects, engineers, landscape designers, property developers, builders and urban planners.</p>
<h2>How do all the satellite data affect urban design?</h2>
<p>In essence, much more detailed and accurate information about local environmental conditions will be supplied to development teams before new building concepts are designed. This should be more informative and less time-wasting than current routines. At present, planning authorities determine building proposals based on environmental impact assessment reports prepared <em>after</em> the design phase.</p>
<p>Architects and engineers already share the on-screen construction of <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/bim">building information models</a>. They should benefit from obtaining more site-specific information earlier than is now usual. This would allow them to calculate more useful parameters, and receive more accurate performance predictions, for their virtual buildings and landscapes.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_EN/SEM7YN6SXIG_0.html">Earth observation satellites</a> carry sensor and scanner systems that bounce different signals to and from the Earth. These systems constantly monitor and display many environmental conditions that normally are invisible to humans.</p>
<p>Some innovations in sat-imaging include: the patterns of street lighting that reliably map different cities at night; thermo-imaging (infrared) of the surface temperatures and energy losses of buildings; and high-res overviews of areas affected by drought, flooding, fires, chemical spills, eruptions, wars and other disasters.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250853/original/file-20181217-185249-1kxuy8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Earth observation has come a long way since this first photograph taken from space, on October 24 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Earth observation satellites are not new. In 1946, a camera aboard a V-2 (aka A-4) missile launched from New Mexico took the <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/the-first-photograph-of-earth-taken-from-space">first picture of Earth from space</a>. The <a href="https://www.space.com/8186-weather-satellites-changed-world.html">first satellite weather map</a> was broadcast through small black-and-white television screens in 1960.</p>
<p>Today, more than 650 Earth observation satellites operate beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Some orbit the planet to allow scanning in swathes. Others hold geostationary positions above specific places.</p>
<p>These satellites also operate at different distances from the Earth. And they carry different types of scanning and sensing equipment. As a result, they produce a diverse range of image resolutions, styles and scales of ground coverage.</p>
<p>The satellites record various kinds of environmental information, depending on which waves of the electromagnetic spectrum are used. These data are analysed and processed using precise algorithms. </p>
<p>A common example is data visualisations – often 2D or 3D video maps recorded over time. Typically, bright colours are applied to highlight contrasting conditions. For example, temperature data are colourised to show heat islands in cities. The same thing is done with aerosol data to depict patterns of carbon pollution.</p>
<h2>What’s Australia’s role in this?</h2>
<p>Australia does not fly satellites yet. But in July 2018 it launched the Australian Space Agency (ASA). Headed by former CSIRO director Megan Clark, it has an initial budget of A$300 million.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-essential-reads-to-catch-up-on-australian-space-agency-news-108671">Ten essential reads to catch up on Australian Space Agency news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The ASA is working with <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/about">Geoscience Australia</a> (GA) on a A$225 million program to improve data positioning accuracy – to 3cm in cities with mobile coverage. Another A$37 million is going into developing the <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/dea/about">Digital Earth Australia</a> program for environmental data simulations.</p>
<p>Digital Earth, a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3396470/">term Al Gore coined</a> in his 1992 book, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_in_the_Balance">Earth in the Balance</a>, is an international science agenda to use Earth observation systems to update the ancient cartography ambition to “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561346?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">present the known world as one and continuous</a>”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251450/original/file-20181219-27767-nvy926.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Buckminster Fuller’s 1927 vision of a ‘4D Interconnected, Unified World’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.buckyfullernow.com/sec-3-bio-of-buckminster-fuller-1927---1947.html">Biography of R. Buckminster Fuller</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This dream was championed most influentially in the 20th century by US scientist <a href="https://www.bfi.org/about-fuller/biography">Richard Buckminster Fuller</a>, with his evolving concepts for an <a href="https://geospatialmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Fuller-air-ocean-world-town-plan-1927.jpg">Air-Ocean World Town Plan</a> (1928), <a href="http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/buckminster_fuller/dymaxion_map/dymaxion_projection.shtml">Dymaxion map</a> (1943), <a href="https://mediartinnovation.com/2014/06/06/richard-buckminster-fuller-geoscope-world-game/">Geoscope</a> (a giant electronic space-frame globe, 1962) and his book, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Manual_for_Spaceship_Earth">Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth</a> (1969).</p>
<p>In the early 2000s, NASA (<a href="https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/">World Wind</a>) and Google (<a href="https://www.google.com/earth/">Google Earth</a>) launched the first internet-enabled “virtual globes”. </p>
<p>In 2005, major nations established the Group on Earth Observations (<a href="https://www.earthobservations.org/geo_community.php">GEO</a>) secretariat in Geneva to develop a globally networked administration and online access system for geospatial data. These data are mainly from satellites at this stage.</p>
<p>The Global Earth Observations System of Systems (<a href="https://www.earthobservations.org/geoss.php">GEOSS</a>) program now involves more than 200 national governments, United Nations data agencies, and global science and non-government organisations. </p>
<p>Australia’s representative on GEO is Geoscience Australia’s environmental division chief, Stuart Minchin. Working with Minchin, a GA team led by Adam Lewis produced the world-leading <a href="http://nci.org.au/services/virtual-laboratories/australian-geoscience-data-cube/">Data Cube</a> system for rapidly analysing time-series stacks of American <a href="https://landsat.usgs.gov/landsat-project-description">Landsat</a> images covering Australia’s 40-plus zones of latitude and longitude. </p>
<p>European scientists are now using this method to compile a <a href="https://ghsl.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php">data-layered map of human settlements</a> around the world. </p>
<p>Another notable advance in urban modelling comes from a public-private partnership between the Australian government’s data-marketing company, <a href="https://www.psma.com.au/about">PSMA</a>, and two global corporations: US satellite imagery supplier <a href="https://www.digitalglobe.com/about/our-company">DigitalGlobe</a> and business software vendor <a href="https://www.pitneybowes.com/au/our-company.html">Pitney Bowes Australia</a>. They offer information-rich online aerial imagery of Australian suburbs. Multispectral and shortwave infrared sensors aboard DigitalGlobe’s <a href="https://www.digitalglobe.com/resources/satellite-information">WorldView satellites</a> are used to create these images. </p>
<p>Menu options enable users to clarify footprints and heights of buildings and trees, roof materials, and locations of swimming pools and solar panels. PSMA adds cadastral and other government land data, including plot areas and street addresses. This covers more than 15 million buildings over 7.6 million square kilometres.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249185/original/file-20181206-128208-nuwfj4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mapping of building and roof materials in the Australian city of Adelaide, using GeoVision tools by Pitney Bowes derived from PSMA’s Geoscape data system, with imagery from shortwave infrared and multispectral sensors aboard DigitalGlobe’s WorldView 3 satellite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pitney Bowes Australia courtesy PSMA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So where do people fit into this world?</h2>
<p>As Al Gore <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=FYfcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA358&dq=cope+with+the+enormous+volumes+of+data+that+will+be+routinely+beamed+down&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEtIH636XfAhVNfX0KHfXRCGgQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=cope%20with%20the%20enormous%20volumes%20of%20data%20that%20will%20be%20routinely%20beamed%20down&f=false">noted</a> in 1992:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… no one yet knows how to cope with the enormous volumes of data that will be routinely beamed down from orbit. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But he cited the importance of machines learning to improve their methods and a global infrastructure of massive parallelism — using dispersed chips and computers to process information at faster speeds. </p>
<p>Where do people step into this auto-piloting system? That remains moot.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>A caption to an image in this article has been updated to clarify that it is an aerial view of Adelaide.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Davina Jackson was employed in the late 2000s as a multifaculty research strategies professor by UNSW and NICTA, and received grants from Austrade to ‘catalyse’ a national and global data cities network that NICTA formally launched in Sydney in 2008. From 2009 to 2012, she was a director of non-profit companies funded by the NSW and Singapore governments to produce the first ‘smart light’ city festivals. Her 2012 online report on the ‘Digital Earth, Virtual Nations, Data Cities’ movement was print-sponsored by the Group on Earth Observations for distribution to two international conferences of geospatial science academics and urbanists in 2012 and 2014.</span></em></p>
The huge volume and high quality of data streaming down from Earth observation satellites are transforming how we see and shape our cities.
Davina Jackson, Honorary Academic, School of Architecture, University of Kent
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.