Category Archives: Enviro/Ag
Another Curveball: Coronavirus and Geospatial
Out of the blue, we’re facing another curveball. The current global concern (COVID-19, aka the Coronavirus) was generally not anticipated, and the situation changes daily. It was hoped that, by the time this is published, the situation would have calmed dramatically—but sadly it has taken a turn for the worse. Thus far disruptions have only...
Smart Maps Guide COVID-19 Investigations and Actions
As hundreds of millions of eyes stay glued to the rising toll and reach of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), map-based dashboards have become a compelling, near real-time way to monitor the outbreak. They’ve also substantiated the message that everyone must take precautions and alter daily interactions. When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared...
Half-Earth Day 2019
E.O. Wilson Spearheads a Global Call to Action In 2016, Edward O. Wilson, the “Father of Biodiversity,” wrote a book called Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life. In the third part of a trilogy, after The Social Conquest of Earth and The Meaning of Human Existence, Wilson refutes our impending sixth extinction and argues the...
Many Sensors for a Tulip Tree Map
Above: The forests of Puerto Rico are second-growth, making for useful modeling. After hurricane deforestation in Puerto Rico, NASA scientists study forest regrowth using high-resolution, multi-sensor image data. The Biospheric Laboratory of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is dedicated to increasing knowledge about the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystem. One group of scientists there has been...
The 2017 Flooding of Missouri’s Meramec River
Missouri’s Meramec River is one of the largest free-flowing waterways in the state. With a source southwest of St. Louis, in Dent County, and the mouth at the Mississippi River in Arnold, some 20 miles south of St. Louis, its meandering 220 miles drain nearly 4,000 square miles in a watershed covering six Missouri counties....
Aerial Imagery to the Rescue
Events in 2017 demonstrated without any doubts or reservations how vitally important georeferenced aerial imagery is in assessing damage and supporting relief efforts following a natural calamity. Last September, an impromptu consortium of companies in North America mobilized their forces and collected and analyzed mountains of data at near cost to help out in what...