The Ultimate Surveying and Mapping Project: Earth Archive

How would like to support, or even participate in what could become the most ambitious 3D surveying and mapping project ever? It could be the opportunity of a lifetime.

A unique, global initiative is leveraging advanced geospatial data capture technologies to create a high-definition 3D model of our world. This data rich Earth Archive will boost conservation, preservation, sustainability planning, and climate research efforts. The Earth Archive Congress is slated for June of 2021, with a schedule that includes over 100 speakers, presenters, and education sessions. Register here.

By scanning the planet’s land surface with very high-resolution LiDAR, the Earth Archive will create a true three-dimensional twin of our world — an open source, digital record of the Earth that will reflect the landscape exactly as it was at the time of scanning. With this endeavor, the Earth Archive is positioned to provide geospatial data that will serve as the legacy baseline for understanding and conserving our world.  And the region envisioned for the initial phase of mapping and modelling is one that remains mostly unmapped yet is crucial to the global ecosystem.

The inaugural Earth Archive Virtual Congress will be convened on June 15-16, 2021, and everyone is invited. The event will present a revolutionary campaign to scan the entire Amazon Basin and bring together stakeholders interested in joining the project.

“The Amazon rainforest plays a crucial role in the Earth’s climate and has an unparalleled level of ecological diversity, but it’s vanishing right before our eyes,” said Christopher Fisher, PhD. Archaeologist, TED speaker, Director of The Earth Archive and Professor of Anthropology, Colorado State University. “We have a shrinking window of time to digitally preserve landscapes as they exist now with high resolution LiDAR in order to enhance knowledge of cultural and ecological treasures and improve sustainability efforts. We’re hoping to build a broad-based Earth Archive community and are urging interested people to join us for this effort, which we are confident will be a monumental step toward finding a solution for climate change.” See Dr. Fischer’s Earth Archive Introduction video here.

The notion of a 3D of an entire city, region, or even the whole planet is not as farfetched as it may have seemed even a few years ago., The technology exists, there are tools and applications to capture the data, AI and big data resources for processing, classifying and modelling.  The tech is in some ways the easy part to contemplate; but what is crucial is the people needed to execute such ambitious initiatives.

The Earth Archive Virtual Congress will connect participants at all levels of society interested in partaking in the Amazon campaign, including researchers, students, NGOs, indigenous groups, government officials and corporations. Archeologists, anthropologists and Earth Archive researchers and stakeholders will team with geospatial, mapping and GIS entities and organizations to present solutions and findings.

Day One of the two-day summit will focus on understanding the current state of Amazon mapping, along with outlining the contributions that Earth Archive data can make in improving current understandings of Amazonian socio-natural systems. Day Two will focus on the broader contributions that an open-source Amazon scan can make to an array of sciences, policy making and other related fields.

The event is educational, but also for outreach. Earth Archive is looking for support, not just from sponsors (though more will be needed as the project progresses), but also subject matter experts and geospatial practitioners. Attend as much of the EA congress as you can and consider how you could support or participate.

What could be more exciting and fulfilling that participating in the most ambitious mapping project in history, and one with such a potential to bring meaningful change. 

Explore the Earth Archive Congress site and sign up here:  www.theeartharchivecongress.com/congress

Scan the World! Save the World!