Jack Dangermond: An ever-evolving map of everything on Earth | TED Countdown

The world that we live in is not well-known.

It's fragile.

It’s rich in biodiversity.

And it’s increasingly impacted by human activities.

Geologists are beginning to call this era the Anthropocene.

Today, our world is in trouble because humans are living carelessly.

We are threatening our very future.

We are, as human beings,

going to have to collectively come together

and address these challenges.

A sustainable future, in my mind, is possible,

but we’re going to have to do many things,

and we're going to have to do these now.

Sustainability really requires that we see the world as one system.

Today, in my field, the geospatial field,

we are seeing technologies emerge that are becoming interconnected.

They're allowing us to measure,

analyze and understand what's occurring on our globe.

We're bringing together geographic information from many sources,

virtually describing everything that is occurring on our planet.

These technologies are being systematically interconnected

with the web,

and opening up,

allowing organizations to be able to see information

and create what I like to describe

as a geographic information system for our entire planet.

This system promises to be a platform

for better understanding and managing our planet,

a kind of nervous system for a more sustainable future.

A central part of this system is content.

We are creating a living atlas of our planet

that provides a massive collection of authoritative data and map layers,

describing information on things like population and the economy.

A wealth of information on natural systems,

including all the -ologies:

hydrology, biology, vegetation

and, of course, the rich biodiversity that sustains us.

This atlas also includes imagery from many sources,

from satellites, aerial photography,

describing the changing human footprint on our planet.

Some of these layers are also almost real-time,

providing information about pollution and weather and land cover.

Remote sensing and machine learning are making it possible for us

to see things like wildfires here in the US,

but also in Greece and Russia,

in Italy and Turkey this year.

This data has been made available by thousands of individual,

trusted scientific government and NGO organizations

who wish to share and make their data available openly.

Recently, my colleagues and I developed a new 10-meter global map of land cover

for the entire planet.

This was computed in less than a week using AI and machine learning.

It has given us a clear picture of land-cover patterns today

and will also be the foundation for us to periodically show change,

update the footprint almost in real time.

Here, for example, we can see in Malaysia

where the demand for palm oil is impacting and consuming natural areas.

In Buenos Aires, we can see the effect of urbanization and sprawl

on impacting natural lands around the city.

In Xingu, in Brazil,

this is a really amazing point,

because it's showing where the government has actually looked ahead

and protected certain areas in special zones

so that biodiversity will be sustained.

GS is also being used to model and forecast our future.

For example, this amazing map of 2050 land cover

predicts, using various statistical means,

the expansion of where the human footprint is going

and how it might impact areas of rich biodiversity.

Organizations around the world are already leveraging this geospatial nervous system

for better planning and decision making.

In the future,

we're going to have to empower virtually every organization

to embrace this new geographic approach.

The geographic approach is a way

to bring all this information together

to see holistically how things are interrelated.

A science-based approach which is inclusive,

that can bring together multiple populations

to be able to create more intelligent actions

and create a more sustainable future.

These kinds of advances in technology and information

are increasingly available,

but it's going to take more than simply technology

to create a sustainable future.

It’s going to require major segments of our society --

organizations, governments, businesses around the world --

embracing this science,

embracing what technology can offer

and using their creative and design skills

to be able to create a better future.

Ultimately, it'll require all of us to integrate this kind of thinking,

this science-based thinking, this geographic-approach thinking,

into the way that we make decisions,

both as individuals

and also in all of our institutions,

locally, regionally,

nationally and ultimately globally.

Like the internet and other pervasive technologies,

this nervous system is going to grow and expand.

It's going to empower our collective response

to understanding and taking action -- not only for climate,

but also all the interrelated challenges that we are facing as a global society.

We have the tools and the science for better understanding.

Now that we can see as much as we can see,

we must act.

Thank you very much.