The 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth - Bringing Digital Earth down to Earth.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS 

Virtual Globe (Spinning Globes) Session
Session Leaders: Bonnie DeVarco and Matt Nolan

Virtual Globes (VGs) are revolutionizing the way we look at the world and promise to become an integral part of the Digital Earth future.  Tools such as Google Earth, World Wind, GeoFusion, ArcGIS Explorer, EarthSLOT, SkylineGlobe, and others have found their way into fields such as earth sciences, education, and natural hazards response, to name just a few.  This session is co-convened as the 2^nd Annual Virtual Globes Scientific Users Conference, and will consist of two parts.  The first part is a series of invited talks that overview the various technologies currently available.  The second part consists of user presentations solicited here. The Virtual Globes contributed talks and technology demonstrations will be distributed throughout the Symposium as this topic is seminal to the Digital Earth community.  Attendees will be able to assess the current state-of-the-art in how Virtual Globes are being used to advance the goals of the Digital Earth movement.  Thus contributions are solicited that suit one of the existing Symposium themes and they will also be cross-listed with the Virtual Globe session.  If you are unsure of an appropriate session theme, simply submit your abstract and the conveners will place it for you.

Earth Observation
Session Leaders: John Townshend and Nancy Colleton

Earth observation science, technology, and applications have often been credited with the incubation of Digital Earth.  Indeed, the views of planet Earth from space have been inspirational as well as instrumental in mapping and monitoring our planetary systems.  Many of the early proponents of the Digital Earth movement were founded in remote sensing agencies, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences support from the Institute for Remote Sensing Applications.  The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) represents a new milestone in the collaboration of 61 countries and 40 international organizations to achieve a stated set of societal goals.  As the view from space sets the pace for wrapping the bio-geo skin around virtual globes, it is incumbent upon the Digital Earth community to improve the understanding of all elements associated with access, use, and advanced applications from the remote sensing community to the broader community of citizens, most of whom will never delve into the radiometric or spectral sciences.  Contributors are encouraged to bring to the forum advances in their research and development that contribute to the overall application and understanding of Earth observations for the betterment of humankind.

Pilots and Incubation
Session Leaders: John Graham and Mike Liebhold

A continuous litany of advances is made by academics, industry, and others for the components and parts of the Digital Earth Vision.  Collectively, these advances represent a compelling portrait of what a collaborating community can do if they begin to connect the dots.  What has been missing, however, is the orchestration and capacity to bring the many key elements together to enable careful scrutiny and critical feedback regarding the value for interoperability aspects of these parts.  In order to make advances in our understanding of Digital Earth advances, the concept of publishing, sharing, and demonstrating state-of-the-practice products and results must be accommodated.  This session focuses on the range of issues attendant to the creation of a digital commons in the form of a Digital Earth Exchange (DEX) to enable the publishing and registration of works related to the applications and advances of the Digital Earth Vision.

 Knowledge Nets
Session Leaders: Mike Goodchild

Attention has been focused in the Digital Earth Vision regarding establishing links to digital libraries from around the world.  Amassing this information at the mouse-click of the user was considered a major goal for the development of a world network of information.  Many advances made by initiatives such as, the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) and the Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) projects that have important contributions to make to the Digital Earth community.  From other disciplines, we can expect to find further advances in the creation and implementation experiences of growing knowledge nets that may promote accelerated advances from interoperability exchanges.  Contributors are sought for bringing their experiences in enlarging the network of knowledge domains to construct the Digital Earth Exchange network.

 Supercomputers
Session Leaders: Tetsuya Sato and John Graham

The advent of supercomputer nodes on the Internet has dramatically altered the configuration design options for many critical web-based operations.  Due to the immense  computational capacity of these cyber giants, web solutions can be crafted into light-weight clients that leverage the massive parallel processing and storage capacities available over low band-width connections.  In addition, the networking of these supercomputers provides for redundancies against systems failures at any one node.  Supercomputers have been noted as well for the communities and applications that have developed from the critical mass of technical and intellectual resources associated with each supercomputing node.  Creation of a digital commons for the Digital Earth Exchange will require the support of a host of collaborating supercomputers. This session topic will attend to the leaders at San Diego, Fairbanks, and Maui as well as the international connection for the Earth Simulator in Tokyo.

Digital Earth Reference Model (DERM)
Session Leaders: Charles Herring and Mike Leibhold

A reference model has been resurrected from the Federal Geospatial Data Committee and ISO communities in collaboration with the original NASA led Interagency Working Group on Digital Earth.  The DERM is currently being handled by a coalition of open-system developers including the Open Geo and Open Geospatial Consortium.  This standard reference model will enable researchers and students to quickly access the most advanced set of standards and protocols for development and operation of advanced technological systems and applications.

VISUALIZATION AND APPLICATIONS SESSIONS

Virtual Globe (Spinning Globes) Session
Session Leaders: Bonnie DeVarco and Matt Nolan

This topic is included in both major sessions.  Virtual Globes (VGs) are revolutionizing the way we look at the world and promise to become an integral part of the Digital Earth future.  Tools such as Google Earth, World Wind, GeoFusion, ArcGIS Explorer, EarthSLOT, SkylineGlobe, and others have found their way into fields such as earth sciences, education, and natural hazards response, to name just a few.  This session is co-convened as the 2^nd Annual Virtual Globes Scientific Users Conference, and will consist of two parts.  The first part is a series of invited talks that overview the various technologies currently available.  The second part consists of user presentations solicited here. The Virtual Globes contributed talks and technology demonstrations will be distributed throughout the Symposium as this topic is seminal to the Digital Earth community.  Attendees will be able to assess the current state-of-the-art in how Virtual Globes are being used to advance the goals of the Digital Earth movement.  Thus contributions are solicited that suit one of the existing Symposium themes and they will also be cross-listed with the Virtual Globe session.  If you are unsure of an appropriate session theme, simply submit your abstract and the conveners will place it for you.

Museums and Education
Session Leaders: Joseph Kerski and Kirk Bergstrom

Two major demographics that will gain the most from the Digital Earth initiative are the public at large and the education system.  These topics represent foundation pillars of NASA’s early initiative due to the broad audience and import of citizen connection with the critical information about the planet Earth.  A series of exciting displays, many that are interactive, have been cropping up in museums around the country to communicate the state of knowledge regarding the Earth and its various systems.  The Digital Earth perspective has proven to be extremely engaging for the general public and will continue to offer challenging learning experiences for all ages.  Education in general is closely aligned with the mission of museums and has demonstrated a vast appetite for the user interfaces and information promised from the Digital Earth community. A range of age-specific learning modules and curricula have been developed over the past few years, which fully capitalize on Digital Earth technology advances.

 Conflict Resolution and Peace Mapping
Session Leaders: Ambassador McDonald and Joerg Geier

Recently, the “Pentagon’s New Map” popularize new ways to map out military strategies for a changing world.  While relatively little has advance the opposite side of the coin; peace.  Visualizing peace is more than just a bumper sticker slogan, but an evolving strategy by people working for diplomatic solutions to conflicts and foundations for sustainable development.  A group of international women leaders have move to make peace mapping a bold new initiative for help to empower local women with the pragmatic tools and increased awareness for the spatial dimensions of peace elements around their villages. Digital Earth offers a new vista for raising the specter of peace proactively by identifying and enabling vast interconnections of the social and information networks for the critical components of the peace puzzle.  Geographic illiteracy is a common feature that compounds exacerbation of conflicts and one that can be rapidly overcome with the simplicity of point and click connectivity and visualization using Digital Earth tools.  The elements behind diplomatic conflict resolution and peace mapping are wide ranging and comprehensive.  It is hoped that Digital Earth will open a new chapter in the way the world understands and ameliorates the inevitable series of conflicts our societies create.

Nations
Session Leaders: Tom Gold and Gabor Remetey-Fulopp

Since the inception of the Digital Earth community at the end of the 20^th Century, several countries have made significant progress in Digital Earth growth and applications.  China is one of the leading nations with hundreds of digital cities, provinces, and projects, including Digital Olympics in preparation for the 2008 event.  Japan has a vast network of Digital Earth projects that connect citizens into the e-governance arena and enables citizens to participate in evaluation and planning for risk assessments associated with deep burial of radioactive waste products.  New Zealand recently brought together various political leaders to join with citizens to examine the use of Digital Earth technology to support their plans for a sustainable future.  Nations are encouraged to share the philosophies and products of their national activities in Digital Earth.

Earth Systems & Gaia
Session Leaders: Martin Ogle and Elisabet Sahtouris 

Earth systems study has emerged with the space age as a priority domain for understanding the interactions and integrated feedbacks amongst the major systems that operate on the planet.  Satellite technology, in situ measurements, and legions of researchers are pushing back the unknowns for an increasingly dynamic segment of science.  Gaia, as proffered by James Lovelock and others, offers an organic perspective on the planet that is fully compatible with the Earth sciences and increasingly helps to mesh many of the systems components into an understandable whole.  Bringing the Gaia community into Digital Earth is targeted at assisting in the understanding and communication of the Earth and its systems as life-support for all living creatures.

Indigenous People and Community
Session Leaders: David Wortley and Joy Wang

Social networks and technology-enable communities have been fast rising stars in the growth of the Internet as well as a much needed antidote to the negative consequences of globalization.  As villages and communities become more connected, the exchange of knowledge and wisdom accelerates across the planet.  In addition, the critical mass necessary to assist with the plight of the previously disenfranchised indigenous peoples of the world can be obtained through harnessing cooperation from the larger web-based communities and effectively targeting the specific threats and leveraging political action to address actions with negative impacts.  What all have much to learn from indigenous cultures.  There knowledge and experiences can help a world that must cope with the increasing threats from climate change?  Cultural and knowledge exchange are but some of the rewards for this exciting application of societal networks linked to the Digital Earth community.

Sustainable Development
Session Leaders: Richard Simpson 

The concept of sustainable development began to rank on the international community agenda in the early 1970s and was the focus of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.  While we have learn much about the current situation, which is not sustainable for economic, social, or environmental domains, we have yet to learn how to harness technology and political will for creating sustainable systems for our societies.  The recent Digital Earth Summit on Sustainability placed the challenge directly before the political and activists leaders of New Zealand and will segue to a focused discussion of the tools and models available for the willing.  Just as we began to acknowledge the ever expanding ecological footprint, the ramification of our carbon misuse has added to our global challenges and consciousness.  The prowess of Digital Earth to address the pressing issues will stimulate a range of discussions and shared experiences for this important topic.

Humanitarian/Emergencies/Security
Session Leaders: Lars Bromley

When crises strike, it is usually too late to rally support and assistance in the most critical 48-72 hours.  However, there are lingering and chronic conditions that attend to the provision of humanitarian aid for emergencies that are extremely appropriate for the application of Digital Earth technology and information. The conditions to promote a priori protection or coping strategies in time and space are also available as conditions for enhanced security from the Digital Earth community.  To bring about a major transition in the normative operations of the humanitarian community, a dialog must begin to provide all parties with a better of understanding of how these transitions will transpire.   

International Polar Year Session
Session Leaders: Matt Nolan and Bob Corell

The 4^th International Polar Year (IPY) begins in March 2007, at which time dozens of projects are planned around both poles involving hundreds of scientists and over twenty nations.  IPY’s have occurred every 25 to 50 years since 1882, and this one is poised to take great advantage of new Digital Earth tools, such as Virtual Globes.  Because the poles are so poorly represented on typical paper maps, digital technologies offer an excellent means to educate the public about their true location, scale, and importance.  Given the fortuitous timing between this IPY, this ISDE, the recent advances in Digital Earth technologies, and the significant changes in climate that have recently begun in the Arctic and Antarctic, we expect this session will serve as a model precursor to how most fields of earth sciences will organize, analyze, and distribute geospatial data in the future.

This IPY will focus on several themes and this session at the Symposium welcomes any contributions related to how Digital Earth technologies are addressing them:  1) To determine the present environmental status of the polar regions by quantifying their spatial and temporal variability;  2) To quantify, and understand, past and present environmental and human change in the polar regions in order to improve predictions; 3) To advance our understanding of polar - global interactions by studying teleconnections on all scales; 4) To investigate the unknowns at the frontiers of science in the polar regions; 5) To use the unique vantage point of the polar regions to develop and enhance observatories studying the Earth's inner core, the Earth's magnetic field, geospace, the Sun and beyond; and 6) To investigate the cultural, historical, and social processes that shape the resilience and sustainability of circumpolar human societies, and to identify their unique contributions to global cultural diversity and citizenship

Digital Earth/Digital Mind
Session Leaders: Claudia Welss + Tim Foresman

ADDITIONAL DIGITAL EARTH ACTIVITIES

 International Journal for Digital Earth
Leaders: J.L. van Genderen and Guo Huadong

An inaugural issue of the scientific, peer-reviewed journal is scheduled to closely coincide with the performance of the 5^th International Symposium on Digital Earth.  A series of invited papers will be solicited from eminent scholars and pioneers in the Digital Earth community.  The International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC) will provide the initial administrative and managerial support in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to implement the operations for the new journal.  A posting of the protocols for submission of papers to the new journal will be posted on the ISDE5 web site in early 2007. Interested authors should keep monitoring this site for the latest information.

Creating the Digital Earth Commons Investment, and a requisite step in addressing the future of Digital Earth, requires engagement with the next generation’s educational foundations for harnessing advanced technologies and applications.  In meeting this objective, the Secretariat of the 5^th International Symposium on Digital Earth has embraced a collective set of seminal activities targeted to help stimulate and promote the prowess of Digital Earth among a wide variety of campuses across American and internationally.  The following components comprise a comprehensive strategy to provide a minimum set of necessary tools, internet architecture, and incentives for university students to actively participate in the months leading to preparation for the International Digital Earth Student Competition.

Digital Earth Exchange (DEX)

A network of supercomputers, led by the Japanese Earth Simulator (the world’s largest computer) and the San Diego Supercomputer, led by the Visualization Center of San Diego State University form a backbone (also supported by the supercomputers of the Alaska-Fairbanks, and Maui’s Pacific Disaster Center) for the operation of multiple “geobrowsers” and the appropriate resources of large area geo-referenced data sets.  Protocols and established documentation procedures are being developed in conjunction with the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative led by UC Berkeley, the Digital Alexandria project led by UC Santa Barbara, and the DERM Working Group.  This Digital Earth Exchange network will function as the repository and server operations center for the performance of geobrowser tessellation engines, including NASA’s World Wind, GeoFusion GeoMatrix Toolbox, and other commercial “digital earths.”  This framework will enable thin-client performance via the network and public access to the information and computational resources.

Digital Earth Reference Model (DERM)
Session Leaders: Charles Herring and Mike Leibhold

A reference model has been resurrected from the Federal Geospatial Data Committee and ISO communities in collaboration with the original NASA led Interagency Working Group on Digital Earth.  The DERM is currently being handled by a coalition of open-system developers including the Open Geo and Open Geospatial Consortium.  This standard reference model will enable researchers and students to quickly access the most advanced set of standards and protocols for development and operation of advanced technological systems and applications.

Grand Challenge
Session Leaders: Nick Faust and Chuck Stein

Beginning fall of 2006, a core of set of universities and their community networks will be invited to apply for Digital Earth Scholarships in the form of selected student access to the Digital Earth tessellation engines (currently available for GeoFusion’s GeoMatrix Toolkit and NASA World Wind) for the university research projects.  This access, under supervision of the professors, will place valuable technical software resource tools into the hands of creative and progressive intellectual leaders among the student population.

Digital Earth Student Competitions will be announce in conjunction with the Digital Earth Scholarships, to bring to the forefront the litany of advances being investigated and completed by a cadre of creative and bright young scholars.  A network of university professors is working with the Digital Earth Secretariat to launch this program in the fall semester of 2006 and distribute the necessary software toolkits and rules for the Digital Earth Competition.  Students will submit their applications and research results, by loading the competition submissions into the Digital Earth Exchange network for review and judging. Student winners will be announced at the 5^th International Symposium on Digital Earth for awards and certificates by luminaries of the computer age. 

Prizes and awards will be determined in response to the cooperation and support by major industry vendors.