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David G

David G, Chief Explorer

Using mapping tools for a positive impact in the world including; forest data, accessibility, wildfires, and augmented reality.

It’s that time of year again. Google’s Geo for Good annual summit took place from the 16th - 19th of November 2021.

The summit is intended for nonprofits, scientists and other change-makers who want to leverage technology and use mapping tools for a positive impact in the world.

2021 was the 10th summit, and like last years summit, was held virtually.

You can view all of the videos from the Geo for Good Summit on the Google Earth Outreach micro-site here.

Here are my personal favourites.

Novel Forest Data & Applications Part 1: GEDI & Obiwan

By Laura Duncanson and Sean Healey.

NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission; a laser-based system on the ISS to collect forest structure information across a large sample of the world’s temperate and tropical forests.

Watch on demand.

Novel Forest Data & Applications Part 2: Planet/NICFI

By Tara O’Shea and Julian Fox

Tropical forest monitoring and restoration efforts recently had a major advancement with the NICFI Tropical Forest Program announcement and inclusion in the Google Earth Engine platform.

Watch on demand.

Participatory Mapping with Google Earth

By Steve DeRoy and Isabel DeRoy-Olson

Local communities possess expert knowledge of their environment which can be represented on a map. Google Earth can be combined with participatory methods, empowering local communities to build their own maps.

Watch on demand.

Accessible Life: How to use mapping tools to increase accessibility

By Ermes Tuon

This project empowers people to make their own decisions by allowing them to decide themselves if somewhere is accessible for their needs. The team use Google Earth to map images and structured information about locations for this purpose.

Watch on demand.

AI-Enabled Wildfire Detection and Monitoring with Multi-sensor EO Data

By Yifang Ban

The team at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden have built tools for real-time detection of wildfires and there progression.

Watch on demand.

If you’re interested in wildfires, be sure to check out another talk at the summit from Christiaan Adams and Christophe Restif titled; Animating Wildfire Datasets in Earth Engine.

Augmenting Reality During Natural Disasters with Google Earth Studio

By Ariana Mercer

One of the most powerful ways to communicate the scale and scope of natural disasters is imagery. This talk presents work from the CEDR Digital Corps doing just that.

Watch on demand.



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