FACING PAGE This map from the nonprofit NatureServe used machine learning and environmental predictor variables to model US habitat for 2,216 species—a taxonomically and ecologically diverse set of the nation’s most imperiled plants and animals. The map highlights areas of highest biodiversity importance to guide effective conservation decision-making. “We are still the first generation of human beings to have the ability to see and measure the planet instantaneously: The vegetation data. Biosphere on the land and in the ocean. Soil moisture. Winds. Ocean-surface temperature. The immensity boggles the mind. KATHRYN SULLIVAN NASA astronaut 2 The Power of Where THE GEOGRAPHIC APPROACH The geographic approach is a way of thinking and solving problems that uses spatial location—where things are—to represent, organize, and understand information. Some might say the approach is not new, and in one sense they’d be right. In making maps for thousands of years, humans have relied intuitively on geography to navigate and make sense of their surroundings. So what makes the geographic approach relevant and worthy of our attention in the here and now? This book sets out to show how digital mapping technology and online geospatial data are transforming how the world operates and humanity sees itself. A global geospatial nervous system has emerged, supporting millions of users producing maps that connect people and information for every purpose and activity imaginable. A worldwide community of people and organizations use geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze data, communicate and persuade, and effect positive change and action. The work of this growing community has unlimited potential to address and even solve many of the challenges we face today. As a living organism, Earth sustains a human-built environment with an infrastructure that supports 8 billion people. The dynamic climate, atmosphere, and ocean and our relationship to them are hard to grasp, let alone manage. In this context, geography serves as a common denominator. Everything happens somewhere, and geography is the connecting thread. We collect vast amounts of data and measurements about what is happening on our planet. An array of instruments, satellites, sensors, and cameras measure almost everything that can be detected on the surface, belowground, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere in high resolution. The challenge is to make sense of all these incoming measurements. GIS enables us to integrate and synthesize this disparate data, but we must make stronger, more concentrated efforts to derive meaning from it. Understanding data and measurements in the context of a geographic approach allows us to view the world in ways that were previously hidden. Although the map at right might look like another pretty picture, its data synthesizes thousands of observations of 2,216 rare species.
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