Digital Earth
Milton Halem, S. Hoban · 1999
The Digital Earth is a virtual representation of our planet that enables a person to explore and interact with the vast amounts of natural and cultural information gathered about the Earth. The Digital Earth comprises data interfaces and standards enabling access to geo-referenced data from remote sensing, cartographic, demographic, medical and other sources to respond to questions posed by the user.Following a recent whitepaper from Vice President Gore outlining a vision for Digital Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has responded by taking the lead in organizing an inter-agency effort to step up to the challenge of implementing Digital Earth. Federal agencies whose missions are aligned with the Digital Earth vision have been invited to share their input on the development of the project.Several interagency workshops have been held to discuss and develop the concept of Digital Earth as outlined in the Vice President's whitepaper. The federal agencies and other related groups in attendance at the workshops include National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Image Mapping Agency (NIMA), United States Geologic Survey (USGS), Army Corp of Engineers, National Science Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, and the Open GIS Consortium. Representatives from these agencies will participate in this panel to discuss information technology advances and requirements that pertain to the implementation of Digital Earth.