Geospatial Revolution – A Video Series on Geospatial Technology
Location, location, location. Historically, the saying is like the real estate agent’s mantra. Have a good location and boom, your house practically sells itself. More recently though with the increased availability of cutting edge location-based technology, these three words have taken on a whole new meaning.
That’s the basis for Episode One of the four-part online miniseries, Geospatial Revolution. Created by Penn State Public Broadcasting, Geospatial Revolution is a web-based project that aims to educate viewers about the recent rise in geospatial and location-based technologies.
The 14 minute video looks at the history of geospatial technology and gives a great overview of wide spectrum of uses for geospatial technology. From day-to-day uses like finding the best sushi restaurant within a four block radius and using a GPS receiver in your car to get you from point A to point B. To the important role geospatial technology played in disaster relief efforts following the recent earthquake in Haiti.
One of the more brilliant examples of geospatial technology’s role in crisis mapping was the video’s explanation of Project Ushahidi. Ushahidi is an open source platform for crowd sourcing crisis information. It sits at the intersection of geospatial technology and social media. Volunteer Ushahidi users follow information disseminated from aid workers and Haitian nationals by way of local media, text messages, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets. The users then take that information and map it. Rescue workers can use the real-time data and newly-created street maps for information on collapsed buildings, open hospitals and clinics, trapped victims, and more and deploy appropriate resources to the correct locations.
The production quality, combined with the visual effects, and product demos, make for a very-well put together video. Also included are lots of good testimonials from GeoEye, US Marines, USAF, and academia.
Episodes Two through Four for Geospatial Revolution will be released in coming months, with Episode Two due out on November 2, 2010.
View Episode One of the Geospatial Revolution project below or by visiting their page here, http://geospatialrevolution.psu.edu/
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