Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Dan Scollon at TEDxRedding

this iconic image taken in 1972 forever altered our consciousness about the earth and our interconnectedness in the 40 years since this image was taken we have collected a vast archive of data about the earth and developed a number of new mapping technologies I'd like to share with you some of the ways in which today's maps are altering the way that we perceive our world the way that we interact with it and also the way that we engage in the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century this composite image of North America and Asia at night reveal some interesting patterns our prodigious consumption of energy is probably the most obvious one keeping in mind that the populations of India and China combined are seven times that of North America you can also see some patterns of population distribution the sparser populations that are found in the high latitudes of Canada and Central Asia and also in the western half of the United States with the exception of the west coast you can see the location of reading and also note the location of Borneo as we will visit there shortly while many of us may think of reading as being isolated we are in fact along a north-south axis that connects Vancouver Seattle Portland San Francisco Los Angeles and San Diego all major epicenters of culture art economy and technology were connected across the Pacific of course by airports and Airlines shipping lanes and also by communication lines and we're connected within by our system of highways rail lines and communication towers and so forth the ancient routes of Miwok MODOK and wind two are now plied by big rigs and freight trains that are feeding the world economy the Ark of civilization can be traced through maps they communicate the opportunities and the risks of place and space and they have evolved over time as human societies have become more complex this ancient Polynesian stick map showed them how to locate islands in the vast Pacific it was later superseded by maps created during the Age of Exploration that enabled European colonial conquest note on this map by the way the island of California today's maps are largely delivered via computers and digital devices we simply request a destination and we are zoomed through a 3d landscape complete with imagery and place marks directions in a geocoded geotagged tweeted virtualized reality of the place these capabilities have come about not simply through software or devices but instead a revolution in the way that we communicate social media has enabled us not only to share pictures of our families but has also enabled revolutions in places like Egypt and Libya during the Arab Spring uprisings and has also enabled us to communicate similar events here at home such as the Occupy movement we also use this information to get real-time information on traffic and road conditions and also to use it for things like games such as ingress which allow us to connect with our unity and our place that we're living in disasters such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan recently revealed the value and importance of location the crowd map application allowed for a citizen mapping of important resources that save lives during these tragedies and it's increasingly a vital way in which we respond to these types of situations these capabilities have a root in geographic information systems this diagram illustrates how the input of information about place which can come in the form of maps and satellite imagery and other sorts of sources of data allows us to produce visualizations including maps animations charts and other sorts of graphical illustrations and of course there are peripheral connections and peripheral technology developments that really demonstrate this as being the foundation of today's mapping revolution like to share with you a little bit of personal history by way of illustrating the potential of maps when I was a young boy I'm the little guy in that picture my father's career in Asian affairs took us to live in Malaysia this was our favorite swimming hole and while I was too young to consciously remember the place there was something about it that called to me over the years it became a siren call for me to return and eventually I did in 1994 following the completion of my geography degree and in spite of fears about my personal safety or about tropical diseases they were soon overshadowed by the beauty of Borneo and by the warmth and good nature of my Dayak hosts if you ever traveled to this place you will also do the hornbill dance but fear not you'll be given plenty of fermented Borak which makes it all quite a bit easier to to do the dye acts have a intricate mental map of the forest that allows them to navigate by rivers and game trails and allows them to find food and medicine which it seems to be at every turn they also have a healthy respect for the spirits of the forest embodied here by the orangutan the man of the forest which demonstrates and illustrates the astounding biodiversity of Borneo's rainforests the dye acts were largely isolated in many parts of Borneo until the past few decades but the 21st century has brought about a rapid acceleration deforestation the global gears of globalization have ground deep into the once comprend penetrable interior and this is illustrated in this slide which is showing some recent research based on satellite imagery the areas in purple being those areas that have been cleared or degraded 80 percent of the island Borneo which is the size of Texas is now degraded or cleared in an attempt to try to confront the economic and political forces that are threatening Dayak survival i-team DUP with the borneo project and we brought a community-based participatory mapping program to borneo and initially this started with sketch map and you can see in the upper left hand corner they're just laying out a big piece of paper and grabbing pens and allowing people to draw in and write the things of value I recommend you try this at home it's a fun and interesting exercise but eventually we graduated into higher tech methods like GPS and GIS and we produced maps such as the one that you see in this slide which have been used successfully in the courts actually created a backlash the state government of Sarawak created a law outlawing maps created by people that were not surveyors which was initiated because they didn't like the fact that these folks were starting to make maps of their lands but they have been successfully used in the courts to defend land rights and also as a way to plan out for their use of their land and their future so community based maps in Borneo and also satellite image based research has created a situation that has caused the state to reassess its its how it communicates with its most marginalized populations and has also created an opportunity to chart a new future for Borneo so closer to home here we have native americans that are also trying to reassert their place and their culture in places like the Medicine Lake Highlands and in countless other sensitive sites around the north state and by doing so they're attempting to reclaim place names and reclaim a opportunity for traditional land use next I'd like to share with you some of the interesting and I think cool projects that we have going on here in the North State and I'm going to start off with a couple of student projects and this particular project was mapping out the location of wineries vineyards and olive oil producers in the north state and this is an interactive map so you just see a sample click on this and you see the kind of information that's available so if you're driving around Northern California on a Saturday and you're wondering what kind of places you might stop for a little break you can bring this up on a mobile device and see the hours and if there's a tasting room close to where you're located this is an opportunity to connect producers with consumers and support local economic development this particular map on red and community service organizations was inspired by Shasta College's Center for Community Engagement and we sat down with these leaders of these community service organizations and said how could we help you guys what would help you to do what you do better and they said you know we have got so many organizations in this town and we have so much need and every time somebody comes in off the street and says you know I need dental care or you know whatever the case is then they rifle through these binders and they look and all these different websites and they needed one go-to place so we produce this and and I can't remember the the number of data points that that were included just within the city but I believe it was several hundred and you can click on the point and then you can see on the left hand side they're classified and it allows you to identify by type and it's a way to connect the services with the most vulnerable parts of our local community here conservation of our plant and animal diversity is being pursued in a number of creative ways in this example students went out and mapped stream conditions along a conservation easement held by the Shasta Land Trust in the interest of improving fish habitat students like this too because I get to walk around in the creek trails in our area are just one of the great resources that I know many of you in this community share an interest in a value in it promotes healthy lifestyles and also a connection with nature and our growing system of trails is another place that we have an opportunity to be able to convey more information not only to people in reading but to out-of-towners as well about the trail conditions both off-road trails and also the bike lanes around our community and so this is an area of personal interest and one that I think is really one of the great assets for our for our community transportation of course is an issue of concern all over the state of California and elsewhere here in Redding we have regional agencies that are working with GIS professionals to plan for how transportation will be developed in the future and this particular map a heat map of reading shows those areas of transportation concentration and it's a way to inform decision-making and policymaking and also to improve efficiency and livability of our community the city of Redding is piloting an application to allow citizens to be able to come and report on service needs so if you have a disruption in this case a water problem you can go in your location indicates and it's a way to improve the services so you can check out a lot of these applications out of far NorCal GIS org this is a place where you can connect with different folks that are interested you don't need to be a professional there's lots of resources to learn about how to do this on your own and also how to connect with some of the professionals and students as well today's maps have created a change in the way that we perceive the world the way that we interact with each other and the state and economy they have also created a change in the way that we're able to represent our own priorities and our own knowledge no longer or Maps simply held by those in positions of power but rather are a canvas upon which all of us can convey and claim our own future and our own sense of place they can still be used for resource exploitation for economic inequality for the perpetuation of violence for violations of privacy but they can also be used to democratize to organize to advocate to design and to dream thank you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 250,935

Rating: 4.7782588 out of 5

Keywords: Geographic Information System (Industry), ted talks, TEDx, gps, redding, tedx talk, ted talk, mapping, ted, design, tedx, tedx talks, technology, ted x

Id: 9V_Mz7NDy3o

Length: 16min 1sec (961 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 22 2013