Policy by the Numbers: Maps

Visualization: Submarine Cable Map 2013

Thursday, February 7, 2013

TeleGeographydeployment of submarine cables around the worldSlate

Mapping creates jobs and drives global economic growth

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Brian McClendon is VP of Google Geo (cross-posted from the Official Google Blog).Twenty years ago, we used paper maps and printed guides to help us navigate the world. Today, the most advanced digital mapping technologies—satellite imagery, GPS devices, location data and of course Google Maps—are much more accessible. This sea change in mapping technology is improving our lives and helping businesses realize untold efficiencies.The transformation of the maps we use everyday is driven by a growing industry that creates jobs and economic growth globally. To present a clearer picture of the importance of the geo services industry, we commissioned studies from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Oxera. What we found is that maps make a big economic splash around the world.In summary, the global geo services industry is valued at up to $270 billion per year and pays out $90 billion in wages. In the U.S., it employs more than 500,000 people and is worth $73 billion. The infographic below illustrates some examples of the many benefits of maps, whether it’s improving agriculture irrigation systems or helping emergency response teams save lives.

Click the image for a larger version1.1 billion hours of travel time saved each year? That's a lot of time. Also, consider UPS, which uses map technology to optimize delivery routes—saving 5.3 million miles and more than 650,000 gallons of fuel in 2011. And every eight seconds, a user hails a taxi with Hailo, which used maps and GPS to deliver more than 1 million journeys in London alone last year. Finally, Zipcar uses maps to connect more than 760,000 customers to a growing fleet of cars in locations around the world.Because maps are such an integral part of how we live and do business, the list of examples goes on and on. That's why it's important we all understand the need to invest in the geo services industry so it continues to grow and drive the global economy. Investments can come from the public and private sectors in many forms—product innovation, support of open data policies, more geography education programs in schools and more.We’re proud of the contributions that Google Maps and Earth, the Google Maps APIs and our Enterprise solutions have made to the geo services industry and to making maps more widely available, but there’s a long way to go. To learn more about the impact of the maps industry, see the full reports.

Visualization: NASA'S Perpetual Ocean

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Fast CompanyNASA's Perpetual OceanScientific Visualization StudioFast Company

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Maps, Meth and the Lord’s Resistance Army

Friday, February 10, 2012

cave walls in Lascauxcollaborative mapschangedgovern more effectivelysave livescheapest beer. But what makes maps really exciting isn’t what they can tell us about our past or present, but what they could potentially tell us about our future, both good and bad.

A recent Fast Company piece entitled, “Google Maps Help Predict Meth Labs Before They Open” touches on this idea. In his 2009 book, Geography and the Drug Addiction, Dr. Max Lu took three years of data around meth lab seizures and used it to show the likely spread of those meth labs in the future.

Thousands of miles away, predictive analysis was being used by GeoEye to map political conflict and refugees in central Africa. Using the AnthroMapper and Signature Analyst tools, GeoEye’s analysts were able to identify the pattern of both the Lord’s Resistance Army and related refugee populations.

Overlapping geospatial models for LRA and refugees (image courtesy of GeoEye)

They then used statistical models to represent the geospatial “signature” of this activity and identified regions where new conflict was more likely to occur in the future. Combining this model with population density statistics helped NGOs, local governments and the military focus their resources.

Populations at higher risk (images courtesy of GeoEye)

Given these two examples of predictive mapping in fighting crime and political violence, I’d like to pose this question to all of you: what else can we predict using maps, and how can maps help us make better decisions? If we’re able to map out historical deforestation using satellite imagery, shouldn’t we be able to map future deforestation as well? Using that same satellite imagery, shouldn’t we be able to combine those deforestation maps with historical flood data to predict the next food shortage?

Maps are powerful tools that, combined with the right data, can help us make better public policy decisions. It’s also why policy makers must protect and encourage geospatial technology. From climate science to fighting crime, the possibilities are endless. I’d like to think predicting the future is a good place to start.

Posted by Charlie Hale, Geo Policy Analyst at Google