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Google Earth As A Tool For Supporting Geospatial Thinking

Leo Migdal
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google earth as a tool for supporting geospatial thinking

Niv Efron, Senior Director of Engineering, and Luke Barrington, Director of Product Management, Google Research Google Earth AI is our family of geospatial AI models and reasoning agents that provides users with actionable insights, grounded in real-world understanding. Today, we’re sharing our latest Earth AI innovations and expanding access to these new capabilities on Google Earth and Google Cloud. For years, Google has developed AI models that enhance our understanding of the planet. These models help keep Google products fresh, for example, ensuring Maps is accurate by analyzing satellite images and giving Search users the most up-to-date alerts about weather and natural disasters. As individual models grow more powerful, we’ve learned that many real-world questions require the combination of insights across domains.

Answering complex queries like, "Where is a hurricane likely to make landfall? Which communities are most vulnerable and how should they prepare?" requires reasoning about imagery, population and the environment. Earlier this year, we introduced Google Earth AI to solve this core challenge. By pairing our family of powerful foundation models with a geospatial reasoning agent, which uses our latest Gemini models, it’s becoming possible to perform complex, real-world reasoning at planetary scale. The models provide detailed understanding of our planet, grounded in real-world data. The agent, in turn, acts as an intelligent orchestrator.

It deconstructs a complex question into a multi-step plan; executes the plan by calling on these foundation models, querying vast datastores, and using geospatial tools; and finally fuses the results at each step into... In landscape planning and design, geospatial technologies (GSTs) are used to aid in visualizing and interpreting geographic environments, identifying geospatial patterns, and making decisions around information based on maps and geospatial information. GSTs are related to the different tools and technologies used to represent the earth's surface and have transformed the practice of landscape design and geospatial education. These technologies play an important role in promoting the development and application of STEM-relevant geospatial thinking. Curricula that incorporate GSTs have been used across educational levels, from elementary school through college, and have been shown to support the development of geospatial learning and understanding. The present work discusses the use of one type of GST, virtual globes, as a tool for developing geospatial thinking, with a specific focus on Google Earth.

This review highlights outcomes of several studies using Google Earth in the context of disciplines related to landscape design, such as geography and earth science. Furthermore, the potential mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this technology for supporting the development of geospatial knowledge, such as its role in facilitating data visualization and supporting student's ability to think flexibly about spatial... Finally, the limitations of the current research on Google Earth as a tool for supporting geospatial learning are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

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Niv Efron, Senior Director Of Engineering, And Luke Barrington, Director

Niv Efron, Senior Director of Engineering, and Luke Barrington, Director of Product Management, Google Research Google Earth AI is our family of geospatial AI models and reasoning agents that provides users with actionable insights, grounded in real-world understanding. Today, we’re sharing our latest Earth AI innovations and expanding access to these new capabilities on Google Earth and Google Cl...

Answering Complex Queries Like, "Where Is A Hurricane Likely To

Answering complex queries like, "Where is a hurricane likely to make landfall? Which communities are most vulnerable and how should they prepare?" requires reasoning about imagery, population and the environment. Earlier this year, we introduced Google Earth AI to solve this core challenge. By pairing our family of powerful foundation models with a geospatial reasoning agent, which uses our latest...

It Deconstructs A Complex Question Into A Multi-step Plan; Executes

It deconstructs a complex question into a multi-step plan; executes the plan by calling on these foundation models, querying vast datastores, and using geospatial tools; and finally fuses the results at each step into... In landscape planning and design, geospatial technologies (GSTs) are used to aid in visualizing and interpreting geographic environments, identifying geospatial patterns, and maki...

This Review Highlights Outcomes Of Several Studies Using Google Earth

This review highlights outcomes of several studies using Google Earth in the context of disciplines related to landscape design, such as geography and earth science. Furthermore, the potential mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this technology for supporting the development of geospatial knowledge, such as its role in facilitating data visualization and supporting student's ability to thin...