Geo for Good: Stronger than ever, even though we’re apart
By Raleigh Seamster, Senior Program Manager, Google Earth Outreach
If there’s anything that speaks to the strength of the Geo for Good community, it’s that a diverse group of changemakers, scientists, and nonprofit professionals — 1,600 people from 100 countries — gathered at the Geo for Good Summit even as the pandemic kept us apart. Our attendees’ enthusiasm tells us that the goal of creating positive change for the planet and its people is more critical than ever. And even though we’re physically far from each other, our community continues to change our world.
Highlights: The presentations that sparked conversations
If you weren’t able to attend the Geo for Good Summit, it’s all here online for you to review at your own pace. While all the sessions were eye-opening and educational, here’s a quick look at a few that stood out.
In 2005, Rebecca Moore used Google Earth to protect 1,000 acres of redwoods in her Santa Cruz mountain community. That effort started her on the journey to found an initiative at Google focused on using geospatial data and tools for positive impact. At Geo for Good’s opening remarks and keynote address, she brought us to her home and shared the forest that she and her neighbors worked to protect. We also spent time with her Google colleagues, Hema Budaraju and Nithya Sowrirajan, to talk about the power of mapping technology to create social and environmental change.
The “Addresses for Everyone” session marked the first time many summit participants learned about Plus Codes, which are short digital addresses that are easy to share. The Navajo Nation recently completed a project to address 50,000 unaddressed properties using Plus Codes, helping people access community resources. In fact, Norbert Nez, IT Manager for the Navajo Nation Division of Community Development, first learned about Plus Codes when he attended a Geo for Good Summit a few years ago!
We also heard from the Google Earth and Earth Engine teams about new features such as creation tools and cross-browser support for Google Earth; and Cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs, and the REST API for Earth Engine. We also held our first Earth Engine “Cooking Class.” This wasn’t about whipping up dinner, but was an innovative approach to teaching participants how to create a simple Earth Engine app.
Next, we showcased some of the ways that Earth Engine is used for impact, including mapping wildfires using NOAA satellite data. Then, together with the National Geographic Society and the World Resources Institute, we shared the latest news on the Dynamic World project, which applies deep learning methods and large training datasets to advance global land cover mapping.
Office Hours: On-the-spot help with coding questions
When important research is on the line, there’s nothing like getting help from your peers in applying Google Earth Engine to problem-solving. At past Geo for Good Summits, attendees received advice in breakout rooms; this year, Google Chat became our breakout room.
Attendees like Francesc Conesa, a postdoc researcher at Spain’s Landscape Archaeology Research Group, Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, were able to check code implementations. Conesa’s research focuses on large-scale detection and monitoring of archaeological sites.
“I’m grateful and impressed by the response of the whole Google Earth Engine community team,” Conesa says. “I suspect many of them didn’t sleep much — especially in Europe — since they provided detailed answers to anyone regardless of their experience or skills. There were many ‘yeah, that makes sense’ moments. The best code comments are those that might not solve your question immediately, but make you think and learn about it.”
Christopher LeBoa, a researcher with the Luby Lab in the Department of Epidemiology at Stanford University, had a similar experience. He came to the Office Hours code clinic to get help with running classifiers in Earth Engine over large spatial areas. The Luby Lab’s research focuses on the human and environmental effects of propane distribution to Rohingya refugees in the Kutupalong refugee camp.
“I really appreciated the code camp — it made me feel like no coding question was a dumb question,” LeBoa says. “The tutors were able to convert code to English so I could make better progress on this project and understand Earth Engine generally.”
Virtual Meetups: Networking strengthens the geospatial community
The Geo for Good Summit isn’t just about training, although it’s a great time to learn new tools and technologies. Year after year, we’ve heard from partners how much they love the networking element of the summit. There’s nothing like stumbling upon someone who’s working on the same problem you are, or who tackled your challenge and knows exactly how to resolve it.
For the second day of the summit, creating (virtual) space for the community to connect was our top priority, so participants could meet face-to-face with each other. To do this, we joined forces with partners such as Women in Geospatial+, NASA SERVIR, Society for Conservation GIS, Conservation Remote Sensing Network (CRSNet) and others to facilitate 32 online meetups, with topics like remote sensing for urban areas, the geospatial industry’s response to COVID-19 challenges, and teaching Earth Engine in the classroom.
The meetup from Women in Geospatial+ network highlighted career paths and wisdom from people in the field, and was presented by Women in Spatial+’s Julia Wagemann and Sabrina Szeto. The powerful insights from the three panelists — Abena Asare-Ansah, Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo, and Dr. Keiko Nomura — highlighted the challenges faced by women and underrepresented genders in geospatial, even today, as well as efforts to bring greater diversity to the field.
“Representation is really important, as it enables young people, especially those from historically marginalized groups, to imagine themselves as scientists,” Dr. Nomura told participants. And both Asare-Ansah and Dr. Fatoyinbo spoke about the important roles their mentors played in their careers by encouraging them to apply for opportunities and introducing them to others in their networks.
“Several attendees left very positive comments in the chat during the session, which made me think that they don’t hear these things enough, or they are missing that encouragement and feel they are sometimes alone on this journey,” Szeto reports. Watch the meetup on YouTube.
The Public Sector meetup was a real marathon — 25 talks over three and a half hours from researchers, tool creators, and practitioners in the public sector space about using Google Earth Engine for common purposes across the field of Earth Observation. Watch all the talks here.
What’s next? A lot!
Clearly, the pandemic isn’t slowing us down from planning even more events for the geospatial community. We have several workshops coming to help you learn to use mapping tools for positive social and environmental change — check them out here.
In the meantime, we’re eagerly waiting to hear how all of you — in hundreds of countries — are making a positive impact on your communities and the world.
