PAIR Distinguished Lecture: “Geospatial Futures”

Abstract

Although the term geospatial is surprisingly recent, it has proven very successful at integrating tools, services, data, and systems around the central concept of where. I review some of the key breakthroughs in geospatial technology, some of the legacy practices that remain centrally important, and some of the most compelling examples of social impact. Currently a number of topics occupy the cutting edge of research and development: machine learning and generative AI, digital twins, and ethics. Uncertainty has proven very difficult to address in any comprehensive way, and is likely to become more problematic as geospatial applications of AI become more universal.