Friday, February 1, 2008
Google Earth, Satellite Maps Boost Armchair Archaeology
This artilce takes a look at how Google Earth has made a major impact in the field of archaeology. This free and rather simple program has helped archaeologists find sites without leaving their home. The article also shows how aerial archaeology has advanced and the benefits of aerial photography. In addition to aiding archaeologists, Google Earth can be used to display detailed images of places all over the world from your home by simply moving your mouse. Google Earth is an example of how satellite mapping technology has advanced, as well as the ease at which the general public can access this advancement.
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I found this article very interesting, especially the topic about satellite imagery and its capabilities of using the entire electromagnetic spectrum to find ancient archeological sites. Because humans can only really see a small portion of the spectrum, visible light, sattelite imagery will help uncover sites using other portions of the spectrum like Infared. This will lead to many new site discoveries.
This article showed how Google Earth has changed the way we look at geography. I worked in a geology lab one summer during high school and the lab paid thousands of dollars for aerial images that were worse quality than Google Maps. The program is so easy to use, I'm sure many people that never thought of using images like that before are now looking to Google Earth for help.
This is quite an interesting application to Google Earth. Until now, I perceived the program to be no more than a means of looking at your own house or other landmarks across the globe (also a way to amaze some of your not so tech-savvy relatives).
With further advancements in the system (such as higher resolution, more areas covered, etc.), I could see this program as becoming an integral part of some areas of the scientific community. For example, a biologist may need to make observations in an area uninhabitable to humans. A satellite image would make such an observation easily achievable. Satellite imagery can also potentially be used to expose the general public to astronomy. Who knows, maybe our Google Earth will turn into “Google solar system.”
I didn't really know the importance of aerial maps until I read the article, which I found very interesting. I just find it amazing that technology has advanced so fast. Right now, the use of Google maps is still relatively new, and I'm sure many still do not know how it can help in scientific research. On this point, we can therefore guess that this article has more than 1 audience. It's not only targeted to the public, but to other archaeologists to let them know the function of this new technology.
Before reading this article I was not informed on the advantages of using aerial maps. I found the article intriguing because I had no idea that satellite imagery could advance archaeological research. Although aerial maps are becoming more and more popular, I think once the technology advances they will be much more useful in uncovering new sites.
GIS technologies like digital aerial photography are used for a variety of other purposes, not just archaeology. Organizations such as the Nature Conservancy regularily use similar GIS technology to find suitable habitats for rare or endnagered species. Aerial photography and remote sensing are getting so sophisticated now that scientists can even identify different forest and crop types without ever leaving the lab.
I found it surprising that this was deemed a 'new' thing in archaeology. Maybe I'm thinking of different types of satellite images, but I know that satellite imagery has been used in Natural Resource fields for many years for land surveys, vegetation surveys, and various other research venues. To me, this indicates a possible lack of communication between academic disciplines. Why didn't archaeologists find out about the usefulness of these satellite images when Natural Resource managers did?
This also brings to mind a conversation I had with my friend a couple weeks ago about interdisciplinary communication. He is a computer science major and he was mentioning a decision making modeling system that he was working on improving. I told him it sounded exactly like something ecologists used in population modeling. We wondered how much these models could be improved if there was more interdisciplinary collaboration on their construction.
It’s interesting to note how such a taken for granted feature on Google is such an invaluable tool for archeologists. As mentioned by others, the information presented in this article can inform a variety of audiences besides archeologists to utilize this for their own scientific interests. Further, it allows laypeople to tamper with science from Google. It just leaves me to wonder how long this program can be used before priority in discovery becomes an issue.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. Google Earth has had a dramatic impact on the way we view our world and I myself use Google Earth all the time just for fun. However, I believe and realize that this application can truly help people as well. Whether it is discovering new archeological sites, or merely viewing different geography, Google Earth is an easy and useful tool that will help progress new scientific discoveries.
This is incredible. It's ubelievable that these people could use this technology for free. Years ago, I had a chance to play around on a system like this and was blown away. Though the system wasn't highly advanced and was more of being tested cheaply, it was still amazing. It's even more special that the same kind of technology I got to demo when i was 13 is being used in fields like archeology.
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