The ethics of Google Earth: Crossing thresholds from spatial data to landscape visualisation
The ethics of Google Earth: Crossing thresholds from spatial data to landscape visualisation
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.09.012
复制
发表时间：
2009-05-01
影响因子：
8.7
通讯作者：
Cizek, Petr
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sheppard, Stephen R. J.;Cizek, Petr
“虚拟地球仪”软件系统，如谷歌地球，作为一种可视化和共享三维环境数据的方式，正在迅速普及。科学家和环境专业人士，其中许多人是新的3D建模和视觉通信，开始经常使用这些技术在他们的工作。虽然这些技术的吸引力是显而易见的，为公众提供了前所未有的机会，通过网络获取数据和进行协作，但在规划和决策等公共利益领域广泛使用这些技术是否存在风险？本文认为，谷歌地球的现象，其特点是逼真的图像的地方，不能只作为一个空间数据和地理信息科学的问题来处理。虚拟地球仪类型的可视化跨越了科学和环境信息交流的几个关键门槛，使其远远超出了传统的空间数据和地理信息科学的领域，并涉及人类感知和审美偏好的更复杂的维度。嵌入虚拟地球的景观可视化的现实主义，透视图和社会意义，不仅调用认知，而且情感和直觉的反应，与相关的不确定性，可信度和偏见的问题，在解释图像。本文认为，类型的风险以及可能存在的利益与参与使用虚拟地球的专家和外行人。它说明了早期的例子，从实践和相关的主题，从文学景观可视化和相关学科，如环境心理学和景观规划。适当使用环境可视化方法的现有框架和原则适用于广泛访问的特殊情况，逼真的3D和4D可视化系统，如谷歌地球，在公众意识建设和机构决策环境问题的背景下。提出了有关的原则，这些原则有助于对虚拟地球仪系统的风险和效益进行急需的评价。平衡这些好处和风险的可能方法包括道德规范、软件设计和元数据模板。(C)2008爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
'Virtual globe' software systems such as Google Earth are growing rapidly in popularity as a way to visualise and share 3D environmental data. Scientists and environmental professionals, many of whom are new to 3D modeling and visual communications, are beginning routinely to use such techniques in their work. While the appeal of these techniques is evident, with unprecedented opportunities for public access to data and collaborative engagement over the web, are there nonetheless risks in their widespread usage when applied in areas of the public interest such as planning and policy-making?This paper argues that the Google Earth phenomenon, which features realistic imagery of places, cannot be dealt with only as a question of spatial data and geographic information science. The virtual globe type of visualisation crosses several key thresholds in communicating scientific and environmental information, taking it well beyond the realm of conventional spatial data and geographic information science, and engaging more complex dimensions of human perception and aesthetic preference. The realism, perspective views, and social meanings of the landscape visualisations embedded in virtual globes invoke not only cognition but also emotional and intuitive responses, with associated issues of uncertainty, credibility, and bias in interpreting the imagery. This paper considers the types of risks as well as benefits that may exist with participatory uses of virtual globes by experts and lay-people. It is illustrated with early examples from practice and relevant themes from the literature in landscape visualisation and related disciplines Such as environmental psychology and landscape planning. Existing frameworks and principles for the appropriate use of environmental visualisation methods are applied to the special case of widely accessible, realistic 3D and 4D visualisation systems such as Google Earth, in the context of public awareness-building and agency decision-making on environmental issues. Relevant principles are suggested which lend themselves to much-needed evaluation of risks and benefits of virtual globe systems. Possible approaches for balancing these benefits and risks include codes of ethics, software design, and metadata templates. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.