The world is hankering for a return to normalcy. People want to forget 2020 as a bad dream and move on, continuing to do whatever they were doing in 2019. This is wishful thinking of course because ‘normal’ is not static — it changes with time. There was a time when Remote Sensing was a new-fangled technology trying to muscle into mapping. Today, geospatial technologies, including Remote Sensing, have taken on new roles far beyond just mapping. When COVID-19 hit the world, it was these technologies that provided valuable information through dashboards, which helped frontline workers and the common public access healthcare facilities and other information.
In spite of dire warnings of an economic slowdown and downturn, the only technologies that made good progress were geospatial systems. Location information played a key role as it became necessary to maintain supply chains right to the doorsteps of individuals. Location was also the key to tracking individuals with Covid and alerting people to remain safe. People left crowded cities to seek safety in smaller communities. This presented a great opportunity for real estate developers. Emphasis was laid on infrastructure, including communications, as people were locked in at home and working remotely became the norm.
The year 2021 has not brought relief in full measure but the world is better prepared to handle the situation now. Vaccines have been developed and are being administered worldwide with the help of location information. Governments, businesses, academic institutions and people have begun to adjust to the new normal. The world is experiencing a massive move towards digitalization and geospatial is playing a major role in the process, with location continuing to be in the forefront, followed by infrastructure development, agriculture, environment management and habitat planning.
Meanwhile, Climate Change continues to play havoc by subjecting us to unusual weather events. Covid restrictions showed that energy profligacy can be controlled; cleaner air is achievable; and nature does reclaim what was taken away from its creatures by humankind in its blind rush towards ‘development’. Addressing Climate Change will continue to pose a major challenge to scientists — they will need assistance from geospatial technologies to convince the world of its dangers and persuade governments and industry to move towards sustainability.
Development is not a ‘bad’ word, provided it is tempered with equity and sustainability, not only for humans, but for nature itself. The term sustainable development has been around for long, but it has never been as important and urgent as it is now. Planet Earth needs to be able to balance conflicting demands on its resources — and only humans can bring about this equity with the same energy and innovation they used in the past to hurt nature with untrammeled greed.
This balancing act, which is defined in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, will require an enormous amount of information (much of it location-based) and analytics of the highest order. This is where geospatial systems will play a crucial role. Politicians and administrators will need help in making correct decisions, so that development works for all and not just for a select few.
It is no wonder then that the geospatial industry is very positive about the future. It saw major investments during the pandemic, which will begin to bear fruit in the coming years. These investments in new satellites and sensors are designed to provide relevant data, which, in combination with other data from different sources, can be analyzed on the Cloud using the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning to yield valuable insights for further action by governments, industry and the public.
These are the green shoots of recovery that will provide information to help the world adjust to the new normal in a post-Covid world.
