Digital Earth is a virtual representation of the planet, encompassing all its systems and forms, both natural environment and human societies, manifested as a multi-dimensional, multi-scale, multi-temporal, and multi-layer information facility. Digital Earth is the framework for geographically linked research and applications in the physical and social domains of the Earth, a digital modeling platform to monitor, measure, and forecast natural and human activity on the planet, and a visualization of the world. It is three-dimensional, four-dimensional if a temporal monitoring component is added, and even five-dimensional if scale is treated as a variable instead of a set of discrete steps. As a global initiative, Digital Earth aims to improve social conditions, protect the environment, and support future sustainable development.
The International Journal of Digital Earth is a response to this initiative. This peer-reviewed academic journal (SCI-E) focuses on the theories, technologies, applications, and societal implications of Digital Earth and those visionary concepts that will enable a modeled virtual world. The journal encourages papers that:
Progress visions for Digital Earth frameworks, policies, and standards;
Explore geographically referenced 3D, 4D, or 5D models to represent the real planet, and geo-data-intensive science and discovery;
Develop methods that turn all forms of geo-referenced data, from scientific to social, into useful information that can be analyzed, visualized, and shared;
Present innovative, operational applications and pilots of Digital Earth technologies at a local, national, regional, and global level;
Expand the role of Digital Earth in the fields of Earth science, including climate change, adaptation and health related issues,natural disasters, new energy sources, agricultural and food security, and urban planning;
Foster the use of web-based public-domain platforms, social networks, and location-based services for the sharing of digital data, models, and information about the virtual Earth; and
Explore the role of social media and citizen-provided data in generating geo-referenced information in the spatial sciences and technologies.
For producing research papers to be published in the journal, the following associated technologies and fields of research may be relevant, but in all cases, should be clearly linked to the topics above or the general Digital Earth concept: Earth observation (including remote sensing and in situ sensors), geographic information systems and science, global navigation systems, information and communication technologies (ICT, including spatial data infrastructure and global databases), virtual reality and immersive technologies, visualization and numerical simulation, cloud computing and high performance computation, mobile mapping systems, empowering the community and engaging society, Earth-system science, and sustainable development.
The journal publishes primary research papers, review articles, and short technical letters on research that warrants fast publication. The journal also welcomes thoughtful outlook papers that can generate debate and catalyze ideas to advance the Digital Earth vision. In addition, special issues on specific topics of relevance to Digital Earth will be published to examine particular points in depth. The Journal is an official publication of the International Society for Digital Earth ( www.digitalearth-isde.org)