“Change is the EO1 product: The problem is that we so rarely sell it.”
A bold statement from Will Cadell in his recent article Time for a Change. While Earth observation has always been about detecting change, Cadell argues that the industry still struggles to treat time as a structured and fundamental dimension.
The gap: Geospatial tools remain rooted in static, two-dimensional thinking. Time sliders and animated GIFs are useful, but they fall short of truly integrating time into analysis.
How to tackle this? – Future geospatial platforms must embrace 3D and 4D visualization, even if that means losing traditional geographical representation – because understanding change matters more than simply mapping it. Cadell again:
“Measuring geography through time often means we lose the geographical representation, but that’s ok!”
This shift in perspective is crucial. Whether for climate monitoring, disaster response, or financial markets, geospatial intelligence isn’t just about where things are – it’s about how and why they change.
Perhaps it’s time to stop selling static maps and start delivering dynamic, time-driven insights – think dashboards2
Footnotes
Earth observation↩︎
But be aware of the dashboard trap: Building useless dashboards↩︎