WELCOME
STEFANO NATIVI
Symposium Chair
Big Data Chief Scientist of the
DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission – Ispra (ITALY)
Theme of this year’s conference:
Digital Earth in a Transformed Society
On behalf of the Scientific and Programme Committee, I am pleased to invite you to attend the 11th International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE 11), from the 24th to the 27th of September 2019, in Florence (Italy). The choice of the Renaissance city, as the meeting venue, was not accidental but the natural frame to debate the challenging Symposium theme: “Digital Earth in a Transformed Society“. The meeting will celebrate the completion of the first 20 years of the International Symposium on Digital Earth (held first in 1999 in Beijing), and provide the first opportunity to introduce and discuss the future role of Digital Earth in a changing World -considering the Digital Transformation that effects our entire Society.
Digital Earth (the virtual representation of our planet) is a multidisciplinary collaborative effort that engages different sciences (e.g. Earth, Space, Information, and Human sciences) to monitor and forecast natural and human phenomena. The Symposium objective is to discuss the contribution of Digital Earth to the Digital Transformation of the Society and the opportunities raised by this revolution to the Digital Earth science.
During the Symposium, the participants will discuss the role of Digital Earth in: (a) the Datafication process of the elements representing the Earth; (b) knowledge (insights) generation, from Big Data, to monitor and forecast natural and human phenomena; (c) the interpretation and use of insights for contributing to the many different Societal sectors -including economy.
The present digital revolution can be considered as a Renaissance for the Digital Earth, and the Symposium is the first global event focusing on this cultural and technological evolution.
The Symposium programme considers interdisciplinary macro areas, to overcome the traditional disciplinary divisions and improve the attendees’ experience. A couple of community areas, dealing with the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), are included to discuss the future of ISDE and the great debates that interest the Digital Earth Community.
Special sessions are organized to celebrate the 20 years of the ISDE Symposium, and joint sessions will be launched with “sister” organizations and Communities on themes of common interest.
I am looking forwards to meeting you in Florence and working together for the future of the Digital Earth science and the advancement of our Society.
Stefano Nativi – co-Chair of the ISDE 11 Scientific and Programme Committee
