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Google Saves the Forests with New Software

One of the things that we have been writing about for quite some time is environmental concerns and what the printer industry is doing to contribute towards saving the environment. This is why we think that it is only appropriate to follow what is going on at the United Nations International Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The printer industry is one of the industries that can potentially contribute towards environmental issues. In order to ensure that this does not happen, industry players such as HP, Epson and Xerox, among others, have been staunch supporters of programs towards saving the environment. From innovations that can lead to less use of paper or advocating the use of recyclable materials, the printer manufacturing industry has practically done it all.

google earth One of the rather interesting technologies presented during the conference came from Google. The company unveiled software that utilizes cloud computing technology to follow changes in the forests of the world.

Google describes the solution as “a new technology prototype that enables online, global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the earth’s forests.”

At the core of the technology is satellite imagery data, which can be provided by Google Earth. Satellite imagery data is, of course, nothing new; we can very well use Google Earth and see the extent of deforestation of the world’s forests. However, what has been missing – and what may be addressed by the Google prototype – is the ability to measure the deforestation.

Google said that the technology was developed in collaboration with Greg Asner of Carnegie Institution for Science and Carlos Souza of Imazon. Both were described in the Google blog as “at the cutting edge of forest science” and contributed to the effort by way of developing “software that creates forest cover and deforestation maps from satellite imagery.”

What this innovation means is that scientists will now be able to analyze raw data and get information regarding the world’s forests including “locations and measurements of deforestation” and the “regeneration of a forest.”