Deep-time Earth research plays a pivotal role in deciphering the rates,patterns,and mechanisms of Earth's evolutionary processes throughout geological history,providing essential scientific foundations for climate...Deep-time Earth research plays a pivotal role in deciphering the rates,patterns,and mechanisms of Earth's evolutionary processes throughout geological history,providing essential scientific foundations for climate prediction,natural resource exploration,and sustainable planetary stewardship.To advance Deep-time Earth research in the era of big data and artificial intelligence,the International Union of Geological Sciences initiated the“Deeptime Digital Earth International Big Science Program”(DDE)in 2019.At the core of this ambitious program lies the development of geoscience knowledge graphs,serving as a transformative knowledge infrastructure that enables the integration,sharing,mining,and analysis of heterogeneous geoscience big data.The DDE knowledge graph initiative has made significant strides in three critical dimensions:(1)establishing a unified knowledge structure across geoscience disciplines that ensures consistent representation of geological entities and their interrelationships through standardized ontologies and semantic frameworks;(2)developing a robust and scalable software infrastructure capable of supporting both expert-driven and machine-assisted knowledge engineering for large-scale graph construction and management;(3)implementing a comprehensive three-tiered architecture encompassing basic,discipline-specific,and application-oriented knowledge graphs,spanning approximately 20 geoscience disciplines.Through its open knowledge framework and international collaborative network,this initiative has fostered multinational research collaborations,establishing a robust foundation for next-generation geoscience research while propelling the discipline toward FAIR(Findable,Accessible,Interoperable,Reusable)data practices in deep-time Earth systems research.展开更多
Groundwater is an important water resource.The total amount of active groundwater in a hydrological cycle is about 3.5 times that of the total amount of surface water.The information in the deep groundwater records th...Groundwater is an important water resource.The total amount of active groundwater in a hydrological cycle is about 3.5 times that of the total amount of surface water.The information in the deep groundwater records the material exchange and dynamics in the earth’s evolution,which is an important aspect of the Deep-Time Digital Earth(DDE)plan.In recent years,scientists have discussed the distribution of transboundary aquifers and the environmental significance of groundwater resources through groundwater databases established by international organizations,such as the Global Groundwater Information System and the chronicles consortium,and national institutes,such as national geological surveys.The application of the groundwater database in the DDE plan,however,has been limited by the management,interactivity,and monitoring method of the groundwater data.The ability to further integrate data that are private and scattered across research institutions and individuals,while establishing an open,unified,and shared groundwater data platform,is essential to enhance our understanding of groundwater,ranging from shallow to deep water,which is a goal of the DDE plan.In this study,we introduced the current situation of groundwater database operations in domestic and international research and provided frontier research with groundwater big data.Considering the related objectives of the DDE plan and the limitations of existing groundwater databases,we proposed an improvement plan and new prospects for applying groundwater databases in the research of the deep earth.展开更多
1 Introduction Information technology has been playing an ever-increasing role in geoscience.Sphisicated database platforms are essential for geological data storage,analysis and exchange of Big Data(Feblowitz,2013;Zh...1 Introduction Information technology has been playing an ever-increasing role in geoscience.Sphisicated database platforms are essential for geological data storage,analysis and exchange of Big Data(Feblowitz,2013;Zhang et al.,2016;Teng et al.,2016;Tian and Li,2018).The United States has built an information-sharing platform for state-owned scientific data as a national strategy.展开更多
1 Introduction Sedimentary rocks archive important information for understanding how the earth system operates and how life and environments have evolved through earth history.Properly identifying characteristics of s...1 Introduction Sedimentary rocks archive important information for understanding how the earth system operates and how life and environments have evolved through earth history.Properly identifying characteristics of sedimentary rocks,along with the subsequent interpretation of depositional processes and sedimentary environments in a basin or locality.展开更多
Sustainability is the current theme of global development, and for China, it is not only an opportunity but also a challenge. In 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted, addressing the need to limit th...Sustainability is the current theme of global development, and for China, it is not only an opportunity but also a challenge. In 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted, addressing the need to limit the rise of global temperatures. The United Nations(UN) has set Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) to transform our world in terms of closely linking human well-being, economic prosperity, and healthy environments. Sustainable development requires the support of spatial information and objective evaluation,and the capability of macroscopic, rapid, accurate Earth observation techniques plays an important role in sustainable development. Recently, Earth observation technologies are developing rapidly in China, where scientists are building coordinated, comprehensive and sustainable Earth observation systems for global monitoring programs. Recent efforts include the Digital Belt and Road Program(DBAR) and comparative studies of the "three poles". This and other researches will provide powerful support for solving problems such as global change and environmental degradation.展开更多
The Belt and Road initiative has a significant focus on infrastructure,trade,and economic development across a vast region,and it also provides significant opportunities for sustainable development.The combined pressu...The Belt and Road initiative has a significant focus on infrastructure,trade,and economic development across a vast region,and it also provides significant opportunities for sustainable development.The combined pressure of climate variability,intensified use of resources,and the fragility of ecosystems make it very challenging,however,to achieve future sustainability.To develop the path in a sustainable way,it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of these issues across nations and evaluate them in a scientific and well-informed approach.In this context,the Digital Belt and Road(DBAR)program was initiated as an international venture to share expertise,knowledge,technologies,and data to demonstrate the role of Earth observation science and technology and big Earth data applications to support large-scale development.In this paper,we identify pressing challenges,present the research priorities and foci of the DBAR program,and propose solutions where big Earth data can make significant contributions.This paper calls for further joint actions and collaboration to build a digital silk road in support of sustainable development at national,regional and global levels.展开更多
At the 19th G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024,China promoted the development of sustainable solutions to climate change,biodiversity loss,and environmental pollution.This continued the theme of the 2016 G20 Hangzh...At the 19th G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024,China promoted the development of sustainable solutions to climate change,biodiversity loss,and environmental pollution.This continued the theme of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit,at which China placed development at the center of the G20’s macroeconomic policy coordination for the first time,adopting the G20 Action Plan on the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa and Least Developed Countries.In Brazil,China announced actions on advancing modernization in Africa over the next three years with a Chinese commitment of RMB360 billion yuan in financial support.In this article,we examine the potential role of geoscience research and practice in development,particularly in the sustainable use of natural resources,the prevention of climate change impacts,as well as mitigation of geo-hazards and their health implications,indicating the areas where China’s geoscience for Africa is strong and where it requires more effort.We find that although China is the world’s leading publisher of scientific papers,its contribution to geoscience in Africa(the globe’s fastest-growing economic area),as shown by bibliometric research,appears to be rather small and inconsistent with the research priorities of Africa.Amongst the priorities for geoscience research in Africa,which are not addressed substantially by the research conducted so far,are sustainable mineral and hydrocarbon development,hydrology and hydrogeology,climate change and resilience,natural hazards,medical geology,agrominerals,and geoscience education and training.A particular opportunity for African nations is the presence of critical minerals-minerals needed for the energy transition and for batteries for electric cars in particular.Africa is well-endowed with many of these critical materials,such as rare earth elements and platinum group metals.Several research groups stress the need for the agency on the part of African institutions to map out these valuable resources,understand their value and the economics and sustainability of their extraction,encourage local business,attract investment,and scrutinize proposals from potential international investors to get the best deals.A strong point of existing China-led geoscience development includes the Deep-time Digital Earth(DDE)program online computing platform and its artificial intelligence tool GeoGPT,which is being developed in partnership with Zhejiang Laboratory.These are being developed with strong China funding support for free and wide global access,with a particular focus on Africa.These advanced tools will help to place the agency of development squarely in the hands of African scientists and institutions.In summary,the following are recommended:(1)a more coordinated and strategic approach to China-led geoscience research in Africa;(2)an Africa-centered,geoscience funding initiative that concentrates on relevant topics to the continent such as critical minerals exploration and other geological resources,materials and processes and their health implications on the populations and ecosystems in general,as well as climate change and climate change resilience;and(3)continued support for China-led international initiatives that seek to increase the agency and capacity of Africa geoscience researchers,for example the Deep-time Digital Earth platform.展开更多
The climate paleogeography,especially the climate classifications,helps to interpret the global and regional climate changes and intuitively compare the climate conditions in different regions.However,the application ...The climate paleogeography,especially the climate classifications,helps to interpret the global and regional climate changes and intuitively compare the climate conditions in different regions.However,the application of climate classification in deep time(i.e.,climate paleogeography)is prohibited due to the usually qualitatively constrained paleoclimate and the inconsistent descriptions and semantic heterogeneity of the climate types.In this study,a climate paleogeography knowledge graph is established under the framework of the Deep-Time Digital Earth program(DDE).The hierarchical knowledge graph consists of five paleoclimate classifications based on various strategies.The classifications are described and their strengths and weaknesses are fully evaluated in four aspects:“simplicity,applicability,quantifiability,and comparability”.We also reconstruct the global climate distributions in the Late Cretaceous according to these classifications.The results are compared and the relationships among these climate types in different classifications are evaluated.Our study unifies scientific concepts from different paleoclimate classifications,which provides an important theoretical basis for the application of paleoclimate classifications in deep time.展开更多
Paleogeographic analysis accounts for an essential part of geological research,making important contributions in the reconstruction of depositional environments and tectonic evolution histories(Ingalls et al.,2016;Mer...Paleogeographic analysis accounts for an essential part of geological research,making important contributions in the reconstruction of depositional environments and tectonic evolution histories(Ingalls et al.,2016;Merdith et al.,2017),the prediction of mineral resource distributions in continental sedimentary basins(Sun and Wang,2009),and the investigation of climate patterns and ecosystems(Cox,2016).展开更多
On the platform of the Deep-time Digital Earth Program(DDE),sedimentary data are essential for achieving its scientific objectives.These data will take stratigraphic units as their core data carrier,for quantitative o...On the platform of the Deep-time Digital Earth Program(DDE),sedimentary data are essential for achieving its scientific objectives.These data will take stratigraphic units as their core data carrier,for quantitative or qualitative data analysis.The DDE Sedimentary Data Group is responsible for the management of the sedimentary data on the DDE platform and has now developed into a group of nearly 40 disciplinary experts.展开更多
The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road(B&R)aims at facilitating the twenty-first Century economic development of China.However,climate change,air quality and related feedbacks are affe...The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road(B&R)aims at facilitating the twenty-first Century economic development of China.However,climate change,air quality and related feedbacks are affecting the successful development of the environment and societies in the B&R geographical domain.The most urgent risks related to the atmospheric system,to the land system and to hydrospheric and cryospheric processes are changing climate-air quality interactions,air pollution,changing monsoon dynamics,land degradation,and the melting of Tibetan Plateau glaciers.A framework is needed in which a science and technology-based approach has the critical mass and expertise to identify the main steps toward solutions and is capable to implement this roadmap.The Pan-Eurasian Experiment(PEEX)program,initiated in 2012,aims to resolve science,technology and sustainability questions in the Northern Eurasian region.PEEX is now identifying its science agenda for the B&R region.One fundamental element of the PEEX research agenda is the availability of comprehensive ground-based observations together with Earth observation data.PEEX complements the recently launched international scientific program called Digital Belt and Road(DBAR).PEEX has expertise to coordinate the ground-based observations and initiate new flagship stations,while DBAR provides a big data platform on Earth observation from China and countries along the Belt and Road region.The DBAR and PEEX have joint interests and synergy expertise on monitoring on ecological environment,urbanization,cultural heritages,coastal zones,and arctic cold regions supporting the sustainable development of the Belt and Road region.In this paper we identify the research themes of the PEEX related Silk Road agenda relevant to China and give an overview of the methodological requirements and present the infrastructure requirements needed to carry out large scale research program.展开更多
Location has proven axiomatic as an economic variable throughout human history.Tobler’s first law of geography introduced the importance of location;in that,near things are more related than far things.In an age of d...Location has proven axiomatic as an economic variable throughout human history.Tobler’s first law of geography introduced the importance of location;in that,near things are more related than far things.In an age of digital economies,a new research frontier exists where everything is more related to everything else and has an increased economic value from spatially enabled technology.The accessibility of digital-spatial information has brought economic geographers to a new understanding of markets within a Digital Earth framework.The importance of location to economic value can be expected to grow as the Internet of Things develops in sophistication.New business models enter and disrupt established markets with innovative spatially enabled approaches.A successful penetration of established markets suggests a new business model for financial and functional utility by engaging spatially enabled assets.The second law of geography is introduced as a conceptual framework to comprehend the economic potential of spatially enabled information.A comparative analysis of non-spatial versus spatial web agents provides a quantitative framework to demonstrate the benefits of the Digital Earth economy.展开更多
基金Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,No.XDB0740000National Key Research and Development Program of China,No.2022YFB3904200,No.2022YFF0711601+1 种基金Key Project of Innovation LREIS,No.PI009National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.42471503。
文摘Deep-time Earth research plays a pivotal role in deciphering the rates,patterns,and mechanisms of Earth's evolutionary processes throughout geological history,providing essential scientific foundations for climate prediction,natural resource exploration,and sustainable planetary stewardship.To advance Deep-time Earth research in the era of big data and artificial intelligence,the International Union of Geological Sciences initiated the“Deeptime Digital Earth International Big Science Program”(DDE)in 2019.At the core of this ambitious program lies the development of geoscience knowledge graphs,serving as a transformative knowledge infrastructure that enables the integration,sharing,mining,and analysis of heterogeneous geoscience big data.The DDE knowledge graph initiative has made significant strides in three critical dimensions:(1)establishing a unified knowledge structure across geoscience disciplines that ensures consistent representation of geological entities and their interrelationships through standardized ontologies and semantic frameworks;(2)developing a robust and scalable software infrastructure capable of supporting both expert-driven and machine-assisted knowledge engineering for large-scale graph construction and management;(3)implementing a comprehensive three-tiered architecture encompassing basic,discipline-specific,and application-oriented knowledge graphs,spanning approximately 20 geoscience disciplines.Through its open knowledge framework and international collaborative network,this initiative has fostered multinational research collaborations,establishing a robust foundation for next-generation geoscience research while propelling the discipline toward FAIR(Findable,Accessible,Interoperable,Reusable)data practices in deep-time Earth systems research.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China No.41630318Deep-Time Digital Earth(DDE)Plan and Hydrology Team of DDE plan in China University of Geosciences,Wuhan。
文摘Groundwater is an important water resource.The total amount of active groundwater in a hydrological cycle is about 3.5 times that of the total amount of surface water.The information in the deep groundwater records the material exchange and dynamics in the earth’s evolution,which is an important aspect of the Deep-Time Digital Earth(DDE)plan.In recent years,scientists have discussed the distribution of transboundary aquifers and the environmental significance of groundwater resources through groundwater databases established by international organizations,such as the Global Groundwater Information System and the chronicles consortium,and national institutes,such as national geological surveys.The application of the groundwater database in the DDE plan,however,has been limited by the management,interactivity,and monitoring method of the groundwater data.The ability to further integrate data that are private and scattered across research institutions and individuals,while establishing an open,unified,and shared groundwater data platform,is essential to enhance our understanding of groundwater,ranging from shallow to deep water,which is a goal of the DDE plan.In this study,we introduced the current situation of groundwater database operations in domestic and international research and provided frontier research with groundwater big data.Considering the related objectives of the DDE plan and the limitations of existing groundwater databases,we proposed an improvement plan and new prospects for applying groundwater databases in the research of the deep earth.
基金granted by the National Science&Technology Major Projects of China(Grant No.2016ZX05033).
文摘1 Introduction Information technology has been playing an ever-increasing role in geoscience.Sphisicated database platforms are essential for geological data storage,analysis and exchange of Big Data(Feblowitz,2013;Zhang et al.,2016;Teng et al.,2016;Tian and Li,2018).The United States has built an information-sharing platform for state-owned scientific data as a national strategy.
文摘1 Introduction Sedimentary rocks archive important information for understanding how the earth system operates and how life and environments have evolved through earth history.Properly identifying characteristics of sedimentary rocks,along with the subsequent interpretation of depositional processes and sedimentary environments in a basin or locality.
文摘Sustainability is the current theme of global development, and for China, it is not only an opportunity but also a challenge. In 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted, addressing the need to limit the rise of global temperatures. The United Nations(UN) has set Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) to transform our world in terms of closely linking human well-being, economic prosperity, and healthy environments. Sustainable development requires the support of spatial information and objective evaluation,and the capability of macroscopic, rapid, accurate Earth observation techniques plays an important role in sustainable development. Recently, Earth observation technologies are developing rapidly in China, where scientists are building coordinated, comprehensive and sustainable Earth observation systems for global monitoring programs. Recent efforts include the Digital Belt and Road Program(DBAR) and comparative studies of the "three poles". This and other researches will provide powerful support for solving problems such as global change and environmental degradation.
基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Project title:CASEarth[XDA19000000]Digital Belt and Road[XDA19030000].
文摘The Belt and Road initiative has a significant focus on infrastructure,trade,and economic development across a vast region,and it also provides significant opportunities for sustainable development.The combined pressure of climate variability,intensified use of resources,and the fragility of ecosystems make it very challenging,however,to achieve future sustainability.To develop the path in a sustainable way,it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of these issues across nations and evaluate them in a scientific and well-informed approach.In this context,the Digital Belt and Road(DBAR)program was initiated as an international venture to share expertise,knowledge,technologies,and data to demonstrate the role of Earth observation science and technology and big Earth data applications to support large-scale development.In this paper,we identify pressing challenges,present the research priorities and foci of the DBAR program,and propose solutions where big Earth data can make significant contributions.This paper calls for further joint actions and collaboration to build a digital silk road in support of sustainable development at national,regional and global levels.
文摘At the 19th G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024,China promoted the development of sustainable solutions to climate change,biodiversity loss,and environmental pollution.This continued the theme of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit,at which China placed development at the center of the G20’s macroeconomic policy coordination for the first time,adopting the G20 Action Plan on the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa and Least Developed Countries.In Brazil,China announced actions on advancing modernization in Africa over the next three years with a Chinese commitment of RMB360 billion yuan in financial support.In this article,we examine the potential role of geoscience research and practice in development,particularly in the sustainable use of natural resources,the prevention of climate change impacts,as well as mitigation of geo-hazards and their health implications,indicating the areas where China’s geoscience for Africa is strong and where it requires more effort.We find that although China is the world’s leading publisher of scientific papers,its contribution to geoscience in Africa(the globe’s fastest-growing economic area),as shown by bibliometric research,appears to be rather small and inconsistent with the research priorities of Africa.Amongst the priorities for geoscience research in Africa,which are not addressed substantially by the research conducted so far,are sustainable mineral and hydrocarbon development,hydrology and hydrogeology,climate change and resilience,natural hazards,medical geology,agrominerals,and geoscience education and training.A particular opportunity for African nations is the presence of critical minerals-minerals needed for the energy transition and for batteries for electric cars in particular.Africa is well-endowed with many of these critical materials,such as rare earth elements and platinum group metals.Several research groups stress the need for the agency on the part of African institutions to map out these valuable resources,understand their value and the economics and sustainability of their extraction,encourage local business,attract investment,and scrutinize proposals from potential international investors to get the best deals.A strong point of existing China-led geoscience development includes the Deep-time Digital Earth(DDE)program online computing platform and its artificial intelligence tool GeoGPT,which is being developed in partnership with Zhejiang Laboratory.These are being developed with strong China funding support for free and wide global access,with a particular focus on Africa.These advanced tools will help to place the agency of development squarely in the hands of African scientists and institutions.In summary,the following are recommended:(1)a more coordinated and strategic approach to China-led geoscience research in Africa;(2)an Africa-centered,geoscience funding initiative that concentrates on relevant topics to the continent such as critical minerals exploration and other geological resources,materials and processes and their health implications on the populations and ecosystems in general,as well as climate change and climate change resilience;and(3)continued support for China-led international initiatives that seek to increase the agency and capacity of Africa geoscience researchers,for example the Deep-time Digital Earth platform.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Plan of China(Grant No.2018YFE0204204)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42050104,41790455,and 42072116).
文摘The climate paleogeography,especially the climate classifications,helps to interpret the global and regional climate changes and intuitively compare the climate conditions in different regions.However,the application of climate classification in deep time(i.e.,climate paleogeography)is prohibited due to the usually qualitatively constrained paleoclimate and the inconsistent descriptions and semantic heterogeneity of the climate types.In this study,a climate paleogeography knowledge graph is established under the framework of the Deep-Time Digital Earth program(DDE).The hierarchical knowledge graph consists of five paleoclimate classifications based on various strategies.The classifications are described and their strengths and weaknesses are fully evaluated in four aspects:“simplicity,applicability,quantifiability,and comparability”.We also reconstruct the global climate distributions in the Late Cretaceous according to these classifications.The results are compared and the relationships among these climate types in different classifications are evaluated.Our study unifies scientific concepts from different paleoclimate classifications,which provides an important theoretical basis for the application of paleoclimate classifications in deep time.
基金granted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41802126)Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Sedimentary Mineralization and Sedimentary Minerals in Shandong Province(Grant No.DMSM2017006).
文摘Paleogeographic analysis accounts for an essential part of geological research,making important contributions in the reconstruction of depositional environments and tectonic evolution histories(Ingalls et al.,2016;Merdith et al.,2017),the prediction of mineral resource distributions in continental sedimentary basins(Sun and Wang,2009),and the investigation of climate patterns and ecosystems(Cox,2016).
文摘On the platform of the Deep-time Digital Earth Program(DDE),sedimentary data are essential for achieving its scientific objectives.These data will take stratigraphic units as their core data carrier,for quantitative or qualitative data analysis.The DDE Sedimentary Data Group is responsible for the management of the sedimentary data on the DDE platform and has now developed into a group of nearly 40 disciplinary experts.
基金This work was support from the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence[grant number 307331]the Academy of Finland Academy Professor[grant number 307567],ERC Advanced grant[project ID 742206],Digital Belt&Road of CAS Strategic Priority Research Program[grant number XDA19030402]the Academy of Finland projects ABBA No.280700(2014-2017)and ClimEco No.314798/799(2018-2020)and Russian Science Foundation projects No.15-17-20009(2015-2018)and No.15-17-30009(2015-2018).
文摘The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road(B&R)aims at facilitating the twenty-first Century economic development of China.However,climate change,air quality and related feedbacks are affecting the successful development of the environment and societies in the B&R geographical domain.The most urgent risks related to the atmospheric system,to the land system and to hydrospheric and cryospheric processes are changing climate-air quality interactions,air pollution,changing monsoon dynamics,land degradation,and the melting of Tibetan Plateau glaciers.A framework is needed in which a science and technology-based approach has the critical mass and expertise to identify the main steps toward solutions and is capable to implement this roadmap.The Pan-Eurasian Experiment(PEEX)program,initiated in 2012,aims to resolve science,technology and sustainability questions in the Northern Eurasian region.PEEX is now identifying its science agenda for the B&R region.One fundamental element of the PEEX research agenda is the availability of comprehensive ground-based observations together with Earth observation data.PEEX complements the recently launched international scientific program called Digital Belt and Road(DBAR).PEEX has expertise to coordinate the ground-based observations and initiate new flagship stations,while DBAR provides a big data platform on Earth observation from China and countries along the Belt and Road region.The DBAR and PEEX have joint interests and synergy expertise on monitoring on ecological environment,urbanization,cultural heritages,coastal zones,and arctic cold regions supporting the sustainable development of the Belt and Road region.In this paper we identify the research themes of the PEEX related Silk Road agenda relevant to China and give an overview of the methodological requirements and present the infrastructure requirements needed to carry out large scale research program.
基金supported by International Center for Remote Sensing Education.
文摘Location has proven axiomatic as an economic variable throughout human history.Tobler’s first law of geography introduced the importance of location;in that,near things are more related than far things.In an age of digital economies,a new research frontier exists where everything is more related to everything else and has an increased economic value from spatially enabled technology.The accessibility of digital-spatial information has brought economic geographers to a new understanding of markets within a Digital Earth framework.The importance of location to economic value can be expected to grow as the Internet of Things develops in sophistication.New business models enter and disrupt established markets with innovative spatially enabled approaches.A successful penetration of established markets suggests a new business model for financial and functional utility by engaging spatially enabled assets.The second law of geography is introduced as a conceptual framework to comprehend the economic potential of spatially enabled information.A comparative analysis of non-spatial versus spatial web agents provides a quantitative framework to demonstrate the benefits of the Digital Earth economy.
