EYE-on-Earth
Eye On Earth
• If you had a teenage son or daughter, how would you
teach them in the importance of Earth Systems
Information and Global Earth Observation Systems
of Systems? Would you have them read a
newspaper? Watch the news? Attend class? How
about having them WANT to learn about Earth
observation and systems from playing a computer
“game”?
• Objective: create a game/simulation that will capture
the attention of multiple audiences and create a
greater understanding of the benefits of Earth
Observation to address world problems in 9 societal
areas
Game Creation –
a global “Grand Challenge”
• Creating a contest to create a computer
game which would demonstrate the value
of global earth observation
– Twenty month competition
– Player addresses Environment-driven issues
with real world data
– Multiple levels of complexity
– Applicable to multiple computer platforms
– Open source
– Multi cultural
Proposed Approach
• Contest Announced late November 2008
with “start date” January 2009
• Twenty month competition period with
review of submissions August 2010
• Winner announced at Summit 2010
• Winners travel to regions of the globe,
introducing the game into communities
and the education system in 2011.
Eye On Earth – present validation
• Concept: 3D Educational Game based on real-life
Earth science data from the system employed by
GEOSS. The player controls two continents (one
“developed” and one “developing”), and is faced
with surviving and prospering by balancing the
populations’ energy demands and the resulting
pollution output through wisely manipulating their
diverse resources.
• Story Behind the Game:
• An individual is taken from the real world and placed in a parallel
world where time moves a lot faster, so that the impacts of
environmental decisions can be more easily observed.
• The player is given the control of an existing city which he must
maintain and expand by providing sufficient energy resources while
trying to limit the resulting pollution that affects the whole world.
• It is only a matter of time before natural disasters start happening
and destroy the balance.
A Proof of Concept for EYE-on-Earth
• Proof of Concept Available for early demos
- Feb 2008
• Target for proof of concept release for
demonstrations - June 2008
Proposal to CBC
• GEO and CBC co-sponsor game contest
with appropriate branding and publicity
• Include activities within existing CBC task
or create a new task
• Participate in team defining details of the
contest implementation including the
objectives.