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The Land Use Calculator is a tool for rapid scenario analysis of land-use implications, useful for decision-makers to address real-world challenges and for classroom teaching of conservation biology, sustainable development, environmental economics and global change biology. It is a decision-support tool targeted at land-use decision-makers in the tropic, allowing users to evaluate the implications and tradeoffs of pursuing alternative development scenarios by simultaneously accounting for the societal priorities of agricultural production, economic development, carbon conservation and biodiversity protection. Users specify a few environmental and socioeconomic parameters describing a landscape scenario, and the tool determines the implications of that scenario in terms of biodiversity, carbon stocks, greenhouse-gas emissions, financial returns of the land and employment opportunities.

This online data viewer provides user-friendly access to regional land cover and land cover change information developed through NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP). The Land Cover Atlas eliminates the need for desktop geographic information system software, or advanced technical expertise, by processing C-CAP data for the user and providing easy access to that distilled information.

"BioCarbon Tracker uses satellite data and advanced methods to map the ecosystems where biocarbon is stored, identify vegetation at risk from land use change and monitor where high biocarbon stock land such as forest is converted to agriculture."

journalist Fred Pearce reports on how the rapid spread of community-based, digital mapping is helping indigenous groups worldwide to claim ownership of their lands and protect them from logging and other outside development. From the Congo, to Guyana, to the Australian outback, local communities are increasingly using GPS technology and Google Earth to document their traditional forests, hunting areas, burial grounds, and important cultural sites. As Pearce writes, the aim is to produce maps that governments cannot ignore and that can assist local people in saving their homelands

Google Chrome recently introduced Land Lines, a delightful new way to explore the gorgeous satellite images from Google Earth. Landlines invites users to discover new satellite images in two ways: Draw and Drag. With the Draw feature, visitors simply create a small doodle on their monitor or personal device. Next, Landlines, with the aid of machine learning, presents visitors with a satellite picture that contains this line or shape in some form: perhaps as a gridded street, the shape of a mountain range, or the curve of a lake. A caption in the bottom left hand side of the browser alerts readers as to what they are looking at and allows visitors to explore each area in more detail via Google Maps. With Drag, users can "create an infinite line of connective rivers, highways, and coastlines." Both modes of exploration offer innovative and highly enjoyable ways to see the world from one's own computer.

Multimedia, lessons, data, and background information about the Great Lakes. Includes a "Listen to the Lake" podcast and several webcams. Lessons to download relate to watershed land use, fish life cycles, invasive species, human population, and others.

Google's global, zoomable time-lapse map illustrates land use change phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, and urban growth in Las Vegas. "Using Google Earth Engine technology, we sifted through 2,068,467 images-a total of 909 terabytes of data-to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. We then compiled these into enormous planetary images, 1.78 terapixels each, one for each year. As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation."

"Over the past few generations, conservation groups have spent billions of dollars on scientific research, land purchase, policy change and education to address these threats. But one question that has received little attention is: How do we get people to change their behavior? What really works?"

A downloadable US forest map assembled from space-based radar, satellite sensors, computer models, and a massive amount of ground-based data. It is possibly the highest resolution and most detailed view of forest structure and carbon storage ever assembled for any country. "Trees are one of Earth's largest banks for storing the carbon that gets emitted by natural processes and human activities. Forests cover about 30 percent of the planet's surface, and as much as 45 percent of the carbon stored on land is tied up in forests."

This blog is by an elementary teacher in Palmer Station, Antarctica to lead educational outreach for a research team that is studying the largest land animal in Antarctica... (which, believe it or not, is a wingless fly!)

"Berkeley Earth has just released analysis of land-surface temperature records going back 250 years, about 100 years further than previous studies. The analysis shows that global warming is real, and the best explanation of the temperature trend is a combination of volcanoes and CO2."

Web-based tool that provides land owners, managers, and planners with the most current climate change science available * compiles climate change projections, literature-based impacts and management options, and Forest Service land and resource management plans in an online database; * synthesizes these inputs based on user-defined criteria; and * creates an optional customized report to aid forest planning and management. "

"ut the truth is that satellites are so last century-so much, in fact, that scientists have begun using them to document historical changes. The above picture, from NASA's 38-year-old Landsat program, shows the Lake Djoudj region of Senegal during a drought in 1979 and during a flood 20 years later. Even at this small scale it's clear how much information the pictures contain about how the land has changed."

Around the world, once-giant ecosystems have been cut up into tiny fragments. Islands of habitat have been left on the land that can be wiped by a single storm.

An engaging and informative interactive tool that allows students to explore many connected factors in air, land, and oceans systems. There are links to videos, visulas, other web resources, and descriptive information. Concept maps are included for each factor. This is rich and engaging.

"In this 50-question activity, you will determine the best locations to site a wind energy farm in Colorado. You will use GIS as your primary investigative tool and use spatial analysis techniques to consider the best site. You will consider highways, wind speed, cities, size of polygon, contiguity, elevation, federal land, and will perform a number of geoprocessing functions including dissolve, intersect, erase, join, and more to arrive at your conclusion. "

"Watch the countries on the map change their size. Instead of land mass, the size of each country will represent the data for that subject --both its share of the total and absolute value."

"A consortium has formed to develop, support and maintain an on-line, GIS-based, all-taxa invasive species mapping tool, iMapInvasives, focused on serving the needs of land managers, regional planners and others working to prevent, control or manage invasive species. A particular emphasis is placed on functionality designed to aid in Early Detection/Rapid Response (ED/RR) efforts. "

Videos include: - What is the Global Food System? - Land Use Change and Agriculture - Food Security - Water and Agriculture - Climate Change, Agriculture, and NASA