Maps push the transition

More human, honest and green. We all want another economy, an economy serving the people again, and in balance with nature. We all foster another social system, one where politicians have again a long term vision and where not all is weighted through profit. We all aspire a society with less stress, where the “we” takes again a prominent place besides the “I”. But how to start with it? This all asks for big actions. That’s true. But I do not agree with the idea that we cannot change anything ourselves, because others would take all decisions above our heads. That is especially true for us map geeks. Maps can play a role in supporting and pushing the big actions (top-down) and even more importantly map applications can catalyse the concrete realisations of many small changes (bottom-up).

Regarding the big actions (top-down) needed in the transition process towards another global system, I see mainly 4 roles maps can play. First of all, geographical research is a strong tool to highlight the problem and give exact proof of the phenomenon. This is a role that the geo world is already taking up excellently. Satellite maps showing the rapid melting of the arctic ice or remote sensing as a tool for monitoring the climate indicators are clear examples of that in the context of global warming.

Secondly, maps can support, indicate and validate possible solutions for the problem. Maps bring better knowledge and better understanding and this should hopefully bring better judgment and policy. Some authorities e.g. use already detailed land cover and thermographic heath maps for a better city planning in order to reduce the effects of the increasing heath waves that hit especially highly populated areas. Probably the strongest asset of maps in this context is its strength as storyteller. People (including its leaders, like politicians, union leaders, etc.) are scared and paralyzed of what will come. Maps can concretise new ideas and possible solutions and paint a vivid picture of what could be. They have the power to simulate future scenarios and demonstrate that certain solution work long term. Bran Ferren even suggested the implementation of a 250 year plan for our planet, concretised through geo design. He urged to have a dialogue of how our planet should look like over this time span, geographically model the outcome and hence use this as a platform to check possible solutions.

Thirdly, maps can be used intensively when the legislation is finally implemented, or as part of the implementation itself or as a monitoring and follow-up tool to measure the effect of the implemented measures. A nice example is REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), an international effort to create financial value for the carbon stored in forests and hence offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands. Geographical monitoring is a viable tool for both the effective measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of the deforestation and forest degradation at national level as for the evaluation of the effect of the overall initiative (Does it have effect and why (not)?). As we are talking about a complex problem, there is no easy answer to it. So probably, we will have to go through a trial and error process, in which geo information can help politicians to adjust and fine-tune the implemented measures.

To end, maps are and will remain important in the prevention, preparedness and effective response for the consequences of our late actions. Big initiatives like the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" and UN SPIDER, will continue to provide valuable geo information for the increasing numbers of disasters like forest fires, floods and droughts.

It is unlikely that we will be able to clean up the complete system in one big sweep. There is no easy, one-shot solution for the complex problem we are facing. In the contrary, we will have to handle the problem with the same complexity and through many small changes and solutions. But at the end, many small wins can make up big one! I detail two main roles map applications can play in this bottom-up process: first of all, as an eye opener and “tranquilizer” and secondly, by handing people tools to start small actions themselves.

A while ago, I read a fascinating article in the newspaper about Sandy Island. This small island North East of Australia in the coral sea could be found on all scientific maps and Google Earth. One problem: it seemed not to exist! For more than 100 years, including a time where satellites can spot almost every detail on earth, everybody assumed it was there. We all took it for granted, nicely illustrating that at the end we still are in a way herd animals, using our automatic pilot when it comes down to our habits. This way we also assume too easy that our customs and the way our system functions are completely correct. We do not look critically at them anymore. But is the assumption that we need growth to get us out of this crisis really so evident? Is there no other way then taking each day our car in the midst of the traffic rush to go to our jobs? It is here that maps come in, as they can serve as an eye opener. They are ideal to set certain issues under attention and to give some basic insight on the topic. Thermographic heath mapping, indicating the quality of your roof insulation, is a nice example of that. For many people not aware of it, they spotlight the importance of energy savings in their house.

Maps are a powerful means towards a paradigm shift, drawing another reference framework, another “map” of how we see the world. This potential as an “eye opener” is in line with what I mentioned already before relating the strength of maps as storytelling tool (point 2 of the big actions). People are naturally scared of changes and maps can “tranquilize the patient” by demonstrating them in detail that these solutions really work long term. This all will result in enthusiasm for this new society. It is mainly this enthusiasm and passion we will need to reach even more people and to achieve a real bottom-up effect, which our leaders can no longer neglect.

The second major role I see for maps in this bottom-up approach is in their direct actions. Specific map initiatives are able to have bottom-up a tremendous impact. A concrete example here is the free and open-source Ushahidi platform. This platform allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. This Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) initiative is successfully used in crisis response, like the dramatic Haiti earthquake. Besides these map initiatives that have a direct impact, there is also a huge potential for handing non-geo-people tools to facilitate small actions by themselves. As such a catalyst of concrete realisations, I see here a big, mostly untouched, potential for map applications. All too often solutions are focused almost solely on technological changes (e.g. through new green technologies or increased efficiency), but these are clearly insufficient. We need also drastic sociological changes (e.g. the way we heath our houses, the way we transport ourselves and what we eat and buy). Map-based platforms to facilitate barter (e.g. exchange of our cars or vegetables we have in abundance in our garden) or a map based mobile app to exchange information relating kids friendly routes and spots in our city are just a few examples of that. An important asset of maps is that they can bring a positive and sexy flavour into the transition story. As maps fascinate and map applications are fun to use, they enter people’s transition thinking in a smooth and optimistic way. Effective change will only come when people understand what fascinating possibilities a sustainable future holds. It is not about a society of "cold showers" and "cars stopped in traffic jams or without fuel”, but a society in which our quality of life is improving!

The transition towards another global system is inevitable. Besides the big actions we will need, more and more people start to understand that their own decisions and actions also can have a positive impact on society. It does not matter whether this are small or large initiatives, the important thing is that they create all together a movement of change. As was detailed above, maps will play a considerable role in supporting and pushing both the big actions, as the bottom-up process by mobilizing the big crowd to get this transition train moving.

Tell the map story!

The world is in drastic change. The global system in which we are functioning is in crisis. Our economy, our financial system, the world’s ecosystem and our society are all having hard times. We do not live in a period of changes, but in a change of time periods. Although this transition causes inevitable problems, it is also a unique period of possibilities; an exciting time for new ideas! And it is here, that maps can play their vital role, as powerful communicating tool and as thé story teller this transition needs.

Only few ideas make it to the real world. Why is that? This is mostly caused by 2 reasons. First of all, people tend to get stuck in the idea phase. Ideas are kept inside or communicated badly. The way we communicate them is crucial. Some modest ideas, give big success, while some brilliant ideas, result in nothing. The main difference is: effective communication. It is exactly here that maps can play their role. One of the most appealing features of maps is that all journeys are feasible. Maps make your idea possible and “invite you” to start with it. Maps can concretise the “unknown” of your idea and sketch an image that your audience is willing to support. But there is more. For an idea to turn into a success, we need passion. And what fascinates more than maps? Show us a map and we get excited. If it is a world map or a treasure map or just the map in our navigation system, it will take us to places we have never been before, in reality or in our head.

The second reason why only few ideas are successfully implemented, is embedded in the complexity of the idea. Many of the new and potential world changing ideas are so complex and long-term that it frightens people. In these complex problems (e.g. climate change), we lack the ability to imagine how things could be. Often it is not the technology or rules that prevent us from moving ahead, but this disability to see the future! We need top-class storytelling to paint a vivid picture of what could be. Storytelling is what captivates people and drives them to take action. It is here again that maps come in play again. Besides being concrete and credible, maps have the power to simulate future scenarios and hence can function as thé story teller we need to mobilize people in the transition process towards a new society.

The last decade, map applications already became hot and ubiquitous. But as effective communication tool and first-class storyteller, maps, from being a cute thing to have, can become something that really actually matters!

Learning to drive a bus

The global system in which we are functioning is in crisis. Our economy, our financial system, the world’s ecosystem and our society are all having hard times. The facts are overwhelming, but crystal clear. Just three of them as a reminder:

·        Our society is peaking regarding suicide rates, burnouts and ADHD children.

·        Being only at the beginning of the consequences of the global warming, already today the yearly cost to society are estimated to be 1,6 % of the GNP worldwide (by the way, for developing countries this is even 7 %).

·        Already today there are yearly 400.000 climate dead. That is our beautiful cities Bruges and Gent whipped a way completely, every year!

In the rest of my text, I will illustrate the absurdity of our current global crisis, and what according to me, could be part of the solution.

Who has been already in Central or Southern America? Then you probably have seen or even taken one of these overcrowded public busses? You know what I mean: these beautiful, colourful, old American school busses. At the central market place they gather and then leave for a long trip often in the mountains. A lot (and with a lot, I mean a lot) of people sit, stand or hang half-outside the bus … and the chicken, sheep and vegetables are put on deck. Quite a lot of people get car sick when taking such a bus. That is no surprise with all this turning, in a bus that has often no suspension and is way too hot. By the way, what I admire is the way the locals can elegantly throw up in the middle of this crowd. While we are making a primal scream as if we are dying, they only do a very modest "bheuh". Respect! Anyway, you always find two key figures on these busses. I call them the “Stuntman” and the “bus driver”. Two of them I remember really vividly. When I was in Guatemala for a couple of months for my thesis, these two were the regulars, driving the bus I had to take to get to my working area. The bus driver drove like mad: way too slow with his overloaded bus uphill, but he compensated this completed downhill. Now I know why the “Guatemaltecos” always make a cross when they enter the bus. But even more crazy was the other part of the duo: the ticketing man, performing one big stunt after the other. As the bus was often so overcrowded, he could not use the passageway to go and get the tickets at the other side of the bus. No problem: just take the back door, climbs the little stair to get on deck, crawl on the top of the roof to the front of the bus, and come in again through the other door (and all this while his companion is racing of the mountain).

We can laugh about it, but all too often these busses go into the deep! But let’s imagine that you can prevent such an accident. Imagine, we are all in this bus together; You are the driver and I am the stuntman. Suddenly, someone in the back tells me he heard that there is a big problem due to a landslide in the next big curve? I, the stuntman, am in total panic and I have to just knock off one of my most spectacular stunts, by getting on deck, roll like a real action hero to the front of the buss in order to finally jump on the engine bonnet to urge you, the driver, to stop immediately! What will you do? Speed ahead or will you break?

Now let’s do the same thing but now change the beautiful, but overcrowded bus into our even more beautiful and overcrowded “earth” . The complete world population is in the bus and all the fauna and flora is stapled on the roof. Our driver is now a one-person mutant representing all our leaders. The ticketing man, in our case is the crème de la crème of the scientific world. The latter goes to our driver and explains him carefully all the facts including the ones I told you at the start of this speech. He makes him very clear: “if we take this curve we will go in the ravine”. What do you think our dear mutated politician will do? Will he slow down? No, he will not break immediately! For the moment our leaders even haven’t the finest clue of where the break could be and are pushing the gas pedal deeper as ever before … . Totally absurd, a very good basis for tons of movies and books in a few decades.

Okay, our politicians suck but probably you wander: what can I do about this? This all asks for big actions. That’s true. But I do not agree with the idea that we cannot change anything ourselves, because others would take all the decisions above our heads. Let’s take our example again. What could we, passengers in this bus, have done? Well, first of all we could have, by opening our eyes and raising our voice, shouted the message to the driver; as loud that even this ugly mutant would get scared! And if not, we could have voted for another creature behind the steering wheel! And secondly, we could have taken small actions ourselves. Maybe I could have tried to block the wheels. I don’t know: I could have thrown my “bokes of choco” in front of the wheels. Frruummph. Not a lot of success; but if all 7 billion of us would throw their “rice with Peking duck”, “manioc” and “frietjes met mayo” before the wheels it will definitely slow down.

By the way, did anyone of you already asked himself why the hell we are driving as hell in this bus? Wouldn’t it be much more relaxing and saver to lower our speed with a few kilometres per hour: less stress, we can enjoy the beautiful landscape, and the passengers, although they do it very serene, would become less sick. Effective change will only come when people understand what fascinating possibilities a sustainable future holds. It is not about a society of "cold showers" and "cars stopped in traffic jams or without fuel”, but a society in which our quality of life is improving!

We are all awaiting a fascinating time. Maybe the bus will go in the deep; maybe we will be able to break just at the edge ; who knows?… Anyway, things will change drastically. We do not live in a period of changes, but in a change of time periods. In the coming 10 to 15 years probably more will happen than the last 50 or even 100 years all together. And what can we do?

First of all, BE AWARE - let us be aware of the beauty but also fragility of this bus called “Earth”! Won’t we reach our destiny by slowing down a few kilometres an hour. 

Two, ACTIONS - not “them” but “we” can all make this happen, all of us together: many small changes make up a big one!

And three, ENTHUSIASM - although this transition causes inevitable problems, it is a positive story and a unique period of fascinating possibilities! 

The power of maps

Maps fascinate. Show us a map and we get excited; If it is a world map or a treasure map or just the map in our navigation system, it will take us to places we have never been before, in reality or in our head.

Maps are everywhere. Nowadays, we use maps day-in day-out, directly or indirectly. Look at the news or read the newspaper and we are likely to see at least 10 different maps. Take our car and we are navigated over a detailed road map. Did you know that 80% of all data has a geographical link? Moreover, we use the language of maps integral in our lives (e.g. we have achieved something if we put ourselves on the map).

Maps provide overview. If we are lost, we need a map to show us where we are. If there is a flood, aerial or satellite imagery show us a complete overview of the damage. In the more recent map applications, we even each stand, individually, at the centre of our own map!

Maps spotlight. Maps are ideal to set certain issues under attention. Satellite maps showing the rapid melting of the arctic ice put the global warming issue central. Besides indicating the quality of your roof insulation, thermographic heath maps spotlight the importance of energy savings.

Maps answer. Maps give concrete answers to complex and often urgent problems. How many people live in this new refugee camp? What is the financial or environmental cost if this dike would break? Did you know that a considerable contribution to the peace agreements in 95 making an end to the Bosnia-war came from geo-data? Only clear maps and a height model were able to convince all parties to accept the proposed new borders.

Maps monitor. Looking at differences between imagery over time, changes in tropical forests or urban sprawl can be detected and monitored.

Maps predict. Not only can maps look at how it was a century ago, they are also powerful to look at the future. Famine can be predicted through satellite monitoring of agricultural crops. The outbreak of vector borne diseases can be anticipated based on weather forecasts and land cover maps.

Maps tell a story. In many complex problems (e.g. climate change), we lack the ability to imagine how things could be. Often it is not the technology or rules that prevent us from moving ahead, but this disability to see the future! Maps concretise our ideas and paint a vivid picture of what could be. They have the power to simulate future scenarios and hence can function as thé story teller we need to mobilize people in this transition process towards a more respectful and sustainable society.

Maps call for action. One of the most appealing features of maps is that all journeys are feasible. Maps make our idea possible and “invite us” to start with it. Through easy-to-use map applications, we can e.g. indicate geo-located problems to the responsible authorities or suggest other citizen what nice, kids-friendly bar we just discovered.

Maps are powerful! It is not by coincidence that the true opposite of the word “SPAM” is “MAPS”!!

Birds

I will use this forum to go deeper into one of my old passions: birds! When I was 12 years old I started, more as a coincidence, with bird watching. Armed with a small binocular and a bird guide, I started searching with some friends for normal bird species, like the Chiffchaff, the Chaffinch and the Kestrel. It was in a way adventurous for a twelve year old kid away alone and most importantly it was a good time with my friends. But quite fast a “factor” competition came in, as it became the search for rare birds. Probably you think now that the only rare bird in this story is myself, but you could be mistaken. Bird watching is much more practiced then you probably imagine: This rare bird watching e.g. has its own English word: “Twitching”. And there is a Hollywood film about it: “The big year”. Although it has little change to become Olympic, some even call it a sport. But my attempts were more modest and relaxed. At the end, I had on my list species like Fan-tailed Warbler, Lesser White-fronted Goose and the incredible Two-barred Crossbill. Now you are really impressed, no?

Anyway, one thing I liked about birds was the fact that they are so divers; you had of all kinds. And in that sense, they are just like humans. In the rest of my speech I will talk about two bird species and what we can learn from them. The first one illustrates that we are all chicken if it comes down to handle changes and the second one will show that we are also capable to do the opposite.

But first the chicken! We have at home 2 chicken. Great animals: eating all your left-overs, keeping some space herbs-free and giving eggs! Some week ago, I had a problem: the eggs were destroyed every day again. But how did this happen? After a remarkable piece of detective work, I found out that a Magpie, the king of thieves under the birds came in the henhouse and ate the eggs. As a handy handyman as I am, I attached some Plexiglas strips before the entrance of the henhouse. It worked: no more Magpie. One problem: also no more chicken going in the henhouse. At the hour that the chicken normally go into their house, I went outside. One of them was totally “freeking” out and running around like a chicken without a head, as we say in Dutch. And the other one, I could not find directly. Finally, I saw the bum of the missing chicken sticking out of some bushes, as it had isolated itself from the world by putting its head in some green. Hilarious how the world of these chicken tumbled down just by 3 Plexiglas strips. And probably we are not scared of Plexiglas, but if we are honest, aren’t we all a little bit like these chicken when it concerns changes? We are all paralyzed when it comes down to big changes, especially if they are long-term or contain a proportion of uncertainty. We stick e.g. too long to our job, because we are scared of the unknown in a possible new opportunity?

But then there is this second bird and he or she will fly in the story soon. But first I have to put on my running shoes and go out for a tour. And I am lucky, close to my home, I have a nice piece of nature where I love to go jogging. Some months ago, I did my normal tour until I saw a Buzzard, a medium to large bird of prey, landing very close to me on a branch of a tree. Fantastic, I could see clearly its yellow claws and its sharp beak, bringing back all the old memories from my bird watching period. I continued running. But suddenly, I got hit on the head, rather hard. It was that Buzzard that attacked me from the back. I did not have any injuries, but it was quite a surprise: the birder taking by the bird. Later on the internet, I found out that other people, often joggers or bikers, got injured rather severely. But where did this small Buzzard get the courage to attack a relative big and dangerous creature as me? One word: passion! Probably, the Buzzard has a nest in the neighbourhood and this passion, this higher purpose, makes him or her take bold actions in their changing environment. You can see similar things with e.g. swans.

So to conclude: What can we learn from these two birds? Well, when it comes down to important personal choices or to global changes our society is facing, it is really up to us to make the choice. Do we want to be the Chicken or the Buzzard? Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone or do we bury our head in the sand like an Ostrich? All too often we hang onto our stones, while the universe is throwing us diamonds. And the magic spell to mutate from a chicken into a majestic Buzzard is passion! Cultivate this “grinta” and major things will await us.

Grow

Let’s play a simple game and see if you are really smart! I just ate a delicious chocolate. I love these and I absolutely want one more of these. And I am lucky. There are still left in the chocolate box. In fact, there are 3 left. So I am slyly grabbing one more. I have eaten now two and there are still two left in the box. In a next iteration, I ate the third, leaving only one in the box.  The last one … dawn, now the box is empty. But I am still not satisfied. There are really no other sweats in the house? Nothing! So what is happening now?  Can I still take one more?

Not possible! Logic, no?

Well then, it is proven: you are stupid! In fact, we are all stupid. Because if it comes down to our economic system it does not work like that. As you know economic experts and politicians are way more smarter than all of us together; so for them this game does not stop here; in fact it never stops and continues for ever. They keep on picking imaginary “chocolates” from somewhere and they assume that you will be able to pick these sweats forever … . They keep on growing even if there are no more chocolates in the box. How do they do that? Let me explain.

The economy is doing bad. We all know that! You hear it almost every day in the news. And it has to start growing again. From Van Rompuy up to Obama all know it: Economic growth is what we need! Reasonable, no? The assumption that we need growth to get us out of this crisis is evident.

But lets think about that! Experts say the ideal rhythm for this growth is 3 percent per year! What does that mean? This means a doubling of the economy every 23 years! I will repeat it: a doubling of the economy every 23 years (and then we even do not account for the huge world population growth or the upcoming middle class in the developing & growing countries). This exponential growth is also true for the resources (like minerals and oil) we use in our economy. In this doubling period, e.g. from here up to 23 years later we will consume the same amount of resources ever consumed before (by us, our parents, grandparents, etc. up to men making fire out of stones).

But wait a minute: are these resources not limited? Some figures:

• Let’s take “Oil”, the engine of our economy. It is estimated that the peak production of oil was in the year 2006 and by 2030 there will be only the half of that production. Moreover the easy oil has gone, so oil will become terribly expensive. Just to give you an idea on the speed we are consuming that oil:  95% of all oil found up to now is used in something like only 70 years! 70 years, that’s peanuts looking at the period of existence of men kind …. Your grandmother or even your parents were born then already! So we are talking about now and the next generation, not about some far future.
• Some more figures. When will the following resource be totally finished in a scenario of resource growth like it is today?:
• Gas: 2045
• Zinc: 2025 (that’s a big 10 years!)
• Lead: 2025
• And the list continues: your children and grand-children now born will live in a resource-poor world!

“If something is not able to continue, it probably want.” It is just a rational look at it. For centuries we were blinded for the irrational aspects of the system. There are bio-physical limits to economic growth. We can have technological innovations and increase in efficiency, but still, where do we have to keep on getting these resources? At least that is how I, stupid earth creator, think. For our politicians and economists it does not seem to work like that; they keep on putting all their eggs in the growth model, they continue to promote the harvesting of these invisible chocolates out of this box.

So what is the solution? To be clear: there is no simple straightforward solution, but one things sure: We need to go for a better economy, not a bigger economy! A local  and smaller economy, in balance with the world’s resources. An economy serving the people again, not the other way around!

So to conclude:

1. Be aware of politicians and economist: That you knew probably already, but still it is worth a repetition.
2. There are limits to growth. The world resources are finite. Economic growth is not thé solution.
3. “Less is more”, is also viable for our economy.

Maps in revolution

The great explorers of the 15th and 16th century like Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama based their search for land never mapped before on maps like the ancient ones of Ptolemy. John Snow’s map of London’s Soho in 1854, pointed the water wells as the source of cholera outbreaks. There are many more examples of how maps played a fundamental role in history. But the potential impact and scope that maps can have today is from another order! Map geeks of today are truly blessed, as we have the honour to work in these revolutionary times for maps! But are we and our organisations really ready for it?

The last years, the foundations of our small and calm geo-community trembled. As I do not have the ambition here to list all major changes and trends concerning geo-information, I limit myself to 3 of these to make my point. First of all, data collection is no longer a pure high-cost high-tech job. With the arrival of low-cost low-tech sensors, we all became individual sensors and created this unique sensor network just by holding our mobile or other devices. We do no longer only receive information, but we provide passively or actively tons of (geo-)information. A special example of this are the data actively collected through “Volunteered Geographical Information” (VGI). In a few years, we evolved from a data-poor to a data-rich environment and the challenge shifted from data collection to data handling. A second shift took place on the internet. Maps got on the waves of the web and virtual earths, web mapping and now the semantic web pushes the geographical world into the open. At last, the geo-world is shifting towards “openness”. Free and Open Sources software, VGI and Open Data, all considerably gain terrain. Free and open access to geographical data will become the norm and maps will increasingly be seen as an essential public good.

Although these are all giant leaps for the mapping world, the real revolution that I am talking about in my introduction is in its effective user’s uptake. Maps and their applications became ubiquitous in almost every aspect of government and of citizens’ lives. Different mainstream trends like the rise of computing power, the speed of internet and the exponential use of mobile devices make that everybody has in the palm of his hand the whole world, mapped in every detail. We all became the center of our own map: permanently positioned, real-time linked to all types of (geo-)information and interconnected with the whole world. The potential of maps exploded, also for the big mass. What previously was a niche technology, now became mainstream. Although some fail completely, most geo-companies and public organisations do their best to implement and keep track with all these new trends and technologies. But in this hectic and rapid changing environment most fail completely in two basic aspects: adjusting the own internal organisation according to this new environment and effectively communicating to the new “outside” world.

As mentioned in the second paragraph, an important shift lay in this emphasis on “openness” and “networks”. But what do we see too often in our own geo-organisations: a closed, hierarchical structure, lacking completely the true open spirit of this geo revolution. If we want to keep track, we need to incorporate these values in our own organisation. A lot of the young talents, write creativity, openness, values, digital content creation and co-production in a network environment large. By nature, this young group of professionals can be thé engine to push the map revolution to a higher level. Lacking to incorporate these talents fully in our organisation would be a big failure. These horizontal and open networks (so sharing instead of protecting) are really strong as the power of the crowd is stronger than the idea and work of a few individuals. Time of isolated production on our island is gone. We have to embrace cooperation both inside as outside our organization again and give back the true meaning to the word “company“ (derived from the Latin “cum” and “pane” which means “breaking bread together.”). So let’s open up our organisations. Throw this hierarchy, internal competition and piles of rules out of the window. Take away all barriers in order to connect and network within our organisation and to the outside. Go for complete openness, honesty and true communication and (why not …) democracy. Put the “Why” again on top of the agenda! What is your social role in society?

Communication is the second cumbersome aspect many of us face. And that is even quite logic. Because in all these years that we studied Geography, Engineering and IT, how many courses on communication did we get? Probably none. There is a complete distortion between the amount of theory we obtain and how to spread this knowledge to the outside world. For centuries we were sitting relaxed in our niche market, talking our niche language full of slang. But today, the geo-market became mainstream. What does “geospatial” mean for your neighbour? What does even “geo” mean? We have to learn to communicate simple and concrete, with easier terminology. What about “maps”? It will be a little bit peculiar at the start, but we will be rewarded to level down our abstract level of talking. We shouldn’t forget that for many people geo-information is complicated. If we want that the message sticks, we have to step in their world by keeping things clear.

Although more simple, I would like to end by a passionate speech for a less modest communication. In my opinion, we do not stress enough the real power of maps. Maps and their applications are still too often seen as a nice-to-have, handy tool. But maps can mean a lot more for this world in drastic change. The global system (incl. the economic, financial, social & eco sub-systems) in which we are functioning is in crisis and people are scared and paralyzed of what will come. Maps can concretise new ideas and possible solutions and paint a vivid picture of what could be. They have the power to simulate future scenarios and hence can function as thé story teller we need to mobilize people in the transition process towards a new society. Maps can really invoke an explosion of how we see the earth. Maps bring better knowledge and better understanding and this should hopefully bring better judgment. That is what we need to communicate, so we can really turn maps, from being a cute thing to have, into something that really actually matters!