After the metaphor turned into something real that we can witness growing bigger and bigger every day, a dedicated journal was well overdue. So here it is: The International Journal of Digital Earth. Some good reading by Prof. Michael Frank Goodchild and Timothy W. Foresman.

These two were among the first to deal with the digital earth topic way back, when Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth and the increased public interest in the digital earth idea hadn’t taken off yet. Well worth having a look at some of Goodchild’s previous presentations, in which he covers the subject. For example, have a look at Digital Earth – Recent Technical Progress or What does Google Earth mean for the Social Sciences. A more recent presentation to look at is The Spatial Web – Visions for a Geographically Enabled Future.

You can also read one of Goodchild’s earlier papers on the topic. In Discrete Global Grids for Digital Earth Goodchild already envisions that the digital earth will provide a „one-stop shop for geospatial data„. We aren’t yet shopping for geodata in Google Earth, but who says we won’t be soon…?