Abstract:
The book "Ocean Globe" is about a new kind of exploration, one that draws upon the work of those who still go
to sea but can more readily share their discoveries with the “denizens of the desktop.” It is about new
ways of visualizing where more than two thirds of this “place and space” exists, but within the new
paradigm of server-based GIS, where we not only show maps and visualizations, but more importantly
the actual data and methods used to create those maps. It is motivated by the potential for GIS
tools and services to go beyond what the current generation of virtual globes can deliver in offering
integrated data access; higher resolution and accuracy of data on demand; interoperability among
GIS datasets, maps, globes, and methods; and the ability to search through both space and time (e.g.,
“to find something here that is similar in circumstance to there”). All these tools and services would
