In his book “Earth in the Balance”, US Vice President Al Gore wrote that “people should be informed about the dangers of pollution, global warming and other planetary problems”. If the public became aware of what is happening in the environment, perhaps people would change for the better and try to make the world a better and cleaner place for future generations. In 1998 Al Gore formalized the concept of Digital Earth. At the time, the technologies necessary for its implementation were in an embryonic phase. Since then, science and technology have made significant progress and new technologies have emerged that were unknown at the time of formulation. These technologies are rapidly evolving and strengthen and accelerate the implementation of Digital Earth, among which Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse are those that could have a more disruptive impact.
Coined in Neil Stephanson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, the “Metaverse” can be seen as a growing network of virtual and augmented digital worlds that exist in parallel to the physical world. Some consider the metaverse to be the next great three-dimensional evolution of the Internet. Its full metaverse potential will only be unlocked when everyone, everywhere can access it. Only then will we be able to truly liberate a global community of users to bridge the digital divide and ensure that diverse perspectives are included, as well as protected in a rights-based system. Like the physical world we live in, in the metaverse the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, where everyone should have the opportunity to share ideas, knowledge and experiences to strengthen societies, advance humanity and protect the planet.
Returning to the promise of the Internet at its origins, the metaverse could yet provide a levelling platform for all. It will also mean guaranteeing the participation of vulnerable and at-risk sections of the population, removing traditional barriers such as geographical, ethnic, economic wealth, among others. For this reason on 11 July 2023, the European Commission has adopted a new strategy on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds to steer the next technological transition and ensure an open, secure, trustworthy, fair and inclusive digital environment for EU citizens, businesses and public administrations.
Alessandro Annoni has been the President of the International Society for the Digital Earth (ISDE) since 2020. Before this, he was head of the Digital Economy Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. His unit provided techno-socio-economic research to support the Digital Economy, to accelerate the transition to a data-driven economy in Europe and understand the problems and challenges of a more connected world (IoT). Previously he led the Spatial Data Infrastructure Unit (the largest group in Europe dedicated to SDI research) ensuring, among others, the technical coordination of the INSPIRE Directive for the development of the European SDI. He graduated in Physics from the University of Milan and was awarded the Ian McHarg Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2013 reserved for distinguished research in Information Technology applied to Earth and space sciences and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, during the Geospatial World Awards 2020 event for playing a key role in the development and proliferation of space sciences in Europe.
