Google Earth
offers exciting new ways to visualize spatial data. 3D buildings
make the scenes look "real" so that navigating the scene is similar to
driving through actual streets. A large challenge to the new
technology, however, is to incorporate the wisdom of the past in such a
way that new directions of inquiry or new ways to communicate are
uncovered. Selected articles in this issue of Solstice
focus on that idea and build on some similar efforts in earlier issues
of Solstice.