(Throughout this week we'll be publishing a series of posts on our Green Blog about our activities at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development . Our full schedule at the conference is available here , and follow our activities as they happen at #googleatrio20.) MEP Kriton Arsenis , the European Parliament´s Rapporteur on forests. He explained that, while most people using Google Maps want to know which roads will get them from point A to point B, the same information is useful for conservationists who want to know where roads aren’t . In his words: The concept of "roadless areas" is a well-established conservation measure coming from conservation biologists from all around the globe. The idea is that roads in most parts of the world lead to the unmanageable private access to the natural resources of an area, most often leading to ecosystem degradation and without the consent of the local and indigenous communities. Keeping an area roadless means that the specific territory is shielded against such exogenous pressures, thus sustaining its ecosystem services at the maximum possible level. An important tool which will drive environmental, development as well as global climate change policy forward will be the Google development of an interactive satellite map of the world's roadless areas. Start with where the Roads ARE Google Earth Engine platform for analysis. For example, here is what the road network in Australia looks like when zoomed out to country-scale:Australia road network – coastal population centers such as Sydney, Perth and Adelaide show up as dense road networks, whereas the interior “Outback” is more sparse.
Then figure out where the roads AREN’T Prototype “Roadless Areas” in Australia - all green areas are at least 10 km from the nearest road
Prototype “Roadless Areas” on the island of Madagascar, home of the endangered Indri lemur.
Prototype “Roadless Area” interactive map at global scale.
Caveats and Next Steps Google Map Maker , that can be used by anyone to submit new or corrected map data, and in fact this tool is already being used in partnership with the United Nations to support global emergency response.Google Earth Engine Map Gallery .Posted by Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach and Google Earth Engine
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