Among the first uses of the new Advanced Network now out to tender could be moving complex data layers around the country to help create a computer-based model to help determine New Zealand’s environmental sustainability.

Auckland City Councilor Richard Simpson calling on ISPs, carriers, the science network and providers of geographical information systems to help put New Zealand on the scientific map by contributing to the creation of a 3D web-based model of the country.

He believes New Zealand is the ideal closed-environment for top scientists to create a template for environmental sustainability that could lead the way forward for the rest of the world.

A gathering of 500 of the world’s top scientific minds will converge in Auckland in April next year to see the first stages of the model, which will be an integral part of the Digital Earth project.

The model is being rendered as a web resource through a specialised browser developed by ManyOne and is currently in beta testing. The browser, based on cutting edge games technology, would allow users to drill down through broadcast quality graphics to access the latest ‘peer reviewed’ data from a wide variety of sources.

Already the content ranges from an accurate fly through model of the solar system which can be viewed from many angles and searched by dates. There’s also a model of the Artic created over three years by 300 scientists and detailed spatial data of the Sumatran tsunami with full before and after imagery.

Simpson, a pioneer in spatial design and planning and currently a strategist and executive director working with US-based Intergraph, lobbied for the Summit on Sustainability (SOS) to be held in Auckland when he was keynote speaker at the last summit in Tokyo in March.

He has full support of Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard to create an International Centre for Sustainability Studies in Auckland and host bi-annual SOS conferences.

He says it’s the perfect timing with Microsoft and even Amazon.com recently joining Google Earth will full satellite-based web-browsing of the planet.

Simpson says New Zealand could become a ‘boxing ring’ or think tank for leaders in technology and science as they look at tackling environmental and sustainability issues for the rest of the planet. He’s currently in discussion with local technology firms and science and research groups to gain access to supercomputer capacity, and the new multi-gigabit speed Advanced Network.

Geographical information systems (GIS) data layers are being sought from a wide range of disciplines from satellite imagery down to geological and street level details with overlays to help identify a wide range of environmental issues including climate and sea change and land use.

The Digital Earth project was the vision of former US vice president Al Gore in 1998 and is being driven by ‘the Godfather of Digital Earth’ Dr Tim Foresman, a former NASA senior scientist, who was in Auckland in September to launch the initiative.

He says New Zealand shows the potential to obtain a sustainable future itself and has a special spirit that does not settle for mediocrity. "We live in a time of ambiguity and uncertainty when people need more certainty about what needs to happen."

He says engineers ascertained some time ago the probability of what might happen in New Orleans and if the information had been shared through the proper information systems the outcomes could have been quite different.

He says we’re overwhelmed by books and information but to engage students and adults we need "a crystal ball for learning" to harness and help manage information and accelerate access to knowledge.

The Digital World model has been described as the ultimate MIS (management information system) dashboard for the world enabling anyone to see how any country is performing based on key parameters from population growth to feeding the starving, carbon emissions, pollution and disaster management.

To date eight nations have agreed to bring all their data sets into the model, New Zealand will be the first to develop a sustainability model which will be replicated to other countries once it has been thoroughly populated and tested.