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UC San Diego ’ s Big Pixel Initiative is harnessing satellite imagery and big data analytics to make even the biggest things — places , data sets , and the world ’ s problems — seem very , very small . When big data meets the intuitive minds of students and faculty , the result is a living , learning laboratory with the capacity to address our world ’ s greatest challenges at scale .
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT Gordon Hanson , Jennifer Burney , Ran Goldblatt , Jessica Block , David Kline , PhD ’ 05 ; Albert Yu-Min Lin ’ 04 , MA ’ 05 , PhD ’ 08
Researchers Gordon Hanson of the School of Global Policy and Strategy and Albert Yu-Min Lin ’ 04 , MA ’ 05 , PhD ’ 08 , of the Qualcomm Institute founded the program in 2015 , combining unprecedented access to imaging data with the analytic ability of Google Earth Engine . These unique tools have already made a remarkable difference for a variety of researchers and students on campus who strive to see the bigger picture — literally .
Ran Goldblatt uses Big Pixel satellite imagery to map urban areas around the globe , potentially revolutionizing largescale analysis of urbanization . Starting with India , a sentinel of sorts for the dangers of urbanization , his team plans to scale from there to create a continuous global map of urbanization that yields insights over time as well as area . The need for this kind of analysis has become increasingly clear , as urbanization shapes almost all dimensions of the modern world : from land cover and use around cities to environmental and economic policymaking .
39 TRITON | SPRING 2017