Geography Brave new digital world
Fewer accidents, more sustainability, more effective learning, more democratic societies: digitalisation can deliver all of this.
If digitalisation continues at the current rate, then I, as an optimistic person, can look forward to a near future in which the responsible use of geodata has become commonplace for everyone, satellites can guide autonomous traffic without accidents and monitor our ecosystems in real time. A future where technological progress and social and environmental sustainability go hand in hand, where meat comes out of the printer and there are no more exhaust fumes from cars. A world in which problem-based learning is the standard, not the exception in schools, where there’s more to e-learning than just owning a laptop, where augmented reality facilitates complex tasks and informs us about our environment and its state. I see a digital society that is resilient to pandemics and uses real-time information to strengthen our democracy, support the weak and empower the vulnerable. And I see a future where I have fast internet even at home in the south of Bochum.