I have long been a proponent of fully exploring the earth’s surface. It is assumed that we have already learned all there is to know about the workings of the world and the layout of the planet, but I have to tell you that is simply not the case.

We have learned much, yes, but we certainly do not know it all. By aerial mapping the world, we can learn more than we could if we managed to travel every inch. That is because cataloging where things are in the world is the only way to know if things change. We may walk by a large rock, but who is to say that when we pass the rock it does not move to another location? Or that a plant does not grow over it? Or that erosion doesn’t cause it to fall in the river?

Only by taking aerial photography of all the landscape and repeating the process can we begin to notice many of the earth’s changes. Having a static image of where things are in the world is the only way to know when something changes over time, and it is these changes that make the world an interesting place to both live and study.

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