Abstract:

Modern technologies develop rapidly in the areas of computers, Internet, aerospace and aeronautics, automation and sensor network, environmental remediation and ecological restoration, and so on, which overlap with a large number of basic and applied basic research disciplines. With the application of new technologies, the geography, which characterizes of integrity, interdisciplinary and regionality, has been strongly promoted. The highlights include: 1) The spatial and temporal coverage of research can expand to the entire globe at near real-time, and the accessibility of data on remote and extreme geographical environments has greatly improved. 2) Multi-methods and multi-channels of data acquisition promote the explosive growth of data. The analysis of rules and patterns has been developed from relying on limited spatiotemporal information to relying on new technologies to acquire high spatiotemporal dynamic data for big data mining. 3) The research scopes expand from static knowledge acquisition and mechanism analysis to dynamic works including ecological restoration and environmental management. 4) The disciplines developed at broadened scopes, and embedded with cross-cutting new technologies that in return brought about new vitality to geography. With the help of new technologies and the injection of big data "fuel", the development of geographic sciences in the new era will play an important role by providing "complex" solutions in the process of global and regional social and economic development.

Key words: geography and new technology, remote sensing, geographic information system, geographic information science