GIS, COVID-19 AND THE METAVERSE

The Metaverse is a concept with related technologies that has been the subject of massive interest and investment in from industry giants such as Facebook (now Meta), Google and Microsoft. Emerging disruptive enabling technologies such as 5G, mixed reality, big data and IOT have made it possible to work and socialise in virtual world environments. The creation of a "virtual universe" that can be built, visualised, explored and navigated has significant potential for both the application of cartographic and GIS expertise to the metaverse and the use of the metaverse for supporting GIS "real-world" applications for GIS data visualisation and collaboration. COVID-19 has accelerated the use of digtal technologies in medicine and healthcare and, with global travel restrictions, has arguably had a positive impact on the environment. In the case of digital earth applications designed to raise awareness of environmental issues and build an understanding of global challenges such as pollution, environmental disasters such as earthquakes and flooding, the metaverse has already demonstrated its potential value for data visualisation and collaboration. This paper explores metaverse GIS application in the past, present and future.