The development of Digital Earth technologies and the results of Global Change research are two areas where exciting progress has happened in recent years. Geoinformatic developments are leading to global spatial infrastructures that are being used as Digital Earth models and to inquire attributes from each location on Earth. On the basis of simulations with numerical climate models and on the analysis of observational data, climate researchers have shown that human activities are likely to induce drastic climate changes within this century.

Their success is emphasized by the recent Peace Nobel prize that was shared by Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) and the Society for Geoinformatics (GfGI) believe that it is about time that scientists from both communities come together to discuss the advantages of a closer cooperation between Geoinformatics specialists and scientist involved in Global Change research. Although both communities are involved in Digital Earth modeling they have so far stayed very much within their respective scientific boundaries.

Consequently, the Society for Geoinformatics (GfGI) which is based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) will bring together scientists and practitioners from both fields during the Digital Earth Summit on Geoinformatics: Tools for Global Change Research. 

The summit will be organized together with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the GeoForschungszentrum Potsdam (GFZ), and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The Summit will bring together leading scientists from Geoinformatics and Global Change research and will foster the exchange of ideas, cooperation between so-far disjoint scientific fields and provide time for in-depth discussion. Invited key note speakers will cover relevant topics in Geoinformatics, Global Change research, Spatial Data Infrastructures, Digital Earth initiatives, and Earth Observation activities as well as the interaction between these fields.