Lidar is a revolutionary technology that can map out an area with a stunning level of detail, including the ability to see through walls, trees, and other obstacles.

An archaeologist wants to expand the technology, using aircraft-mounted Lidar to scan the entire planet.

While a completed map would have tremendous potential, several scientists are skeptical.

When Chris Fisher was working in Central America on an archaeological project, he began to notice his wild jungle surroundings becoming less wild. As he added necessary infrastructure to properly study the area, he was slowly making the jungle less, well, jungle-like. The experience left him wondering what the legacy of changing wilderness across the globe would be, which led him to create the Earth Archive.

Fisher wants to use the pulsed laser detection technique known as Lidar to document the entire planet with a level of detail never realized before.

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Lidar is a well-known technology, used by everyone from ocean scientists at NOAA to self-driving car companies. Considered more accurate than radar, which uses radio waves to detect objects, Lidar measures the differences in how quickly laser pulses return to their origin. That allows for an extremely detailed picture of an object to appear on both interior and exterior levels.

Since Fisher first used Lidar in 2009, it has helped lead an archaeological revolution. The technology has allowed archaeologists to find buildings around the world that weren't previously recorded, from Connecticut to Belize.

Now, Fisher and geographer Steve Leisz, both of whom work at Colorado State University, want to take the technology global. With the Earth Archive, they want to scan the entire world with aircraft-mounted Lidar.

While archaeologists would likely rejoice at the completion of the project, as it would give unprecedented access to the world's forests and mountains, it could also be beneficial because Earth is radically changing. Fisher thinks that mapping the whole planet with Lidar could create a scientific baseline with which future climate scientists could study the Earth in greater detail.

"The climate crisis threatens to destroy our cultural and ecological patrimony within decades," Fisher says in his TedX Talk. "How can we document everything before it's too late?"

There are some hurdles in the plan, like the fact that Lidar is prohibitively expensive. In an interview with The Guardian, Fisher estimates it would cost $15 million to scan much of the Amazon within three years. During that time period, the Amazon itself could change dramatically, possibly providing inconsistent coverage.

“The date of the observations will vary tremendously across the globe,” France Gerard, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, tells The Guardian. She says she is supportive of the idea conceptually.

Then there are the political challenges. While there are already maps of the globe, these maps are taken by satellites in orbit. Flying in low-level aircraft all over the world would likely trigger protest from any number of repressive governments. “Who is going to give them permission to fly over Brazil?" asks Mat Disney of University College London in The Guardian. "The Brazilian government aren’t."

The Earth Archive's next steps are unclear. All that exists on the organization's website is a mission statement, a link to store with merchandise, and a donation button. Fisher insists the stakes are huge, and that the end result would be "the ultimate gift to future generations."

While that might be true, we need a lot of preparation for the present to be ready.

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