Esri's Atlas for a Changing Planet Story Map Delivers Geographic Insight for Sustainable Planning and Development

Redlands, California— November 30, 2015—Esri, the world leader in geographic information system technology, released an interactive map illustrating the earth's natural and human systems and how they have changed—and will change—over time. With the  Atlas for a Changing Planet Story Map, scientists, policy makers, planners, and activists can examine detailed spatial information that is critical for adapting to a warmer future.

"Mitigating the effects of climate change is a global, geographic challenge," said Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. "Understanding how the earth's systems interact and transform is an essential first step in measuring the threat of climate change and making informed decisions to reduce it."

Atlas for a Changing Planet explores a sample of maps, imagery, and data from Esri  ArcGIS Online. The Story Map covers five themes: understanding natural systems, mapping human systems, mapping ocean impacts, predicting the future, and international cooperation.

Complex issues, processes, and concepts—such as biomass and ocean acidification—are clearly and succinctly explained with maps and multimedia. For example, users visualize the density of carbon stored in living plants (biomass) with an explanation of how this information is key to estimating how land-use change affects the climate. Interactive maps illustrate which areas will be severely affected by rising sea levels, the changes in sea ice extents in the Arctic Ocean, and population growth in urban cities around the world.

The Story Map also models data from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in three scenarios. With this data, users navigate the Story Map to see projected changes in temperature and precipitation based on the level at which greenhouse gas emissions increase or decrease over time.

Esri created the Story Map in time for the November 30 start of the United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties ( COP21). World leaders are gathering at the annual meeting to negotiate an international agreement with the goal of keeping global warming's increase below 2 degrees Celsius.

See the Atlas for a Changing Planet Story Map at  esriurl.com/AtlasForAChangingPlanet. For more information on Esri Story Map, visit  esri.com/storymaps.

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About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at  www.esri.com.

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