Advancing Digital Earth: beyond the next generation

The Digital Earth (DE) movement is gaining momentum. Much of it is unstructured. This paper examines a number of recent developments including those in health sensors (Wearable Absence, Q-Sensor, and Guardian Angels) and systems frameworks (Gelernter's Mirror Worlds, Virtual Australia, and New Zealand). Consideration is given to the implications of DE for citizens and on citizen science, including those of ethics. A suite of principles to guide the development of DE is proposed.