The GeoSphere “Satellite Map of the Earth” Image marks a milestone in cartographic history. It is the first satellite map of Earth, showing the real world as it appears from space.
The work required one year of effort by Van Sant and his technical team using the world’s most powerful graphics computers. In 1988 during the height of the Cold War, every boardroom and schoolroom in the world displayed maps and globes of the world with every country a different color. This was also a time of environmental crisis of great proportions: extinction of species, industrial poisoning of rivers and lakes worldwide, and depletion of ozone protection in the atmosphere. No one knew what the world, their home and place in space truly looked like.
On April 15th, 1990, Tom and his team completed the First Map of Earth as it appears from Space. The image was first published as the title page of the 1990 National Geographic World Atlas. Since 1991 it has been adopted by all U.S. federal agencies, has been published in over 300 magazines and atlases, and is the largest selling image in the world.
Tom Van Sant meeting at the White House with Vice President Al Gore and Federal Agency Directors of NASA, NOAA, and the U.S.G.S.
Earth Situation Room Permanent Environmental Exhibit,
Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C.
Tom Van Sant 