The ability to see or experience the widest possible view of the world and everything in it, in great detail and (eventually) in real time has been described as a “Geo-scope” by the visionary architect and philosopher, Buckmaster-Fuller and his concepts summed up in his neologism will be explored (in the paper) but the main commercial issue now is that it is becoming possible to deliver a Geo-scope experience by using a combination of contemporary technologies converged and displayed via the World Wide Web. It is very likely that it may become one of the major killer-apps and be highly profitable with similar economic significance to others such as Web based social networking and Web media streaming. It will take some time to develop but the early stages of the Geo-scope are already available. It is unlikely that the rather arcane name Geo-scope will survive and it will probably be superseded by something more catchy.

A Geo-scope is a bold vision but one with many useful and entertaining applications. Today we have a taste of it with new Web based services such as Google’s StreetView. It is not clear yet what business models might emerge but a strong candidate for at least some parts of a Geo-scope would be from crowd-sourcing.
Seeing everywhere is great detail could be regarded as a massive invasion of personal privacy or as a useful way to combat crime and terrorism and to extend the functions already popular with social networking. For users the question will be about trusting the organisations managing the Geo-scope and to have appropriate tools and controls to manage a variable degree of privacy (for example, with respect to zoom level and resulting image resolution and clarity).
As new display technology develops then the Geo-scope will become cheaper, more portable and convenient. Sensing technology will increasingly add a real time aspect to images so that the Geo-scope will not be used to view historic images but current scenes with some moving images embedded and the portable aspect will lead to new possibilities for augmented reality.
The implication of a fully developed Geo-scope could be profound. It could be that the Geo-scope would in a sense become part of us and would lead to a different appreciation of reality. Today, reality is associated with the notion of “seeing (in the real world) is believing” and the Geo-scope extends this to “Geo-scoping is believing” where the real world has at least in part been replaced with a computer generated model, coupled with various sensing technologies.
Educational use of a Geo-scope could lead to changes in beliefs and practices: by seeing the world as it really is especially in other parts of the world. Rather than accept the entrenched views of cultural norms, young people would be able to see and judge for themselves what other cultures look like in operation
The Geo-scope may give a deeper appreciation of the Earth and human-kind’s place in it. Sustainability is a worthy goal but a difficult one to communicate. Actually seeing the ice-cap melt, flooding, drought and waste, could invigorate low-carbon action and a change in habits.
Finally, the Geo-scope extends humanity’s range and mental scope. It may lead to a shift in philosophy and this seems to be what Buckmaster-Fuller had in mind. A deeper understanding of the world, of people and their mutual relationships might, hopefully, emerge. Perhaps the Geo-scope may have to become a Cosmo-scope as space exploration advances!