An interesting TED Talk from Eric Sanderson about how he and his team recreated the area of New York City before it became urbanised. It looks like most of the work was done with a GIS (ArcGIS 9.x by the looks of things). The video seeks to convey the impact that we have had on our environment. What resonated with me, however, was the power of GIS in an investigative or hind-casting context rather than the contemporary/ forecasting roles it is most often used for.
