Various regions of the geospace environment have been named and are
often studied as if they exist in isolation. Yet emerging high quality
multidisciplinary global datasets clearly demonstrate the complex and
highly variable synergy among traditional space physics regimes. As a
result, interdisciplinary endeavors, such as for example,
magnetospheric-ionospheric coupling studies, are growing rapidly but
face difficult challenges in understanding just how the various
geospace regions interact. The recent progression of global imaging
missions and the encouraging efforts to interface models of the
various geospace regions give hope that one day we may actually be
able to literally see “the big picture” that is crucial for
understanding the space environment as a whole system. Ultimately we
may be able to trace the paths of radiation and plasma eruptions from
their origins at the Sun through to the responsive interactions among
the magnetosphere, plasmasphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. This
lecture will trace the evolution of global imaging, from the initial
measurements, to what we are learning now, to innovative prospects for
developing new understanding from big pictures of the neutral and
ionized components of geospace.