MSNBC Article on Outreach Mashups

I ran across this article on MSNBC and thought I’d pass it along.In a nutshell, people are using mapping mashups to “illustrate and advocate” issues that are important to them. Google has created a Google Earth Outreach program, a service aimed at non-profits and advocates, including a free license of Google Earth Pro (normally $400) for qualified non-profits. And they’re doing some great stuff - I posted a link a while back to a Darfur project created for Google Earth by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Check out the Google Earth Outreach Showcase for a ton of great examples.

The significance of this to me, other than advocating for a lot of great causes, is the use of mapping as a means not only of communicating information, but also for building communities. Hearing something on the news is a very different experience from seeing it on the same planet you live on and being able to interact on some level with the event itself.