Google Earth and your community

by Miraz on 18 October 2007

Britt Bravo posted today about the power of Google Earth’s KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files to bring about community change: Notes from Google Earth Outreach at Net Tuesday:

In the ten days following release of the Appalachian Mountaintop Removal KML in Google Earth, more than 13,000 people from every US state and more than 30 countries signed this online petition to stop the dumping of mountaintop mining waste into waterways.

She writes about several other examples too — about the Google Earth flyover that showed the effects of logging on a local community …

We then flew virtually up the Los Gatos Creek canyon:

past their homes and their children’s schools

along our steep and narrow mountain roads that would be burdened with a dozen/day 90,000 lb. logging trucks navigating more than 30 blind curves where children walk to school

… and about projects showing the spread of avian flu reports, the crisis in Darfur, tracking polar bears, and mountaintop removal.

Have you looked at Google Earth? Could you use it as a tool for your community organisation? Read more at Google Earth Outreach:

As a non-profit or public benefit group, you can use Google Earth to capture the work you’re doing, the people you’re helping, the challenges you face and the change you’re helping to enable - all in the visual context of the environment in which these stories take place. By downloading your KML files, anyone, anywhere can fly in Google Earth from where they live to where you do your work. This virtual visit to the projects and people you support gets users engaged and passionate about what you’re doing and builds support for your cause.