The cyclone which hit Myanmar (Burma) last weekend caused an indescribable amount of damage to the nation’s people; the ill effects of the storm have been vast extended by the ruling military junta’s resistance to both substantive and logistical aid from outside sources. View Larger Map And while Google has spend the past few days offering its users quick access to two financial drop-boxes established for a duo of international relief organizations, UNICEF and Direct Relief International (to which Mountain View has pledges a $1m donation, presumably to be made through it’s philanthropic arm, Google.org), the company has gathered a collection of Google Earth layers through its Outreach program to help any and all interested to observe visual data of the region in the aftermath of the disaster. The information comes by way of organizations that Google purports to work with, including ReliefWeb. They’ve chosen to publish their materials in the Google Earth-friendly KML format, to be easily distributed to as many people as may choose to run the software program. While Google has made available any data it has garnered through affiliate sources, it has already collected a number of revealing layers, which include: - Myanmar Ministry of Health Facilities- Satellite imagery from a selection of providers- Satellite flood analysis from MODIS- Satellite flood maps from ZKI/DLR- An animated storm track with category designation and wind speed- Animated storm clouds While some may understandably feel that observing the results of Cyclone Nargis dealt upon the people of Myanmar from afar is disturbingly voyeuristic, the fact of the matter is this: the more knowledgeable and aware the world is of what has happened and will happen henceforth, the better. No option in this case is good, but one can certainly make out the differences between bad and worse. ShareThis mashable109:http://mashable.com/2008/05/11/google-earth-cyclone-layers/ ShareThis
© Paul Glazowski for Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to ---Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog: Google Earth Updates LayersGoogle Earth Outreach Offers Charities Free Access To Pro SoftwareTerrorists Using Google Earth to Target IsraelGoogle’s Earth Day Mashup: Maps + YouTubeGoogle Earth and NASA Complete ProjectGoogle Earth Enterprise Version Update ReleasedGoogle Earth Shows Real-Time Traffic |
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