The Power of Google Earth: Darfur Crisis

ABC News is reporting a joint project between Google and the United States National Holocaust Museum to use Google Earth to visualize the genocide taking place in Darfur. From the site:

The Museum and Google Earth unveil an unprecedented online mapping initiative. Crisis in Darfur enables more than 200 million Google Earth users worldwide to visualize and better understand the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur, and to respond to the crisis.

The red fires on the Google Earth image represent the 1,600 villages that have been destroyed. Blue histogram bars represent the populations of the villages, and it is even possible to see the tents of the refugee camps...

Again from the site:

Beginning with Darfur, we are building an interactive “global crisis map" that will provide citizens, aid workers and foreign policy professionals with a new tool to share and understand information quickly, to "see the situation", enabling more effective prevention and response.

Certainly, this site maximizes the visual power of Google Earth, coupled with the distribution capability of the Internet, to put a different kind of face on the crisis, and bring it into the consciousness of everyone...

The site continues with resources on how you can create your own GE presentations on Darfur using placemarks and how you can help.

Interestingly, and sadly, when I went to ABC to get the link, it wasn't the Darfur crisis that was the lead story with the large graphic. It was about the paternity case involving the late Anna Nicole Smith.

Sort of says it all...

darfur googleearth usnhm