Non-profit organisations and charities are using Google Earth's three-dimensional maps to raise awareness of environmental concerns.Issues such as genocide and deforestation are being covered by the groups using the 3D map technology, CNET News has revealed.
Mary Ann Hitt, executive director of non-profit Appalachian Voices, told the IT news group that organisations were drawing attention to the way mining companies were destroying the tops of the Appalachian Mountains.
She revealed that the method allowed the firms to get coal in a faster and cheaper way, but stressed that the impact of the process was detrimental to the environment.
With Google's help, the organisation is raising awareness of the issue, with "before" and "after" aerial shots of the mountains and videos from communities affected by the problem.
Rebecca Moore, a Google maps engineer who works with non-profit organisations in her free time, said during the Digital Earth panel organised by Google: "There are several environmental groups using it... (but) over the next year or two we're going to see a lot of interesting visualisations in Google Earth to educate people about climate change."
Google Earth is proving to be an extremely useful tool for a variety of audiences with different needs and it recently expanded its offerings with the addition of sounds from Wild Sanctuary.
The company released a Google Earth layer that places the collected soundscapes, such as the whoops of howler monkeys in the Amazon basin and other data, on Google's 3D world map so users can get a natural feel for the areas they're exploring.
