Google Earth Launches Nonprofit Outreach Program
Submitted by KatrinVerclas on Tue, 06/26/2007 - 12:12pm.
Google officially launched its nonprofit outreach program today for its Google Earth product. I was at the launch party where nonprofit groups such as NTEN member Earthwatch Institute and the Goodall Institute (with Jane Goodall videoconferenced in from London) described how they use Google Earth. We already described how a small nonprofit, Appalachian Voices, uses the tool to fight against mountaintop removal for coal mining. Mary Ann Hitt, Appalachian Voices' Executive Director was there for the launch.
The new site launched by Google features case studies and tutorials on how to use KLM. There is an extensive community, including developers, available to assist nonprofits for pay or pro bono. Google also offers grants for the more powerful Google Earth Pro platform.
Eliot Schrager, Google's VP for Global Communcation, discussed how Google is committed to "democratizing access to information" and encouraged nonprofit users of Google Earth to "tell Google what you need to do your work." Case studies of nonprofits using Google Earth include the Sierra Club, National Geographic, Earth Watch, and The United Nations Foundation, among others. Google Earth, together with Craig's List, was also used extensively after Hurricane Katrina, to map locations of displaced individuals.
I talked with the co-founder of Keyhole, the company acquired by Google to create Google Earth, who was tired but ecstatic by the uptake of the product by nonprofits. He talked a bit about how satellite data is acquired and sourced all over the world to cover the entire earth. We agreed that pressenting data to tell the story was one of the most compelling ways to move people to action.
