Google Earth: Explore the deserts

Google Sightseeing is in the middle of “Desert Week 2011”, uncovering interesting tidbits from various deserts around the world. It might sound boring (miles of sand…), but they’ve found some good stuff so far!
On Monday they took at look at a very odd formation in the Grand Erg Oriental (KML). At first glance, it appears that it could have been from a plane crash, but there is no wreckage to be found. Their user comments have suggested some other theories, but nothing conclusive. What do you think it might be?

 


 

Tuesday they traveled to the “Official Center of the World”, which is apparently in Felicity, California (KML). The story behind how that title came to be is quite interesting, and the various monuments (plus a man-made hill and pyramid) are quite impressive to see from Google Earth.
Wednesday took us a few states east into southern New Mexico to White Sands National Monument (KML). There are a variety of beautiful areas to look at in White Sands, but Lake Lucero is the most stunning from the air. After heavy rains, water pools in the area and leaves behind large crystals as the it evaporates. It’s certainly a sight to see.
Yesterday they ventured out to the Mojave Desert and nearby Owens Valley (KML). This area is full of cool sights, including Edwards Air Force Base, Red Rock Canyon, the Coso Volcanic Fields and the Alabama Hills. The Alabama Hills have been popular shooting location for movies over the years, with 150 movies and a dozen TV shows using the location due to it’s “rugged” environment.
Sometime later today they’ll wrap up the series. Be sure to check out their site to see what they show off next.

Hunting Gold with Google Maps

German hacking group No Name Crew earlier this month managed to hack the website of the far-right German political party the NPD. Someone has used the data to create a Google Map that lists the full names and addresses of 400 donors to the NPD.
 


 
The map contains a legend that says that it “might contain some errors..”, which obviously does raise concerns that someone completely unrelated to the NPD could end up being targeted by a user of the map. I’ve therefore decided to not link directly to the map itself.

In 1998 the BNP, a far right group in the UK, similarly had its members’ list hacked. A UK map developer also created a Google Map of the political party’s members.

The map developer quickly took the map down, after realising that innocent people might end up being attacked. Instead he created a heat map of the UK, that didn’t show individual addresses, but instead gave an overview of where in the country support for the BNP was stronger.

A similar approach from the German hackers or the creator of the NPD map would provide an interesting map of where support for the NPD is concentrated, without causing any risk to people’s safety.

Via: taz.de

Discover Stories with New Microsoft Local Impact Map

Every day hundreds of nonprofit organizations are hard at work improving education, facilitating research, and giving people the skills to find work or start a business.  When a nonprofit really connects with its community it becomes more effective and it leads to thousands of incredible stories from every corner of the world – stories that help inspire even greater achievements.

At Microsoft, we want to help these nonprofits succeed. One way we can do that is to make it easier for them to tell their stories. So with that goal in mind, our Corporate Citizenship team has used Bing Maps to build theMicrosoft Local Impact Map, a new tool that allows you to discover the stories of the communities you care about most, stories about how people and technology are having a real impact.

LIM_06142011_main
 


 
One of our favorite stories comes from our team in India that worked with local teachers to train them under thePartners in Learning program. In the community of DharwadProject Shiksha was created by a group of trained instructors to establish a residential school for students with hearing impairments. One trainer in particular used an incredibly unique approach to help the students learn to use computers. Find out what she did by reading the story here.

LIM_06142011_story

Of course, this story is only one among thousands. The Local Impact Map provides a living record of how technology is having a positive impact in communities around the world. We invite you to take a look and read examples of people working together for a common good.