Google Earth can be viewed as a “browser” for people who are visually and spatially oriented. It lets them access information from around the world, using the planet itself as their visual/spatial reference point. For our new Project Happiness, we are anticipating we’ll receive posted video, audio, photos and other artistic contributions from schools and students around the world, and Google Earth will be one of the “portals” that people can use to sort out this information.
To find examples of Google Earth being used by nonprofits, check the Google Earth outreach web site. There are many, many specific example on the outreach showcase page.
Google Earth is built on a technology developed by Keyhole Technologies – and thus the file format that’s used – KML – stands for Keyhold Markup Language. KML files contain the stuff that describes each geo-linked event or information.
To create a new “layer” (contining your own locations) to Google Earth, you can make your own forum (on your own server) using UBB.threads (Ultimate Bulletin Board $229 per year or $499 for 5 years) software. (This may or may not work any more – I haven’t tried it.) You could also create and edit your KML file by hand, or using an XML-editing tool.
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