The UN has teamed up with Google to bring the reality of refugees a bit closer to home.
Details of refugee work in Darfur, Colombia and Iraq have been put into a new set of overlays for the Google Earth programme – which allows users to browse a virtual globe made up of satellite photos (for more uses of Google Earth, see this blog from Nature’s Declan Butler).
“In 2008, we are going to spread around the world and try and capture all of the major sites and make sure that they are all available so that people can see what the actual situation is on the ground,” says L. Craig Johnstone, the UN deputy high commissioner for refugees (press release). “It will make it possible to bring that suffering to people, so people can understand where the responsibilities actually are.”
The overlays show three levels of detail: an overview of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and its work in the three regions; a closer view of camps and refugee communities; and a super close up right down to schools and water points in specific camps.
Whether the project will be more than just an awareness raising tool is a matter of debate.
Reuters notes that some believe the satellite images could help direct aid; whereas others think they will not be hugely useful for field workers without high-speed internet connections.
UNHCR isn’t the only agency using Google Earth to foster awareness of serious problems. Just yesterday, Michael Graham of the Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative at the US Holocaust Museum launched a new layer called “World is Witness” that will be used as a “geoblog.” The layer will be updated with posts about places in countries like Rwanda and the Congo, showing people’s stories using the power of maps and photos.
Related stories from Nature
BrightEarth project shows up dark deeds
Satellite can spot razed villages in Darfur
Earth Monitoring: The planetary panopticon
Image: screenshot of UNHCR overlay