Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Google Earth Outreach is a new program aimed at helping non-profit organisations use Google Earth to communicate their activities to an online audience.
Google Earth allows anyone to construct layers to illustrate geographically-related information. The outreach program will provide tutorials, templates, case studies and forums making it easier for non-profits to use Google Earth to tell compelling stories about their work.
Selected layers will be included in the Outreach Showcase and in the Global Awarness folder within Google Earth.
The program formalises existing individual arrangements between Google and specific organisations. Organisations already using Google Earth in this way include the Jane Goodall Institute, the United Nations Foundation, Earthwatch and the Global Heritage Fund.
Examples include Google Earth layers created by the US Holocaust Museum to illustrate genocide in Darfur, by Appalachian Voices to show the effect of mountaintop coal mining in the US, and by the WWF to highlight over 150 conservation projects around the world.
A free licence for Google Earth Pro (usually $US400) is available under the program, but this is (at least initially) limited to public benefit, US-based non-profits with current 501(c)(3) status. Recipients are required to have at least some HTML and KML skills, and other technical knowledge including scripting languages and web server administration is recommended.
That said, many of Google Earth's features are accessible from the free version of the program. And since the Earth Outreach web pages are is accessible by the public, the material is likely to stimulate individuals to create overlays.
"Google's mission is all about making information more accessible and useful," said Elliot Schrage, Google vice president of global communications and public affairs. "With programs like Google Earth Outreach, we seek to help create a 'marketplace of ideas' in the growing not-for-profit sector that rivals and complements what we offer commercial enterprises. In a very practical way, Google Earth Outreach demonstrates that technology can inspire action by bringing seemingly distant problems closer to home."
"Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. With Google Earth Outreach, more people have the chance to see, to care, and then to act," said Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace.
What's in it for Google? There could be a genuine element of philanthropy, but the more people that use Google Earth - and there are already 200 million of them - the more opportunity the company will have to make money from it.
David Bass
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