Google Earth for NFPs Down Under

Internet search engine giant, Google is offering its Earth Mapping tools to Australian and New Zealand Not for Profits to help them create a visual impact around their causes for a world-wide audience.

The Great Barrier Reef coral health, fire management, and depleting forest cover are some of Australia’s large-scale environmental issues that Google says its mapping tools are already helping.

“With Google Earth Outreach, Not for Profit organisations can use Google mapping tools to visualise their causes and tell their stories to millions of people around the world,” Raleigh Seamster, the Program Manager for Google Earth Outreach said.

“Across the globe, Not for Profits have used Google Earth Outreach to help clear landmines in Cambodia and Angola, and to demonstrate forest and wildlife loss in Sumatra, Indonesia. At last night’s official launch event at Macquarie University, we announced new projects with three Australian partners.

Details of the first three Australian Not for Profit partners have been announced and Google says it is also providing grants for other organisations using the Google mapping tools.

“Dr. Elizabeth Madin from Macquarie University has demonstrated how her team is using Google Earth to further her work in investigating coral reef landscapes; they integrate ecological theory and the high-resolution satellite imagery available in Google Earth to identify “grazing halos”, which may be able to tell us more about coral reef health.

“The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority launched an interactive map, which will shows how their Reef HQ Aquarium is bringing the Great Barrier Reef to students around the world.

“They also launched a Google Earth narrated tour following the track of Torres the Green Turtle as he swims along the Great Barrier Reef and meets incredible marine life along the way.

“The Australian Wildlife Conservancy also unveiled two Google Earth tours. The first tour flies through their 23 sanctuaries which cover more than 3 million hectares to bring to life their fight to save Australia’s unique wildlife from extinction. The second tour overlays AWC geospatial data on top of Google Earth to demonstrate the impact of their EcoFire Project in the Kimberleys over the last six years.  

Not for Profits can apply for grants for Google Earth Pro, Google Maps Engine, Google Maps API for Business, and Google Maps Coordinate.