The over-brains behind Google Maps regularly get together with non-profit organizations to make maps that help those groups further their mission and hopefully make the world a more convenient place to live. Just this year, Google Maps has partnered with various organizations to visualize information about a nature conservatory’s adopt-an-acre program, how to preserve natural habitats via street expansion, and, most recently, a map to track and hopefully stop the spread of the wildfires raging in Colorado.
Seeing how organizations have used Google Maps to help visualize their data and thus promote their mission, Google Earth Engine do-gooders Rebecca Moore and Dave Thau were joined by a couple of developers from some of Google’s non-profit partners at Google I/O to talk about how developers can get linked up with NGOs and make maps that help keep the world from being a more crappy place.
Here’s the description Google offered of the video:
Developers are behind many cutting-edge map applications that make the world a better place. In this session we’ll show you how developers are using Google Earth Builder, Google Earth Engine, Google Maps API and Android apps for applications as diverse as ethno-mapping of indigenous cultural sites, monitoring deforestation of the Amazon and tracking endangered species migrations around the globe. Come learn about how you can partner with a non-profit to apply for a 2012 Developer Grant and make a positive impact with your maps.
After all, Google has to save the world, right? If it doesn’t, there won’t be any people from whom it can track browsing information.