Public participation at its finest

An interesting site I read about the other day where you can view maps made by a wide variety of contributors. There is also a data download portal - drag and drop the data you need then export to KML or CSV and you are on your way.

When I was in graduate school this was the type of application we dreamed of - the kind of application that gives power back to the people. There is no need for fancy GIS software and the extensive amount of time needed to learn how to use it. Anyone with some technical knowledge or the with the time it takes to get a smidge of that knowledge can make a map like the ones displayed in GeoCommons. And in turn be able to tell the story of the data. That is what is so incredible about the changes in web mapping we are seeing these days...it is no longer only the experts who have the capacity to make and use maps to their advantage...

Give the maps some time to load, some of the data sets are large and it takes a few minutes.

One of the more interesting maps produced by the Nature Conservancy (disturbing for me considering I grew up in NJ)

UFOs and Sasquatch

Here is one relevant to the ongoing news regarding subprime mortgage failures

and finally a map showing the areas where alternative fuel or alternative fueled vehicles are in highest use