Touring a virtual planet earth, zooming in on environmental hotspots and comparing today’s crisis zones with yesterday’s areas of natural beauty have all become possible thanks to a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Google Earth, writes UN News Centre, Thursday.
Google Earth – Google’s 3D virtual world browser now provides the option to use “UNEP: Atlas of our Changing Environment,” which offers satellite images of 100 environmental hotspots from around the world. The project builds on the success of UNEP’s popular hardcover release One Planet, Many People: Atlas of our Changing Environment.
– These satellite pictures are a wake-up call to all of us, said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
– Through spectacular imagery, Google Earth and UNEP offer a new way of visualizing the dangers facing our planet today. By tapping into the global Google community, we are able to reach out to millions of people who can mobilize and make a difference.
UNEP: Atlas of our Changing Environment uses images from the 2005 publication together with satellite depictions of changes to African lakes (based on the 2006 Africa’s Lakes: Atlas of our Changing Environment), along with several new images and updates, and brings them into the virtual world of Google Earth. Each location features multiple satellite images which are overlaid directly on Google Earth.
Læs mere: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=487&ArticleID=5350&l=en
