Did you know that you can collaborate with others as you create a custom online map? Google Earth Outreach offers a tutorial that describes exactly how to do this in Google Maps. Once you and your colleagues have created your map, you can export it to KML and view it in Google Earth.My local mountain bike club is using this feature set to create a list of trailwork projects. Our collaborative map will show the location of needed trailwork and potential new trails we hope to build. I hope to share this soon with everyone, including the Forest Service.
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John, I took my trail work mapping skills to the limit during the Basin Complex fire near Big Sur. I lead trail crews there so I already had some overlays when the fire started.
The GIS folks in the fire camps gave me access to their shape files and I had by far the most current and comprehensive maps available. I estimate based on server stats, emails, blogs, etc that I was informing over 15,000 people about the fire's progress. I never had time to promote the site. I was way ahead of GeoMAC in functionality and information.
I prototyped a real-time mass communication concept using G/E as the platform. It works to rapidly accumulate official and local knowledge in real-time, and mapped for relevance. (Using Network Links and refresh.) I'm preparing http://disasterpost.net to take to the governor's Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security. I have a little more software to develop.
G/E along with business processes that I'm engineering is far better than what the National Incident Management System has now for official / public communications in a major event. No more Katrina.
After a full month of day and night volunteer mapping on the Basin fire my trail work mapping is boring. I'm working with the Forest Service to GPS map the trail and campsite rehab work for volunteers.
- Jim Preston
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