Master collection of Cyclone Nargis layers

Posted by Christiaan Adams, Google Earth Outreach

Since the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, people all over the world have been mobilizing to provide relief to the massive numbers of victims who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and loved ones. The organizations that we work with at Google.org and Google Earth Outreach are working overtime to help the people affected, despite the difficulties of working in and even getting into Myanmar.

We've heard from these organizations that Google Earth is a valuable planning and management tool for them. Many use sophisticated geographic information systems (GIS) to create and process spatial information, but layering their own data along with data provided by others (such as ReliefWeb and others) over the 3D terrain and satellite imagery of Google Earth allows them to visit places virtually and get a unique feel for them before they actually get there.

By publishing their data in Google Earth's KML format, these organizations can easily share their information and make it available to anyone who wants (or needs) it to visualize the situation. This KML file is a collection of all the layers we've made available over the past week. It currently contains:

• Animated Strom Track with category and wind speed (read more)
• Animated Storm Clouds (read more)
• Satellite Flood Analysis from MODIS (read more)
• NEW: Satellite Flood Maps from ZKI/DLR
• Myanmar Ministry of Health Facilities (read more)
• Satellite Imagery from a variety of providers (read more)
  

The layers will be updated as more data becomes available. No need to download the file again -- just refresh the network link or restart Google Earth to get the latest.