According to CNN.com:

As of today, when the 200 million users of Google Earth log onto the site, they will be able to view the horrific details of what’s happening in Darfur for themselves.

In an effort to bring more attention to the ongoing crisis in Darfur, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has teamed up with Google’s mapping service literally to map out the carnage in the Darfur region.

Experts estimate that 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million more have been displaced since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against the central Sudanese government.

The new initiative, called “Crisis in Darfur,” enables Google Earth users to visualize the details in the region, including the destruction of villages and the location of displaced persons in refugee camps.

Once again Google has impressed me with their ability to leverage technology in a positive and thought-provoking way. Having compiled one of the most extensive (and feared) databases of personal information on the planet, I am glad to see that Google is using it’s unprecedented information-gathering powers for good when most people perceive them simply as tools of evil.


To me, visualizing data is the only effective way to truly realize the significance and magnitude of a number. I found it interesting that this was a collaborative effort between Google and the National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. because the most powerful example of data visualization that I have ever seen in my life was at that very museum.

Obviously the mass genocide of the Jews during World War II was an atrocity of epic proportions, but the amount of people who were killed is somewhat incomprehensible as a number alone. People do not differentiate between numbers once they reach a large enough size. The difference between a million and a billion is nothing more than a few extra zeros if it’s not put into the proper perspective— which is where the real power of data visualization lies. As you walk through the museum you eventually come to a room that is full nothing but shoes. Thousands of pairs, each representing a life lost. Once you consider how many people it would take to fill all of those shoes you start to put that huge number into perspective. It becomes human.

As shocking as that exhibit may be, it can only affect those who actually make the trip to the museum to experience it firsthand. The reason the Darfur initiative is particularly powerful is that the message has been seamlessly integrated with existing and well-known technology, allowing for a significantly higher penetration rate. People are so preoccupied with concerns about privacy and spying that we fail to realize how powerful all of the information we have can really be. Instead of trying to keep everything a secret we should be open to what this information revolution can teach us about ourselves.