Google Earth shows the spread of Bird Flu
Google earth is the cult web product that has had two hundred million downloads since its launch. The programme that is supposed to be used by rocket scientist is now available for the common folks. Like the search engine of Google, Google earth has secured for itself a place in the life of the web as well as PC users that no other product will be able to drag it down from its number one position. Google earth is multitask tool that is used for fun as well as for education. The virtual globe of Google earth will never let you down when you are in any part of the world. Although commercial Google earth has provided invaluable information for conserving as well as saving life on the earth. Google earth has shown how useful it can be during situations that critical and threaten the lives of men. During the dreaded outbreak of the Avion Influenza or Bird Flu some Time ago Google earth provided with the information regarding the spread of the outbreak. The Nature magazine, which is a widely respected magazine had online a Google Earth map of avian flu outbreaks that provided information for the travelers about where to go and where not.
The outbreak of Bird flu in the Southeast Asian countries some time back had caught the world’s attention and fear. The update of Avian flu outbreak map in Google earth was there which was an excellent resource for scientists as well as travelers. This map enabled the user to see the locations in detail in Google earth with satellite photos. Overtime view of the outbreak was also displayed in the outbreak map. The option in the placemarks control enabled the user to get familiar with all the details of the case. The case history included both of the humans and of the fouls. The map of the outbreak with updates showed the decrease and increase of the cases in the region. The H5N1 map in Google earth showed the full extent of the avian flu outbreaks. The display of the avian flu outbreaks is perhaps the first online map of the eighteen hundred outbreaks of avian flu in birds that have been reported over the past two years. The H5N1 map also showed the cases where humans were infected with the deadly influenza virus.
The data for all this was collected from various organization. Data on human cases was collected from World Health Organization bulletins. The districts were the bases for the geo location of any outbreak. The latitude and longitude of the districts was given as centroids. The people involved in the GIS provided with files of centroid data for district names in affected countries. The placemarks in the map were colored in accordance with the period of time. The diameter of these placemarks was adjusted to the size of the outbreak. Google, google earth, bird flu, outbreaks, maps
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