The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has just announced the "Google Earth Outreach" partnership with google earth. The program will allow humanitarian agencies the ability to use Google Earth and Maps to "highlight their work on behalf of millions of refugees and other populations of concern in some of the world's most remote and difficult areas." All one needs is to download the google earth application and the UNHCR kml file, then launch the app and open the kml file (KML = Keyhole Markup Language). Navigate to a region -- like Chad, Iraq, Colombia or the Darfur region of Sudan -- and you'll get access to news, video and other information about the situation and daily life/struggles of refugees.

Check out the google earth gallery for other KML files that people have built -- from world energy consumption to Death valley driving tour to Yosemite 1/2 dome hikes to the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860! I haven't yet come across an FDLP KML file, but perhaps one of our readers would like to start one? It's as easy as creating a google map and clicking the button "view in google earth" at the top right of the map. This will automatically generate the KML file. You can then send it to admin AT freegovinfo DOT info and we'll post it to the site.