This week Google launched a series of videos celebrating the Heros of Google Earth. These videos and associated links tell the stories of non-profit organizations that are using Google Earth to increase global awareness of various environmental and politic issues. One of the organizations featured in Heros of Google Earth is MAPA (Mapping Africa’s Protected Areas). MAPA has created a Google Earth layer featuring parks, wildlife reserves, and protected lands in Eastern and Southern Africa. MAPA’s Google Earth layer goes nicely with the Africa Mega-flyover tour in Google Earth.
The video offers a short overview of MAPA’s work.

Thanks to the Google Earth Blog for some of the links in this post.

Application for Education
MAPA’s Google Earth layer combined with the Africa Mega-flyover tour could be useful for anyone teaching lessons about wildlife conservation. These files are also good models of using Google Earth to tell a story and writing to inform.