Google Earth Outreach arrives down under

Google's Outreach program, which gives non-profit organisations (NPOs) mapping tools to help publicise their work, has been launched in Australia and New Zealand.

When Google Street View took to the Great Barrier Reef in September, opening it up to billions of viewers around the globe, it revealed a reality that few realised was quite as bad as it was: the coral reefs off the Queensland coast are dying.

It also highlighted what a great tool Google's mapping services can be for spreading a message — something that the web giant was already across with Google Earth Outreach, a program that gives NPOs mapping tools to tell the world about their causes.

Australia's natural environment has its own problems — the aforementioned dying reef, old growth logging and bushfires, to name a few. Google has now launched its Outreach program here, so that local NPOs can show what needs help and what they are doing through interactive maps, Google Earth tours, satellite imagery and other tools.

Google said in a post on its Australian blog:

We hope that by bringing this program to Australia and New Zealand, many more organisations will be able to tell powerful visual stories about the important work they do, to both help them raise awareness and funds and further their scientific goals.