On April 1oth, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, inaugurated online mapping initiative - Crisis in Darfur, using Google Earth in partnership with Google. This lets you visualize, better understand, and respond to the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur.
According to Google about 200 Million users use Google Earth. This provides huge potential for outreach for NGOs.
In the past number of NGOs have used Googlemaps for news and advocacy purposes. You can find extensive list of GoogleMap mashup and how to use tools on this Blog.
Above initiative provides interesting example of how to merge high resolution images from satellites, testimonies and other data compiled by NGOs with Google Earth. Ease of use and powerful presentation of complex data can be extremely useful for advocacy and expanding out reach to new constituencies.
Museum expects to use these tools to creating understanding and empathy for Darfur victims.