Atlas Stretched

For what it's worth, I'm quoted in this National Geographic News item about the integration of the UN Environment Program's Atlas of Our Changing Environment in Google Earth -- something I blogged about here earlier.

One thing I hadn't seen before was the Google Maps version of the Atlas on the UNEP pages, which seems nearly as compelling and, in many ways, easier to manage and navigate than the richer but clunkier Google Earth version. It's definitely worth checking out.


But as cool as these digital atlases are, I have to say, there is still a lot of background and contextual material from the bound paper version that is sorely lacking in the digital versions. Which is to say that, as storytelling media, these tools still have some way to go realize their full promise. Fair enough.

In the meantime, the best thing to come from the digital adaptations of the Atlas is simply the vastly increased reach of the material. After all, there are now 100 million users of Google Earth. The original circulation of the Atlas was largely limited to policy makers. I was just fortunate enough to score a review copy.