Are you familiar with Google Earth, one of Google's best offerings? They are now offering mapped election data. The ultimate tool for political junkies!
If you already have Google Earth installed, you need to select the Election overlay and then using the map slider, enlarge the map until the stars show up. Then click on any star to get election info for that area. A very cool new feature. If you don't have Google Earth, there is a download link below.
Google Earth Rocks the Vote
New mapping overlay serves up details about 2006 elections.
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Monday, October 23, 2006 05:00 AM PDTGoogle has assembled a wealth of information about the upcoming U.S. general election and will display links to it on its Google Earth mapping application.
Election Guide
After Google turned on the links Sunday night, Google Earth users can see stars on the U.S. map wherever there is a race in the November 7 election. A number of congressional seats and state governorships are up for grabs.
Clicking on a star opens up a bubble with information about races in that area and links to a variety of information resources, such as the Web sites for the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Responsive Politics's OpenSecrets.org, which gathers information about campaign contributions. Below each candidate are links that trigger Google Web, image and news searches about them.
"People can easily learn a whole lot about the candidates in their particular area just by browsing this layer on Google Earth," said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps.
This is the first time Google has created an overlay of election-related links on Google Earth, and the company hasn't decided whether it will do this for every major election in the future, Hanke said.
Evolving Earth
Google Earth, one of the company's most popular products, is a free, downloadable application that taps into a massive database of satellite images and related information. Its video game-like interface lets users "fly" around the globe, zooming in and out of cities.
Google provides a variety of information overlays for the application, so users can display roads, borders, geographic features, restaurants, parks and hotels, to mention just a few of the options.
Google acquired the software in 2004 when it bought Keyhole. The Google Earth product family also includes more advanced, fee-based versions of the application designed for commercial uses.
Screenshot Example:
When I click on my home district star, I get the following pop up information as of today. Of course, the links will work from the map, I don't know how to get them to show up here in a screen shot, short of adding them back in one at a time. Check out Google Earth Election map and see for yourself:
2006 Elections, 45th District
45th District, California
Election Information:
Register to Vote and Voter Information
Campaign Finances: FEC, Center for Responsive Politics
House of Representatives Candidates:
Incumbent:
Mary Bono (R)
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Web - Images - News
David Roth (D)
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Web - Images - News
Senate candidates:
Incumbent:
Diane Feinstein (D)
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Web - Images - News
Todd Chretien (G)
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Web - Images - News
Marsha Feinland (PF)
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Web - Images - News
Don J. Grundmann (AI)
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Web - Images - News
Michael S. Metti (L)
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Web - Images - News
Richard 'Dick' Mountjoy (R)
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Web - Images - News
Directions: To here - From here
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