Using Virtual Earth, you can make the information in the databases you use every day more compelling by layering your data onto aerial photos or maps—terrain or street—to put data in the visual context of location. The following example maps data cyclone and earthquake data to location, visually highlighting areas subject to high event concentration and providing scientists, public sector employees, information providers, and citizens with information about those events in their areas.
| • | Click Tropical Cyclones or USGS Recorded Earthquakes to see the locations of events. | | • | Hold the cursor over the stars or pushpins for detailed information about an event. | | • | Switch between map and hybrid (with location labels) views. | | • | Use the slider or double-click to zoom in or out. | | • | Drag in the desired location to re-center the map. |
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Virtual Earth solutions for every level of today's governmentVirtual Earth's flexibility, performance, and ability to connect to a wide range of data systems makes it an ideal foundation and a popular choice for geospatial mapping solutions at every level of government. State and local government solutionsFederal solutions| • | Environmental tracking and information sharing by the EPA (more) | | • | Public safety collaboration systems (more) | | • | Crisis management and public information dissemination (more) | | • | Personnel recruitment | | • | Weather tracking and reporting | | • | Training and simulation (more) | | • | Predictive modeling (more) | | • | Facility locator (U.S. Post Office, Substance Abuse, & Mental Health Services Administration) | | • | Asset tracking and management | | • | Decision support systems with information superimposed on a map or image | | • | Secure health and welfare portals providing the location of biohazards, outbreaks, or pandemic data sets | | • | Visual insight into business intelligence data and potential effects of decisions |
Department of DefenseHumanitarian, peace keeping, and national security support (more) BenefitsPublic agencies can use Virtual Earth solutions to enhance communication, to work more efficiently, and even to plan for and react to critical events. Communication with constituentsOne of government's highest and best purposes is giving citizens information they need to better manage their lives. Virtual Earth enhances agency-citizen communications by: | • | Helping agencies provide the public with location-specific information necessary to make informed decisions. Traffic and weather data are just two examples. | | • | Pinpointing the location of government offices and resources through the use of highly accurate maps, 3-D visualization capabilities, and driving directions. |
Insight into critical events and trendsGovernment responses are only as successful as the planning that goes into them. Planning for and responding to events is easier when you can visualize geographical context, paving the way for: | • | Disaster-management solutions that allow federal, state, and local agencies to map disease outbreaks, weather events, and other crisis situations quickly and accurately. | | • | Metrics analysis based on location, demographics, and other statistics, achieved by layering data within the Virtual Earth environment. | | • | Integration of a variety of data sources to track and manage critical events, trends, and organizational resources, improving disaster planning and cutting response time. |
Improved operational efficiencyBeyond its obvious role in crisis management, the Virtual Earth platform can be used in innovative ways to make an organization more broadly efficient: | • | Use GeoRSS feeds to view and manage a wide range of data streams and sources including census data and health information. (GeoRSS is a method of encoding location information in RSS feeds.) | | • | Use existing investments in radio frequency identification (RFID) and global positioning system (GPS) technology by providing a base map layer for the tracking of assets. | | • | Minimize IT costs and shorten time to deployment by capitalizing on Virtual Earth's open-standards platform, which makes it easy to integrate existing technology investments. |
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