Natural and human-made events unfold around the world every day. Those with dreadful consequences seem to more often make the news. People want to see and understand what is happening and more and more ask where. “Are friends or family at risk?” “Is the danger near me?” “Is the impact local or global in nature?” Geography and geographic tools are critical pathways to this personal knowledge and also for disaster and relief entities working to understand, respond, and positively affect the situation(s).

We can discover much at the click of a mouse through numerous news and information sites. If we wish to begin to put together our own geographic view of the situation, pulling in data and multimedia resources from disparate avenues (a mash-up) is possible with the rise of GeoWeb browsers and tools, including ArcGIS Explorer.

Since last year, the ArcGIS Explorer Blog has covered the use of this free 3D application in settings of fire, storm, and earthquake as well as those more mundane—exploring the geography of Flickr photos and videos from YouTube. To discover all of these, be sure to explore the ArcGIS Explorer Blog.

- George Dailey, ESRI Education Manager