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November 07, 2007
Defense Earmarks in Google Earth
The Sunlight Foundation uses Internet technology to help share information about what the elected officials in US Congress are doing with tax payer dollars. Yesterday, USA Today wrote a story about how Sunlight Foundation is using Google Earth to show how Congress is using special directed spending (known as "earmarks") to send money to projects in their voting areas. They created a Google Earth file 
with placemarks showing the locations of contracts which fall into this category. Even Google's geo team thought this was interesting.
Posted by FrankTaylor at November 7, 2007 07:20 AM
Comments
Posted by: Case at November 7, 2007 10:06 AM
I don't think it devalues the message, Case, as the message is evident in concept. The inaccuracies only point-out that there's room for improvement in accuracy.
Posted by: Daniel at November 7, 2007 05:03 PM
I found the University of Tennessee in northern Michigan. I agree it does not devalue the mesage to be incorrectly located ... but really now!
Posted by: Bob at November 8, 2007 12:41 PM
Bob, Do you agree that the creator(s) of the dataset can make improvements to create more accuracy?
Do you also agree that the dataset (content) is subject to criticism not related to the geospatial accuracy of Google Earth?
It's unfortunate that so many seem to become confused with the two.
Posted by: Daniel at November 8, 2007 04:27 PM
If the message is to show "where the money is going" from Congressional earmarks. Then accuracy would be important. The key word is, where.
If one was looking for their Congress persons earmarks and they were showing up in other states, then one could question what else is wrong. Are the figures right or even the earmarks associated with someone right?
Yes there is room for improvement. Has the message already been devauled by their first set of errors? Like products, generally, if the first launch goes bad. There isn't a second chance. In this case, more likely than not, it will be fine in long run.
A good use of the data thou.
KoS
Posted by: KoS at November 8, 2007 09:05 PM
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This is another great idea that suffers from poor locational data. There is a Minnesota National Guard pin in northern Iowa,two University of Nebraska, Lincoln pins 35 miles SE of Lincoln, and the 139th Airlift wing is listed as being in St. Joseph Missouri but the pushpin is in Maryville. Again, GE is a great tool, but inaccurate data devalues the message.