We are in the midst of a revolution in mapping technology where traditional Geographical Information System (GIS) software now are complemented with easy-to-use mapping technologies that provide access both to satellite imagery and basic tools to generate and modify basic features including points, lines and polygons.

Emerging mapping technologies include:
Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
MS Virtual Earth: http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/

Using Google Earth as an example, benefits of this new technology include:

• Free download of easy-to-use and intuitive software that provides access to satellite imagery.
• A basic toolbox to develop spatial data, including points, lines and polygons, overlaying the satellite images.
• Options to modify colors of the generated spatial entities and to add text to describe them.
• Capacity to save spatial data in KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files that can be shared as files for download from websites or distributed as e-mail attachments.
• Capacity to generate dynamic KML files that show space-time patterns as "movie clips".
• Potential for converting KML files into shapefiles for use in GIS software.
• Online support by a large and growing user community.