Perhaps not to those of us in the geo-spatial industry but it’s worth remembering that not everyone has their head in data, maps and geo-spatial programs. James Fallows writes in the Atlantic Monthly that coming across Google Earth for the first time was one of his “truly memorable moments” in his long experience with computers, ranking up there with sending his first email or browsing the Internet for the first time. Jack Dangermond of ESRI (are there any other poster children for GIS?) gets his two cents in: “But because [Google Earth] is spellbinding to customers, it can only build awareness of geography. And if this exposure makes citizens more spatially literate, they can accept more of their information this way and visualize more about their local situations.”

Read James Fallows’ article online.