This is simply one of the best ideas I've ever heard. Google is teaming up with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to help people better understand/realize the atrocities going on in Darfur by placing them on the map, literally.

Now, when any of the 200 million-plus users of Google Earth fly over Africa, they will see a variety of options for ways to take a closer look into the genocide happening currently in Darfur. There will be pictures, super-zoomed in satellite imagery of destroyed homes and villages, locations of refugee camps, a ton of data.

In my opinion, one of the main problems in getting people to understand/care about situations like this going on is that it can sometimes feel like it's happening in another world - out of sight, out of mind, if you will. I am one of these people.

It takes fresh tactics to break into the publics psyche and bring something like this into focus. Movies have long been a great way to get people talking and stir debate, but cinema is still a one-way medium - there is no interaction outside of discussion with others about the film. Now Google Earth is providing a more interactive way to learn about and seek-out information on the situation on your own.

If nothing else it should help the public in this country understand that Darfur isn't in another world, it's in a very real place that is only a few mouse movements away on Google Earth. This mixing of information with context should motivate more people to get involved.