Map CIA World Factbook Info with KML Factbook

The KML Factbook is a great tool for creating mapped displays of all manner of demographic, economic, and political data. The data used in the KML Factbook comes from the CIA World Factbook. The KML Factbook allows users to to select datasets from the CIA World Factbook and display that data in Google Maps or in Google Earth. You can also preview your maps using the Google Earth browser plug-in. After creating your map you can download the file to use offline in Google Earth.

Creating a map is a simple matter of selecting a set data set or sets, choosing base map, and defining the colors and size of placemarks. After making your selections KML Factbook generates the map. If you would like to use your own datasets, you can upload them to the KML Factbook.

Applications for Education
The KML Factbook could be a useful tool for students of geography, political science, and global economics. Data maps are good for providing students with a means to visually compare data sets. I can see the KML Factbook being a great resource for students to quickly compare development indicators of countries in a region or continent.

Three Places to Find Country Profiles

Comparing countries is a common assignment given to elementary, middle, and high school social studies students. Obviously, the required depth of analysis differs as the students get older, but there is some baseline data commonly used in all grades. The following are three good places for students to start their research for country comparison assignments.

The CIA's World Factbook is probably the most well-known collection of information for every country in the world. The World Factbook offers an interactive map that students can use to find information by clicking on a region or country. Students can also locate data by choosing a country from a drop-down menu.

The BBC offers a resource similar to the CIA's World Factbook. The BBC's Country Profiles offers data, but also includes some narrative paragraphs about each country. The BBC furnishes a short history of each country and has a timeline of key events for each country.

Wolfram Alpha can also be a good place to find data about countries. Simply enter a country's name into the search box on Wolfram Alpha and it will generate a list of data commonly used in comparing countries.

KML Factbook - 2D and 3D Mapped Data Displays

The KML Factbook is a great tool for creating mapped displays of all manner of demographic, economic, and political data. The data used in the KML Factbook comes from the CIA World Factbook. The KML Factbook allows users to to select datasets from the CIA World Factbook and display that data on a 2D or 3D map using Google Maps or the Google Earth browser plug-in. After creating your map you can download the file to use offline in Google Earth.

Creating a map is a simple matter of selecting a set data set or sets, choosing 2D or 3D map, and defining the colors and size of placemarks. After making your selections KML Factbook generates the map. If you would like to use your own datasets, you can upload them to the KML Factbook.










Applications for EducationThe KML Factbook could be a useful tool for students of geography, political science, and global economics. Data maps are good for providing students with a means to visually compare data sets. I can see the KML Factbook being a great resource for students to quickly compare development indicators of countries in a region or continent.

Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
The BBC News Globe
View Glacier Melt in Google Earth
Google Earth Links You Might Have Missed

Google Earth as an Almanac

One of the things that I enjoy about Google Earth is the myriad of creative files that people have developed and shared on the Internet. Today, I found a useful file on the Google Earth Blog that is essentially an online almanac of world data. Contained in the file are flags serving as placemarks for each country. Clicking on each placemark reveals information and links to stories about that country. Most of the data is drawn from the CIA World Factbook. You can access the file here.

Applications for Education
This Google Earth file is a good way for students to associate the names of countries and pertinent data about those countries to a geographic location.