DATES: 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Oct. 22, 2008.

EVENT: The opening sessions of the Scientific Applications for Google Earth Conference. This is a meeting to bring together scientists from across the country and members of the Google community to explore how to use Google Earth and related technology to enable rich, new data interaction. No registration is required for the opening sessions, which are free and open to the public.

Google Earth, Google Maps and the KML programming language they share offer new ways of visualizing, communicating, and sharing data for scientists and policymakers as well as for hobbyists and novice users. The opening sessions will give an overview of the possibilities and share success stories. Speakers are:

? Thomas Zurbuchen, professor and director of the U-M College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship

? Ryan Falor, systems engineer, Google Earth education and outreach

? Tim Killeen, assistant director for geosciences, National Science Foundation (NSF)

? Dan Atkins, Kellogg Professor of Community Information in the U-M School of Information, Associate Vice President for Research Cyberinfrastructure and former director of the NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure

? Sean Askay, Google Earth outreach evangelist

? Michael Weiss-Malik, KML product manager, Google

? Trey Smith, systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon University West and NASA Ames Research Center’s intelligent robotics group

Some researchers at Michigan are already making use of this technology. Perry Samson, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, has created www.tornadopaths.org. This mashup of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Google Maps and Google Earth shows where tornados hit the United States each day. Samson has also put together several interactive air quality websites.

Conference organizers see applications in archeology, demographics, disease-tracking, climate change studies, urban planning and more fields.

PLACE: Biomedical Research Science Building, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, Mich. View a map with visitor parking noted as VP at http://uuis.umich.edu/cic/map/central/index.cfm?region=D2.

SPONSORS: University of Michigan and Google Earth.

CONTACT: Thomas Zurbuchen, (734) 763-1021 or thomasz@umich.edu

WEBSITE: Scientific Applications with Google Earth Conference: http://googleearthconference.engin.umich.edu/index.php

Web site shows daily tornadoes across the country: http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6612