Google recently launched a dedicated [google.com] to showcase a collection of hand-picked maps from several preferred organizations, such as the National Geographic, the U.S. Geological Survey or the City of Edmonton. It is the goal that in the future, people will find most maps not through the gallery, but via the standard search results.

The included maps range from the somewhat unappealing map based based on data from the World Bank, over an intriguing overview map of , to the beautifully rendered by the National Geographic.

Participants who for the program and are selected by Google receive free access to the enterprise version of Google Maps Engine, which includes specific connectors that facilitates easy importation of public data.

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