Virtual Communities in the Digital Earth

• Virtual communities exist in many forms on the WWW:
• Newsgroups / Threaded Discussion lists
• Chat rooms / IRC
• Multi-user VRML
• Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games

• Digital Earth allows for virtual communities where interaction is mediated in a virtual space mirroring a real-world region of interest
• Scientists - share research results
• Park rangers - post traveller info/warnings
• Travellers - record travel logs
• Photographers - publish georeferenced photo albums
• Historians - historical documents, drawings, photos