I use Lonely Planet when I travel and I use O’Reilly publications when I program. In fact, I am a confessed O’Reilly publication fanboy. So it was a real treat for me last week attending the O’Reilly Where2.0 conference and WhereCampSF. I got to meet authors such as Schuyler Erle, Rich Gibson, Anselm Hook, and Mike Liebhold.

There were heaps of hacks and tons of tools but one of the lectures that made a lasting impression was the BrightEarth Project:

What is BrightEarth? BrightEarth is a project dedicated to exploring ways in which a new generation of Internet mapping tools can improve the sharing of information about humanitarian issues, both among the organizations directly involved and with the wider public.BrightEarth will help humanitarian organizations publish information to 3D virtual globes such as Google Earth, ESRI ArcGIS Explorer and NASA’s World Wind.

It helped me to remember what this is all about: turning data into knowledge in order to help people make better decisions.

I also met Jonathan Blocksom who had a prototype from another great charity project: One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). I had seen pictures of the XO but you really have to hold one to appreciate the beauty of its design.

(photo by cjmartin)