Honoring the fallen on a Google Earth map
Map the Fallen loaded in Google Earth
(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)Each Memorial Day we honor the men and women in uniform who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy. Traditionally, this is the day many people visit cemeteries and memorials, especially the Arlington National Cemetery. But not all of us can do that. This year there's an alternative.
Sean Askay, a Google engineer, released on Sunday a Google Earth layer, called Map the Fallen, that contains detailed information of more than 5,700 service members who died in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This is an interactive tool that lets you see photos, learn about how each service member died, visit memorial Web sites with comments from friends and families, and explore the places they called home and where they died.
Askay has no military affiliation or background and developed the project on his personal time. He said on his Map the Fallen blog that he came up with the idea when he was still a student and ran across icasualties.org, a public database of soldiers who have died since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to Askay's blog, the Map the Fallen layer contains information collected from a number of sources, including the Department of Defense's Statistical Information Analysis Division, icasualties.org, MilitaryTimes.com's Honor the Fallen, The Washington Post's Faces of the Fallen, the Iraq and Afghanistan Pages, and Legacy.com.
The layer requires Google Earth 5.0 or later. Once the software is installed, you just need to download the Map the Fallen layer layer and choose to open it. After a few seconds, the layer will be loaded and you can learn much about honorable men and women who you might otherwise not know about at all.
Personally, seeing the sheer number of human figures closely shown on the surface of the Earth is enough to leave me feeling somber and humbled.
What Askay did shows the true meaning of Memorial Day, and for a lot of us it offers an easy and convenient way to frequently remember and honor those we are often too distracted to do that for.
Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com. E-mail Dong. 
We can't fault the creator of the Map for having the freedom to chose which "Fallen" he wanted to quantify. It was a noble effort, and a brilliant one. I doubt one day Sean woke up and said, "Hum, I think I'll do something political today."
If this kind of Google Map can be created, just think of all the other things it will lead to. The possibilities are endless and will benefit many for different reasons.
provide an easy way to assimilate a number of database in one convenient UI. Askay is performing
an admirable service to all of are fallen service men in Afghanistan and Iraq, lest we forget their sacrifices. The method he choose was one that as he stated was convenient and since he works for Google getting a handling on the Google maps API was probably not a problem for him. I for one don't see a dominate political statement in his application, if he was trying to make a political statement, and if he wanted to he could have been a lot blunter.
I think the whole point is this: "You can learn so much more about those honorable men and women that you might otherwise don't know about at all." Bravo.
It's a heartfelt undertaking for Sean Askay to spend his own personal time in creating this informational tribute to "Map the Fallen." He hasn't even been in the military but recognized how important it is to utilize this technology to help people.
Maybe the Map of the Fallen will get SO FULL of "dots" that someone will recognize how vital it is to put a STOP to all this madness once and for all.
Thank you, Sean.
Warm Regards from a grateful wife whose husband served 8 years in the US Army and lived to come home to me from Desert Storm. I wish all had been so fortunate.
Semper Fidelis
Does fighting "for" a country simply mean that they were enlisted in that country's military?
And did you ever consider that not every commenter is from the United States? If he was, for example, from Sweden, why would he have to care more for the 4000+ American troops than for the 1,5 million Iraqi (mostly) civilians?
I wouldn't say "big deal" if Britain lost brave Soldiers in combat either. Shrugging away their sacrifice is disgusting.
Wow. Are you that unpatriotic that you would say something that stupid. War is war. We live free today because people died for that freedom. And to this day, people continue to fight for it. There will be carnage, blood, and death on both sides. You can call this war whatever you want. But in the end, it comes down to fighting for our country, so that we can continue to live free. War is not supposed to be all fun and games. People will die, innocent and not. You have the right to disagree with the war, but you have no right to disrespect your soldiers who are fighting for you no matter what country you are from. It's sickening that people like you exist. If you hate this country so much because it is waging "an illegal war" you can head over to the Middle East and sympathize with al-qaeda. They are sure to be nice to you. Maybe you should put on fatigues and be sent out to battle. Maybe then you will realize the what the "big deal" is. For now though . . . shut up.
Which of many were killed by there own race...
Believe it or not the al khaida has killed more iraqi's then the US has.
So many innocent citizens were killed in the war, does the google care about?
I don't support the war, as in my opinion it is over, and we should bring our boys and girls home. The war in Afghanistan was needed, Al Quada was another militant force, and had attacked us... Al Quada seemed to not reason the history of what happens when a smaller arrogant nation attacks a small portion of a larger nation. Like those we lost in Pearl Harbor, that became 9/11 - and like in Pearl Harbor they only woke the sleeping giant... albeit this time the giant was a bit more clumsy.
Regardless, these are soldiers who believed they were fighting for the good of our nation. They cannot think anything else or their cause and fight is worthless. Despite our dislike of their commanders and chief's at the time, they are there to protect us, at all times. My grandfather fought, my father in-law fought. I did not, but I honor what they had done - my grandfather had the benefit to die in his bed, an old man surrounded by a loving family, but I know that in heaven he'll be welcomed not only by his family, but also his brothers in arms who did fall.
The editor, Dong Ngo, saw it as such. It saddens me to see Electro_Fox, expatincebu, and X-C3PO use it as a launching pad for hatred. It saddens me more to see the hatred spewed back at them by a13xx94 and zepol22. One of our greatest freedoms in the United States is the freedom of speech. The only problem is, too many people exercise it when they shouldn't.
When you are fighting for your life and that of your buddies? lives, politics become meaningless. While the brave men and women may have initially signed-up, enlisted out of a sense of patriotism, love of country, or a desire to better themselves, all of that is forgotten when the bullets start flying and mortars start landing. You are fighting to stay alive, and keep your buddies alive while accomplishing a task under the most demanding of situations.
On Memorial Day and beyond, let us not forget that the Soldier, Marine, Guardsman, Airman, or Sailor has no input as to what their current mission is, and that they are ready and willing to defend our country to the death if called upon. We are a country governed by the people. You don't like what our current political leaders are doing? Then get involved and change it. There are service men and women dying for your privilege of being able to do so.
In any case, please, tell the next serviceman you meet or talk to, thank you for their service, they really appreciate it. They don't ask for much.
I would rather remember fallen veterans in name and deed than by number and satellite location. Technology has its limits and I don't think this helps us to remember them any better.
Some friends of mine and I have been doing that since September 12, 2001 as possible. No thanks necessary, nor recognition desirable. We simply want them to know their service is appreciated sincerely beyond ANY politics.
- by BrettLewis1234 May 27, 2009 3:59 AM PDT
- My brother is Lt Aaron Lewis killed on the 15th December 2008 in Afghanistan. I can only say that unless you have a loved one or friend that has lost his or her life should you even begin to try and begin to make comment on how this kind of memorial may make you feel. Any tribute by another person to the men and woment who selflessly protect us from the terror of the world is a good one and obviously dome with the very best of intentions. I thank you for this and hope that it becomes a lasting tool to demonstrate the magnitude of what the Army is up against and the amount of work we still have to do to make our countries safe for our children and their children to come.
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