Lowell Deeds

No one would dispute Google’s reputation as an innovator. Earlier this month the company purchased the video sharing website YouTube and this Sunday it will unveil another major innovation. This time Google has brought its creativity to the US elections (Election 2006). On Sunday Google will release a mashup that combines its mapping program (Google Earth) with information about the 436 congressional races in the United States. The giant search engine has gathered large amounts of information about the congressional candidates in all races. This information has been layered over Google’s popular mapping program. Each congressional district is indicated with a star on a 3D map. When a user clicks on the star, information about the candidates in that district’s race appears…and more… It also links the latest news and images about the race as well as the district’s voting locations. In the past Google teamed up with the US National Park Service, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic doing similar mashups. The company wants to help voters become better informed so they can make better choices. Here at Middlesex North we hope to use similar technology to integrate property sale prices and assessed value.