. 

But, I did get a neat link tip for this site for the Japan Meteorolical Agency that would update information about such a disaster.  Information about Seismic Intensity is updated on a map of the islands. 

mapping

A powerful undersea earthquake prompted tsunami warnings Wednesday for Japan and Russia but the danger appeared to pass after a series of tiny waves hit the northern Japanese coast.

The waves did not swell higher than 16 inches and rapidly diminished in size, but Japan's meteorological agency said that it would wait for at least several hours before withdrawing its warning of possible larger waves.

• Small Waves Hit Japan After Tsunami Fear

Map - West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center
USGS Map of Asia - Earthquake center
Map - NOAA sea level map

According to various unsubstantiated reports by eyewitnesses, it would appear that the 169 islands of Tonga is gaining island number 170. Developing from an undersea volcano, the new island is located between the islands of Kao in the Ha'apai Group and Late in the Vava'u Group. The Matangi Tonga news source has all the latest details. 

Thanks to Matt for the article.

What is the American Origins Project?

Beginning in the late 17th century settlers began to establish themselves in many portions of the Delmarva Peninsula. These early settlers built a foundation for a America. To better understand the past, staff at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture have initiated a web-based archive for researchers to gather information on some of the earliest settlers to the region.

Currently the on-line database includes information on some 3,000 of the earliest settlers in Somerset County with emphasis on those who lived in the Mt. Vernon region from 1663 to 1759. Plans are underway to include settler information from a wider time span and geographical location. The majority of information listed was transcribed directly from primary source materials at the Nabb Center including tax rolls, wills, personal inventories, maps, judicial proceedings as well as records of births, deaths and marriages.

The Mt. Vernon region of Somerset County includes Monie and Wicomico hundreds, specifically, those settlers who lived on the neck of land just south of the Wicomico River. Somerset County, officially organized in 1666, is on the southern portion of the Delmarva peninsula. The 180-mile peninsula lies between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the earliest seedbeds of America. Today Delmarva is comprised of southern Delaware as well as portions of Maryland and Virginia.

American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas

More than 6 years of efforts by the Tracks4Africa community
( www.tracks4africa. com ) have today culminated with the release of a
Tracks4Africa layer on Google Earth.

The T4A layer was been compiled using only GPS tracklogs contributed
by the T4A community: it covers the whole African continent and it
has been recognized by Google as world class data suitable to go
alongside with very high resolution imagery.

MadMappers is proud in the (small) contribution given to this
remarkable mapping exercise. Due to the nature of this voluntary
effort data coverage is excellent in some places but less so in
others.

We invite everyone with a GPS to join this pan African mapping
initiative aimed at creating a popular African GIS culture where
everyone can give a contribution towards the re-mapping of Africa. To
contribute by e-mail your GPS tracklog at the end of your journey

Please note that this initiative is not aimed at mapping major urban
centres (often for cities very good quality data already exists ) but
rather to put on the map rural roads and tracks (together with a road
surface description) .

Some examples of the T4A layer in East Africa:

http://www.madmappe rs.com/T4A- GE/SarEsSalaam. jpg

http://www.madmappe rs.com/T4A- GE/Serengeti. jpg

http://www.madmappe rs.com/T4A- GE/Killimanjaro. jpg

http://www.madmappe rs.com/T4A- GE/Addis% 20Abeba.jpg

To access the T4A layer on Google Earth activate "Tracks4Africa"
within "Layers" > "Primary database" > "Featured Content" i.e. where
the National Geographic layer is.

More instructions are available at
http://tracks4afric a.com/misc/ t4a_maps_ on_google_ earth.pdf

Based on the concept of Afrikatourism, the Open Africa project is linking the splendours of Africa in a continuous network of tourism routes from the Cape to Cairo. The achievement of this vision for Africa has been enabled by the integration of leading edge GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology with the Internet. The result is this website and the route maps that you can access on it. This means that viewers can interrogate maps down to the finest details of what they want to see and experience, while suppliers of facilities and providers of services can market their wares in the most cost efficient and effective manner possible. [more info]

• Alberta GIS
• British Columbia Canada GIS
• Burlington City GIS
• Canada GIS
• Canada GIS Datasets
• Centre Wellington Township GIS
• Conservation Atlas of Wetlands in the St. Lawrence Valley
• Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario - click "maps"
• Edmonton, Alberta GIS
• Kitchener City GIS
• Laval, Quebec GIS
• Newmarket, Town, Ontario
• Northwest Territories GIS Atlas
• North Vancouver District GIS
• Oakville, Ontario GIS
• Ontario Minerals & Mines GIS
• Oxford County Ontario Multiple GIS sites include Groundwater, land , farm, & tourism.
• Quinte West, Ontario GIS
• Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) British Columbia
• Richmond Hill Town, Ontario GIS
• St. John's City GIS
• Simcoe County, ONTARIO GIS
• Strathcona, AL County GIS
• Thunder Bay GIS
• Toronto GIS
• TRANS CANADA Trail Mapper
• Vancouver GIS
• Vaughn, Ontario GIS
• Waterloo Region GIS
• Wellington County GIS
• York Region GIS & Maps

It's always fun when a new program hits the users. For awhile, all of us have been hearing about the potential of Virtual Earth 3D and now that it is out we get discover all the neat features that we didn't know about. Here's one that shows the bridges in Virtual Earth 3D that is posted by James Fee.