North Korea like you've never seen it before

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - 10:56 PM Share

Here's a bonus Tuesday Map for you cartophiles out there: a Google Earth file of North Korea pulled together by Curtis Melvin, a Ph.D. student at George Mason University. The Wall Street Journal explains:

Mr. Melvin is at the center of a dozen or so citizen snoops who have spent the past two years filling in the blanks on the map of one of the world's most secretive countries. Seeking clues in photos, news reports and eyewitness accounts, they affix labels to North Korean structures and landscapes captured by Google Earth, an online service that stitches satellite pictures into a virtual globe. The result is an annotated North Korea of rocket-launch sites, prison camps and elite palaces on white-sand beaches.

"It's democratized intelligence," says Mr. Melvin.

More than 35,000 people have downloaded Mr. Melvin's file, North Korea Uncovered. It has grown to include thousands of tags in categories such as "nuclear issues" (alleged reactors, missile storage), dams (more than 1,200 countrywide) and restaurants (47). Its Wikipedia approach to spying shows how Soviet-style secrecy is facing a new challenge from the Internet's power to unite a disparate community of busybodies.

(Hat tip: Kottke)

EXPLORE:TUESDAY MAP, NORTH KOREA

(3)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

JGARZIK

11:28 PM ET

May 26, 2009

Kottke?

This was also mentioned 3 comments ago, on this site... :)

NSA47

7:26 AM ET

May 27, 2009

very cool

wow -- truly open source intel that won't ever be perfect, but will be immune from concerted disinformation efforts.

ZJIN

8:18 AM ET

May 27, 2009

So did they predict this NUKE

So did they predict this NUKE test?

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.