The beauty of this project is that a map can be wonderfully intuitive for a human operator. Multiple data domains can be crossed very quickly based on geographic proximity even if the datasets themselves have no obvious keys in common.
I've been thinking a great deal about the challenges of intelligence gathering, and this may be a powerful way to visualize log data in a way that is quick and meaningful to business owners -- a clear summary of attack sources and methods that doesn't require much technical detail to comprehend.
From Federal Computer Week:
Virtual Alabama, at its heart, is a mash-up -- a program that pulls data from various places and presents it in a very user-friendly display. In this case, the system is based on Google Earth. It starts with a map and then it overlays the map with all types of data.
So when tornadoes struck Alabama earlier this year, officials used the system to view the damage, even comparing before and after images. Officials also were able to pull in data that showed the location of potentially hazardous materials that might have been disturbed by the tornadoes.
Consider how the system might help in an event such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. Were that to happen at the University of Alabama, state officials could draw from one database to get schematics on the buildings and then another for class schedules so that they would know which classrooms were in use. Finally, they could use Virtual Alabama to tap into images from cameras in the building. [From Buzz of the Week: Wowed by Virtual Alabama]
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