The 2010 US Census will provide us with valuable data that can
be used for a variety of academic purposes. For that data to be
collected the Census must be completed. To track the collection
of Census data Google has created a layer for Google Earth in
which you can view completion rates by county. The file uses
time-stamps to show updates to the completion rates. You can
view the layer here in your browser or download it here. Watch
the video below for an overview of the layer. Applications for
Education This Google Earth layer presents teachers with an
opportunity to visually show students how much farther their
local areas have to go in order to fully complete the Census. In
a Civics class you could show students this data then challenge
them to create their own campaigns to get people in their
communities to complete the Census. Students could create a
video or a multimedia collage (try Glogster) to encourage people
to complete the Census form.