Mapping and New Media

Five years after the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, the Boston Globe set out to explain the resulting war in Afghanistan from the ground. To accompany the full story by Charles Sennott that appeared in the paper they created a flash map of the area.

The map, produced by Scott LaPierre and T.S. Amarasiriwardena, of Boston.com, plots Sennott's journey from Islamabad, in Pakistan, to Asadabad, in Afghanistan.

Each stop, when you click on it, gives you a little multimedia presentation: an audio clip, a slide show, and/or some text that pops up.

For instance, zoom in on Jalabad, noted as the number 7 point in Sennott's journey, where his flight to Kabul is detailed. Sennott explains: that this is where "it is believed that the US had bin-Laden cornered in December 2001. He managed to escape, according to US, Pakistani, and Afghan officials, because of a lack of US troops on the ground and flawed intelligence." I'm sure it was a mistake to let bin-Laden go.

Regardless, this is just one fine example of how maps can be utilized to redefine the news. For next Reinventing the News class we'll be utilizing Google Maps for reporting purposes.