• by September 16, 2005

We are continually reminded of the "before" and "after" of Hurricane Katrina. Life won't ever be quite the same for people who live on the Gulf Coast, as daily online and TV footage reveal. Now we have online aerial pictures to compare the before and after, courtesy of MSNBC.com, which scrambled to put together some really cool block-by-block interactive maps.

MSNBC.com worked with MSN Virtual Earth to present "Katrina Flyover," a collection of one-of-a-kind before and after images of coastal and inland areas damaged by the hurricane, including New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss. If you go to MSNBC.com and click on the Hurricane Katrina coverage, you'll find the section "Maps of the Region" right beneath "Katrina Resources."

There you will find aerial views of places of interest like the Louisiana Superdome, the French Quarter and the 17th Street levee. You can even enter individual addresses. There are more than 3,000 images available on the site. We understand that six tech people from MSNBC.com worked extensively on the site for a week, along with seven people from the MSN Virtual Earth team.

The images were taken by Pictometry, a provider of digital aerial imaging, from Sept. 6-11. Interestingly, the images were taken from an aircraft flying a grid of the hurricane-ravaged area at an altitude of 2,500 feet. We're told that the images available are of the highest resolution publicly available, so they offer a lot of detail you wouldn't otherwise see unless you were on the ground. The whole thing is pretty cool. Photos on the maps can be searched by individual address, by landmark, or by compass navigation. This is an incredible resource for public safety officials, rescue and disaster relief agencies, and insurers, and will also enable hurricane victims to view their homes and workplaces.

Also, last night during President Bush's address, we noticed that Google Maps was credited on-screen (at least on ABC News) for various graphics showing the affected areas in New Orleans.

Mapping is popular online. The Weather Channel Interactive announced yesterday that it has added live traffic maps and conditions to its latest version of Desktop Weather. TWCi says users can access up-to-date traffic and weather information free at weather.com. Interactive traffic maps from Traffic Pulse include dozens of major U.S. cities, enabling commuters to zoom in on maps displaying traffic and weather conditions side-by-side.