With tools like Google Earth, users have the ability to scan detailed images of the planet with the ease that a teacher has in spinning a globe. But how do we utilize such an all powerful tool to its maximum potential? Where do we even begin?

The hardest decision is where to focus the search. Current levels of coverage available through free satellite mapping services limit where and what we can look for.

With that in mind, I looked into deforestation.

Even lower quality coverage provides enough detail to see where logging, mining, and building is going on, in even the most remote locations. While Google Earth has recently added before and after mash ups provided by the United Nations Environment Programme, this is about as far as they go and the ability to do investigative work is left up to the end user in most cases.

The first thing to do of course is to find the specific spot to monitor. Let’s use the Victoria Rainforest in Australia as an example. Victorian Rainforest Network has already identified many boundaries, along with many examples of how the process works, including markings and color coding of when patches of forest were cut down. All their work has made this one of the most detailed Google Earth environmental projects to date.

Of course, having the technical work set up for you is a luxury. Obtaining precise locations and government restrictions and meshing it with Google Earth is where the true investigative challenge lies. Unfortunately this is hard data to obtain for the average Joe surfing the Net. In many cases, you’ll have to contact universities, government agencies, nonprofits and in some cases you’ll need to go to the locations with GPS unit in hand.

Once past this main hurdle, all that is needed are the people to monitor these locations, and a plan to utilize the work efficiently. You’ll also need to keep track of when new coverage is added, set up a grid system, and devise ways to report findings for verification. In other words, a system to do this investigation horizontally.

The limitations we are stuck with for now could potentially be eased if Google began including higher quality coverage of protected forests, especially in developing nations with lax laws and small environmental budgets, where this type of project would be most needed. Otherwise, this might be what is in store for those natural wonders.

Mark Johnson is a Netscape Navigator where he focuses on the environment.