A New View Of North Korea

Google Maps got a big face lift on the upper half of the Korean peninsula this week with North Korea going from a blank expanse to a fairly expansive map.

The New Yorker and WaPo both have write ups which report that the project was undertaken via google map maker by a group of what are being called "citizen cartographers".  The WaPo also has some cool before and after slider graphics, and of course there is the google blog post announcement as well.

No word (that I've seen) if the recent trip by google honcho Eric Schmidt to North Korea played any role or was purely coincidental.  His daughter, Sophie, wrote what is supposed to be a very engaging report on the trip (I haven't had a chance to read it yet).