sexoffenders.oregon.gov GIS website...

So here's a shocking sight... at http://sexoffenders.oregon.gov :



Typed in home address and got map showing our house (in green) and there's a literal ring of predator sex offenders living within 1 mile of us!

Surprising? No, not really. The world is a pretty sucky place. Shocking? Yes. Especially, when you see it graphically respresented in such a way - a stick pin where you live, and red stick pins ALL AROUND YOU.

Anyway - this is a cool use of GIS (a geospatial information system). You'll see more of these sort of "mash ups" of location based data against mapping sources in the future. It's a really valuable tool (makes it crystal clear when things are up on a map).