Google announced the launch of Google Maps Gallery on Thursday, a new way for governments, non-profit organizations and businesses to share and publish their mapping data online via Google Maps Engine. Maps included in the Gallery can be viewed in Google Earth and are discoverable through major search engines, so this means you can now easily explore maps produced by organizations including National Geographic, World Bank, and U.S. Geological Survey among others. Basically, Maps Gallery is an interactive, digital atlas for maps that plot out specific data points. A few useful examples include those showing locations of municipal construction projects, historic city plans, population statistics, deforestation changes and up-to-date emergency evacuation routes. The Maps Gallery also lets organizations have a complementary online channel for giving the public access to mapping data that may have had limited reach previously.