The
CIA World Factbook (see this week's Thursday Data entry), operated by the the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, makes available both maps and frequently updated data--economic, health, demographic, etc.--for most countries. Factbook has now come out with
KMLFactbook--a web app that lets you download data in KML format for 2D or 3D display in Google Earth (
Google Earth is free but must be downloaded).
Choose what type of data to search (e.g. "People"), then choose the specific data you want to have displayed (e.g. "Total fertility rate"). Choose a color option and either 2D or 3D, then preview the data in the embedded Google map viewer (the preview is 2D only). Then download the data for use in Google Earth (the screen shot below is of the KML in Google Earth Pro):
Freegeographytools blog piece
