GlobalXplorer is a crowdsourced tool supported by TED that lets users search satellite imagery for signs of looting so that archaeological sites can be saved.

The first country they are searching is Peru, and the project will continue until March 15th. Presumably, at that point, they will move onto another country.

It seems like it would be an excellent student project – the geographic “tiles” that are searched don’t seem too big, the “training” required (watching a short video) seems pretty easy, and the supplemental materials from National Geographic about Peru are ideal for Geography class.

You can read more about the project at TED.

In many ways, the project is similar to Zooniverse, another crowdsourced site for “citizen” science and social science projects (see “Zooniverse” Is One Of The Coolest Ed Sites On The Web – I Can’t Believe I’m Just Hearing About It!).