National Geographic released World Atlas HD for iPad. This app has 3 different map views : executive, political, and satellite. You can also zoom into street level via Bing Maps.

» Read more: National Geographic World Atlas HD for iPad

Google with GeoEye have been able to acquire some high resolution post-earthquake imagery that struck Qinghai, China last week.

Download the Harmonized World Soil Database at the Inter­na­tional Insti­tute for Applied Sys­tems Analy­sis (IISA). The World Soil Database is described as follows :

The Land Use Change and Agriculture Program of IIASA (LUC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have developed a new comprehensive Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD).

» Read more: Download World Soil Database v 1.1

New ESRI World Topographic Basemap is designed to be used as a basemap by GIS professionals and as a reference map by anyone. The map includes administrative boundaries, cities, water features, physiographic features, parks, landmarks, highways, roads, railways, airports, and buildings overlaid on land cover and shaded relief imagery for added context.

» Read more: New ESRI World Topographic Basemap

Google and GeoEye worked closely to get fresh imagery from Haiti. Satellite imagery layer post-earthquake is available to download as a KML file. You can also open the file in Google Maps.

The imagery shows a powerful glimpse into the destruction in Haiti. Here are before-and-after screenshots of the Presidential Palace and an area of Port-au-Prince:

click to see full-size