gCensus

A student--or students--from Stanford is working on a project that lets users combine 2000 Census data with Google Earth called gCensus. It's a browser based program--well, you need to download Google Earth too--that's open to anyone for free. So, you don't need to buy expensive GIS software to make maps.

From the gCensus site: "gCensus is an effort to make geographic data freely and easily accessible to the public, without the need for expensive GIS software packages. With Google's excellent free mapping program Google Earth, you can use this site to visualize a wide variety of data best displayed on a map. Currently, only the US Census 2000's Summary File 1 (displaying population characteristics such as race and age) is available for mapping."

All you have to do is select the information you want--which is, for now, limited to the 2000 Census--and where you want it. Then you can download a .kmz file that will open in Google Earth and look like this:

Direct link to gCensus site: http://gecensus.stanford.edu/gcensus/index.html