A recent article indicated that the melting of Antarctic and Greenland ice will raise the sea level more quickly than anticipated and many coastal areas will be flooded. It would be useful for something like Google maps to have topographic displays that would show the coastline for each reasonable increment of rise in sea level so that people contemplating moving to these areas might have an idea as to what the difficulties might be and people living there might become aware of the problems developing so that they can take reasonable measures to move or do something to save their investment. Also it would be a good idea to indicate some sort of date as to when each increment might occur.
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Sand, I know I hate it when no-one comments on my ideas, so here goes my not-politically-correct assessment: You can't show it because No one knows.
The predicted rise in sea-level may not even occur, as more warming might result in more snow, and no coastline change. The centrifugal forces of the spinning of the earth and coriolis forces mean it by no-means would be an even deepening for the whole earth.
Finally, we all know that the P-38 "Glacier girl" was buried under 268 feet of ice that formed since 1942, so I'm not so sure it's predictable where ice will disappear and where it will get deeper, warming or not.
And Miami is still one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with many 'green' celebs moving to those coasts. Mr. Gore's movie showed it underwater at the very start of the sea-level rise. Possibly these people really don't believe ?
I appreciate your comment but this recent report http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/12/america/coast.phpseems to represent real concerns about global warming and the resulting melt of ice. Nobody can seriously dispute the global warming anymore. Any topological map would indicate ground levels above sea level and a slight modification would indicate the changing coastline fairly easily.
What a boon for real estate speculators. They would know where to buy the property that becomes the next waterfront location. The tax assessors would also know where to boost the property valuations. Can't wait...
You say that this is to inform people considering purchasing this land of the potential for flooding in the near future, but if people are aware enough to check this check this resource, they should be willing to check a topographical map of the area, as such maps are available for most all of the planet, and usually free from the local government, at least here in the US. It is true that compiling this info for all to see online may make it more convenient, but perhaps it would be more suitable to suggest it as a realtor's database, rather than a google-earth feature.
Good idea. Important.