Google has unveiled a new feature for its popular mapping program that shines a spotlight on the movement of refugees around the world.

Users can now download Google Earth software to see satellite images of refugee hot spots such as Darfur, Iraq and Colombia.

The maps are designed to help humanitarian operations as well as to inform the public about the millions who have fled their homes because of political violence, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which worked with Google on the project.

“All of the things that we do for refugees in the refugee camps around the world will become more visible,” Craig Johnstone, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, said at the launch of the project in Geneva.

Users will be able to zoom in on refugee camps, before accessing online information about where the refugees have come from and what problems they face.

In the Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad, home to refugees from the conflict in neighboring Darfur, Google Earth users can see individual tents clustered together amid the sparse landscape. With another click, they can learn about the difficulty of providing water to some 15,000 people.

A year ago, Google published maps of Darfur with icons depicting destroyed villages and refugee camps.

More than 350 million people have already downloaded Google Earth, the company says. The software was launched three years ago and originally intended for highly realistic video games.

But its use by rescuers during Hurricane Katrina led the company to reach out to governments and charities.

Google Earth has since teamed up with dozens of groups seeking to raise awareness, recruit volunteers and encourage donations.

Among them are the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the UN Environmental Program and the Jane Goodall Institute.

“Google wants to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Samuel Widmann, the head of Google Earth Europe. The company estimates that 80 per cent of the world’s information can be plotted on a map in some way.

Rebecca Moore, who heads the Google Earth Outreach program for non-profit groups, said the company does not control the information published using the software.

Google is considering offering a stand-alone version of its mapping software that can be used by aid workers in the field who do not have an Internet connection on hand, she said.

Google said it will also provide non-profit groups in several countries with training and free copies of its $400 (£203) professional mapping software, an offer it plans to roll out more broadly over time.

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