CBS News References Google Map Mashup of H1N1 Map

“Authoritative source” is one term being thrown around quite a bit in media circles. CBSNews references a mashup from “Laurel” of confirmed and unconfirmed cases.

What we know about “Laurel”: “I’m a computer scientist interested in helping provide tools for real-time disease tracking.
If you have any questions, please email me at: swineflu09 [at] gmail [dot] com .”

What we know about the map: “This is a map depicting confirmed and suspected cases of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, with contributors from all over the world, from a variety of backgrounds including health, journalism, technology.”

What we know about the “points”: They all seem to source news outlets.

I’m curious how/if CBSNews vetted mashup maps and selected this one over other user generated ones.