Google Earth is simply amazing! I toyed with it for the first time about 1 year ago and I was blown away; little did I know that, at the time, I was only "scatching the surface" of the features it offers. I explored it extensively this time around and realized how amazing a resource it truly is and how easily it can be incorporated as an educational tool. Among other things, I was especially impressed with the ruler feature (for measuring distance) and the "create a tour" feature. I found out that 1,922 miles lie between my place of birth (Hopewell Junction, NY) and the location of my dreams (Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii) . . . that's quite a hike!!!
The Google Earth tour was awesome because it makes all the stops you select throughout the world, giving the actual path along the way; it's cool to see how far you have to travel across the ocean to reach Europe! I think the coolest part is all the pictures that are nested into the tour stops. There are buttons you click on to see the pictures of the exact locations, which really "wet the appetite" so to speak. The tour really connects the pictures with the locations like nothing I've seen prior. I joined the Google Earth Community as well, but I have not interacted with others on it as of yet. I am anxious to see what it has to offer.
Check out the following link to a really good article outlining the educational use of Google Maps . . . Google Maps Inspires Creativity.
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