Google Maps adds Photo Tours of World Landmarks - in 3D

Google Maps is an amazing resource. Google has just announced a new feature of Google Maps - Photo Tours. Photo Tours are 3D photo scenes of over 15,000 popular sites from around the world, including Yosemite, St. Mark's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Buckingham Palace, the Anne Frank house and much more.

When you search for a location in Google Maps, the left panel will let you know if there is a photo tour available, as well as the info label for a landmark on a map.

Google used photos from Picasa and Panromio to create the 3D tours. The technology and result is amazing. Photos are attributed to whomever contributed them.

Please note that using photo tours requires Google Maps with WebGL so some computers won't be able to run it. 

This is a great way to visit places without leaving your home, and a great way to have students visit these places without the expense or hassle of actually traveling there. 

Take a look around and visit some wonderful places. http://maps.google.com/phototours


Source: Google Lat Long Blog

Related:

Why I Use Google's Products as an Educator
Google for Educators Resources, Tips, Help, and more

Visit the Amazon with Google Maps Street View - great resource

Visit the Amazon with Google Maps Street View - great resource

 

Yesterday was World Forest Day and Google made some great images of the Amazon available on Street View in Google Maps. With this, teachers and students can explore the beauty and diversity of the Amazon from the classroom.

There are some incredible images available, from the Rio Negro, to trails and paths in Tumbira, an Amazon forest trail and so much more.






Start exploring this portion of the Amazon and other collections around the world on the updated Street View site and gallery.

Source: Official Google Blog - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/visit-amazon-on-world-forest-day-with.html



Related:

Google for Educators Resources

Google Maps 6.0 for Android "goes inside"

Google Maps 6.0 for Android just got released and it has a couple of very cool features.

One of the coolest new features is Indoor Google Maps. Airports, malls, stores, and other public places have map directories in Google Maps. Couple this with GPS and you won't get lost trying to find the terminal for your flight or your favorite store at the mall.

The floor plans will automatically appear when you are in the map and zoom in on a building where there is indoor map data available. It even adjusts for what floor you are on.





Mall of America in Minneapolis before and after, with a floor selector



San Francisco International Airport before and after, with 3D tilt

The other two features announced are easier switching between features using a drop down menu on the top toolbar and a new Places home screen to help you find new nearby places.

Read more about this (including some videos) on the Google Mobile Blog.

Related:

Android Apps related to Bloom's Taxonomy

Android resources - information, news, resources, and more

Android Smartphone and Apps I use as an educator

Quickmaps

Quickmaps is a free website that let's you add comments, notes, and icons to a Google Map. This comes in handy when you use Google maps with directions and want to mark up the map with notes. It can also come in handy in school when having students use maps in their projects.

Check it out HERE.

There is also a help site HERE that gives basic instructions on using the site.

You can create a free account, or just create a quickmap as a guest. As a guest, your map will be deleted when you close your browser. You could print it, or save the graphic file before hand, but I recommend creating an account if you are going to use this more than once.