My Maps, Street View, and Tour Builder
We're all familiar with Google Maps, however, there are three other Maps products that can allow you to do some amazing things. We'll take a look at My Maps, Google Street View, and Google Tour Builder.
Google Maps does more than just give you directions on how to get from here to there. When utilized, Maps can open up the world to you and your students. Here are just a few resources on getting started with, using, and the many features of Google Maps.
Engaging Students Through Google Maps - Edutopia article that suggests different ways to incorporate Maps, Street View, and My Maps into the classroom.
Earth Picker - Take a look at a Google Street View picture and then try to guess the location on the Google Map.
10 Ways to use Google Maps in the Classroom - Suggestions on how to use Google Maps in the classroom ranging from creating custom maps using MyMaps to conducting latitude and longitude scavenger hunts.
SmartyPins - Answer trivia questions by pinning the location on the Map. This one can be addicting.
My Maps allows you to create a custom map where you decide what important locations you want to feature on the map. For each point, you can add video, images, and a description. You can use this to map out battles from different wars, birthplaces of authors, scientists, and other famous people, changes in Earth's landscape, etc. There's no end to the types of maps you can create using Google My Map
Google Help Center - My Maps - Google's help and support center for My Maps
Google My Maps Tutorial - A walkthrough that has you create your own map using provided information
You've probably seen the Google Street Cars driving around collecting data and images. Well, all that is put together to give you Google Street View. Google Street View does what it sounds like it'll do. It takes you down to street level and gives you a 360-degree view of the area. If you go to google.com/streetview, you'll have access to a gallery of both Google created and user created street views. You can also see what all Google has mapped and where they plan to go over the course of the next year.
Google Help Center - Street View - Google's help and support center for Google Street View
Google Tourbuilder adds a storytelling element to Google Maps. You can create your own tour be it through your own history, the history of a famous person, or any other event.
Google Tour Builder Tutorial - A walkthrough that has you create your own tour using provided information
Example Tours - Link to a gallery of already created tours that you can look at.