I Love Maps!

Maps are great!  And as much as I like a nice, accurate, satellite map, I like old maps even more!  Maps with cool stories to tell.  Maps with cool data to share.  Maps with a history.  Maps that give us a glimpse into the future.  They are a wonderful combination of art and science.  They deliver important data, while providing beauty.

As far as maps go, Google Maps provide an quick way to find our way in the world today, but sometimes they are a little limited on different types of maps with different types of data.

Enter Google Maps Gallery!  The Gallery features hundreds of different maps.  They showcase maps that have scientific and statistical data, maps that have have topographic data, maps that have demographic data...  and don't get me started on the historical maps!  Once you have chosen a map to view, you can use the slider to make the historical map more or less transparent so you can see the current map behind it.  It is a great way to compare changing coastlines, evaluate historical state boundary lines, or examine where your community is compared to the rest of the world as far as temperature data.

Here's the East Coast in 1830 over the current map:

And here's a global view of record low temperatures:

And there are many more!  You can search by keyword, or you can explore different categories until you find one that works for you!

Check it out here:  http://maps.google.com/gallery/

Enjoy!

~Alan