Novels On Location

 

Novels On Location is a website that allows you  to search the world map for novels that are located in a location that you are interested about.  You can click on the feather that is located on the location you are interested in and a text box will pop up to describe the book.  You can also query in the search box at the top.  To see the website click here.

Tasteatlas

If you are teaching a foods class you might want to check out Tasteatlas.  Tasteatlas is an interactive map that shows traditional foods from the area you select.

The Mercator Problem

This website explains the problem that happens with the distortion near the poles of this 2 dimensional mapping and this site has an itneractive component.  You can use the dropdowns  to choose two different land masses. You will then be shown the size of each land mass as shown on the Mercator projection and in reality. Compare and contrast the differences.  To see the website click here.

The Two Koreas

The Two Koreas is a great interactive map comparing and contrasting North and South Korea.  This could be a useful tool in a current events course.  To see the website click here.

Tour Builder by Google

This is what  Katie Siemer has to say about Tour Builder, "So what is Tour Builder? Tour Builder uses Google Earth technology and allows you to add a sequence of locations on a map that users can click through like they’re going on a tour. You can upload up to 25 photos and YouTube videos to go along with each stop on the tour. You can also add a description and links to additional resources for each location that you add. When users view the Tour, they will click “next” on the tour to be taken to the next point on the map. Check out this example by the Jane Goodall Institute to get the gist of it. Tour Builder was originally created, “to give veterans a way to record all the places that military service has taken them, and preserve their stories and memories as a legacy for their families,” according to the Tour Builder website. Obviously, Google saw the cool ways this could be used in education and beyond and eventually made it public."

This tool could easily be used in History or Geography but you could use this in English class when discussing a novel that the character travels around.  You could easily build a tour to show your class.   Or you could have your students build a tour of the book they reading.  To see Tour Builder click here.

World Population History

If you would like to have your students see the correlation between human advances in Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, Health and the Environment and how it effected the population of the world you should go to this site.   Move the sliders at the bottom and/or click on the triangles at the bottom to see the population distribution throughout the world as well as an explanation of the critical  historic event that happened.  To see the site click here.

Radio Garden - An Interactive Map of Radio Stations

This interactive map of the world shows green dots where they have radio stations you can click on to hear.  It could be great in a French or Spanish language class to click on a station in Paris or Barcelona or Quebec City or, well you get the idea. You might want to use this in your Music class or in an Current Events class to tune into a station near a location of interest you are discussing in class.  Enjoy.   To see the website click here.

The True Size of

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Overlapmaps.  To see that post click here.  Here is another site that does the same type of thing.  I selected Belgium and it shows Belgium outlined in blue.  You can zoom in if you would like by using your mouse.

I then clicked on Belgium and dragged it over to Canada and placed it near my home town and then zoomed in on it.

To see the website click here.

Human Geography

ESRI has produced Geoinquiries for Human Geography, Earth Science and US History.  "Geoinquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advance web mapping technology."  To see the website click here.

How Many People Have Been Shot In Your Neighbourhood?

This article by Chris Kirk and Alex Yablon includes a map that shows all the locations of shootings in America this year.  Over 30 people die every day from gun violence and 200 are injured daily.  Just blows my mind.  You can put in an address and check out all the shootings.  You can zoom in and check out certain neigbourhoods.   Check out Detroit, Chicago, New York or LA.  Below is a picture of shootings near Windsor.  All the red ones are fatal.  You can click on the "bullet" (pun intended) to get information about that shooting.  The green bullets are clusters that contain multiple shootings this year.  Some of these could also be fatal. Scary stuff.  To see the article click here.

World War I and II front lines map video

To see how the front lines changed in daily/weekly time frame see the following videos by Emperor Tigerstar embedded below.

World War I

World War II - Europe

World War II - Europe and the Pacific

Map of Europe from 1000 AD to Present

From 

Lots and lots of changing going on here.  If you teach European History this might be a nice intro.

Subways of North America

In 1989 I was fortunate enough to go see the University of Michigan beat Illinois by 2 in the NCAA semifinal and then in the Final game of March Madness beat Seton Hall by 1 in overtime when Rumeal Robinson sunk both free throws with just 3 seconds left.  What does this have to do with subways?  Well Randall Munroe of

has produced a map showing all the subways in North America down through Mexico.  The map is not to scale or anything like that but it does show how things are interconnected.  According to his map I could of left Vancouver and eventually worked my way to Atlanta to watch this years game featuring the University of Michigan and Louisville. You might be able to use this in class if you are talking about public transportation. 

If you would like to see the original map click here.