Google Maps

This week, I explored Google Maps! I've used Google Maps before to get me from point A to point B, but mainly because my boyfriend is a Google Maps guy, while I'm more of an Apple Maps/the occasional Waze girl. My favorite features (granted Apple does it too) is being able to see street view. I'm the kind of person that loves to plan and know everything in advance, so being able to see the street view and seeing exactly where I need to go and need to be is beyond helpful! Especially for situations where I need to find parking, street view has saved me multiple times!

I never knew that Google Maps had educational material. The most education related thing I thought it had was being able to tell me which streets to turn down, but I think what they've implemented is such a good feature. One thing I thought was really cool was the Explorers: Early Connectors feature. It allowed me to essentially map out, see, and explore where early explorers took their travels and see the routes that they took. It was also paired with a PBS Education video, that did a great job at giving an overview of it all. Another thing I saw was the Sea Level Rise and the Fate of Coastal Cities. It allowed me to see the differences in sea levels in big cities like New York City, London, Rio De Janeiro, and more. This was very eye opening to see as I've never seen it change in real time before. 

There are many tools and different things that Google Maps allows you to explore. I think it's a really good and cool educational tool that allows for visual learners to see exactly what they're being taught. I think this would be a really good tool to use in K-12 classrooms and I think I even would've better understood some of what I was learning. Even now, I see myself using this when I get curious about something or even as a fun learning activity I could do and use it to educate myself further.