Smart Tools

Amazing Web Map Samples for Students

In this day and age, information ranging from where the best restaurants and hotels are halfway around the world to estimates of how much a taxi fare could cost from this location to that location are available at the click of a mouse.

The World Wide Web and its users are brimming with information. Here are some examples of websites providing amazing web map information for your students to check out:

World Map

Let’s start with the broader scale. World Map is the homepage of find-our-community.net, and it is a great source of information for travelers with its travel guide, tourist information, community website and online maps for all major towns and cities in the world.

Major categories include maps for Europe, North America, Caribbean, Central America, South America, Australasia, Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, CIS, Oceans and Polar Regions.

Take for example subcategory India. It contains India’s weather, news, travel and tourism data, a brief background detail, maps, the government website and directory, the Lonely Planet Guide, its Wikipedia entry, Indolink.com, as well as information on India’s many towns.

Community map of Mississauga

Here is a good example of a community map since it focuses on the community facilities of the City of Mississauga in Ontario, Canada.

It has maps of the City Hospitals, Civic Centre, Courthouse, Garden Park, and the Kariya Park.

Google maps mania at blogspot.com

Posted on mainly by Mike Pegg, the producer behind the Google Maps ManiaBlog, this site has a lot of great tips and sites for those who like using Google maps. Some of his interesting picks include:

  1. The London Knowledge - for information and reviews of bars and restaurants in London and 5,000 listings of cinemas, theaters and anything that can be fitted into an online entertainment guide map
  2. Little Legends - a guide highlighting child-friendly locations in the UK
  3. PetrolPrices.com – just enter an address and the map can find the five cheapest petrol stations near a location in UK
  4. Sam Knows Broadband - a UK website tracking the progress of broadband across the UK. It can also help find the fastest broadband connection in a certain area
  5. UKPropertyVision - helps find homes to buy or rent in UK
  6. WashingtonPost.com Taxi Fare Estimator – created by WashingtonPost.com, this new Google Maps tool provides basic saved or custom routes and fare estimates for other cities
  7. Find a Theatre and Restaurant in Chicago - Mark Meyer's TheatreInChicago.com provides information on the best plays and restaurants in Chicago
  8. BBC World Correspondents Map - maps full of bureau operations and correspondents/stringers for BBC News, worldwide
  9. More TV My Maps- for entertainment buffs

And there are so much more. The world is becoming smaller and smaller with the World Wide Web. Encourage your students to discover new places, learn new information, with just a click of the mouse!

Sources:

Community Maps. Retrieved February 12, 2008 from
http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/services/aboutmymaps
Explore a world location with Mapdango! Retrieved February 12, 2008 from
http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/
World Map-India. Retrieved February 12, 2008 from
http://www.find-our-community.net/region/Central_Asia/India_map.htm

(Published 18 February 2008, Smart Schools Program)