Grounded In Reality

Google Earth is great for its push-pins and multimedia geo-tagging but not the most accessible application, as it is still a necessary download and install.

Now, Google Maps’ new “MyMaps” feature is going to help storytelling get more visual and interactive. Check out this customized map chronicling and pinpointing my journey from Singapore to Austin.

Feeling inspired? Add a YouTube video, an image or other Web content with the help of an HTML editor. If you can operate a MySpace profile, you can customize MyMaps.

From the Reuters coverage:

MyMaps is initially available in the United States and the national versions of Google in nine other countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain.

The interface is intuitive and maps can be set to Public or Private. However, because I couldn’t figure out how to reorder the push-pins and lines, the flight lines in my journey map is non-sequential.

The possibilities are exciting: Students and teachers can use it to present a class project, field trip or teach a class; Dell (a GCI client) can map the making of a laptop; a fair trade store can trace the origins of organic coffee; civil rights leaders can map the journey of MLK; memories of vacations or road trips can be uploaded; parents can narrate their life stories to children, etc.