Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards

Wow! I had no idea that there were so many Web 2.0 award-winning tools out there. I decided to explore LiveMaps because I had already explored the other mapping tools listed. LiveMaps is powered by Microsoft, and it allows a typical interface to get driving directions. I tried a couple of places, and the directions they gave were accurate. Collections are an interesting mix of places that people have marked with photos, weblinks and descriptions. Some of the places are helpful (like restaurants with links to reviews) and others are just strange (like a photo of an accident that happened on an interstate highway which closed the lanes for a few hours). You can switch between road, aerial, and bird's eye view. This could be very helpful for geography students who would like to explore a particular region in depth. You could also have students use this tool to plan a virtual field trip, and they could add their own descriptions to the collections with the research that they conduct.