Map Watch News

Panoramic Earth contains interactive maps linked to panoramic images of cities and travel destinations around the world. The tours run in Java, with an indicator on the map to show where you are, and which direction you are facing as you view the images. Most of the current collection covers European destinations, including a tour of London with over 100 images. The technique has also been applied to entire islands, like Mallorca, and a number of Alpine ski resorts.

Outside of Europe, Hawaii Island is also well featured with another 100+ image tour, providing very comprehensive coverage around the island. Being Hawaii Island, the Volcanoes National Park was not left out. Many of the lava flows and craters within the Park and along Chain of Craters Road can be seen, right down to the coastline where lava was entering the sea at the time.

Screenshot from PanoramicEarth.comTake a tour at PanoramicEarth.

Google has posted an interactive topographic map of Mars that you can use to explore the planet's surface. With it you can zoom and pan the Martian surface to view craters, volcanoes, mountains, plains and canyons. The map also has over 100 features marked with pushpins. Clicking on a pushpin gives you more detailed information to help you learn about the Red Planet.

Image by USGSTake a trip to observe the Topography of Mars.

From NASA is this image of a marine phytoplankton bloom showing as a blue-green swirl off the coast of Argentina. These colors are created by light reflecting from the chlorophyll and other pigments contained within billions of tiny plants (phytoplankton) growing in the surface waters. This bloom is sustained by nutrients brought to the ocean by freshwater rivers carrying agricultural run-off and other nutriends into the ocean.

Image by NASARead more about this Marine Phytoplankton image at the Earth Observatory website.

Peter Pesti of the Georgia Institute of Technology has created a Google Map that merges a nighttime map of the world with the Google Maps data. The result is an interactive map that allows the user to zoom in on regions of the world and see how they would look from above at night. Cities stand out as patches of bright light. It clearly shows economic and population patterns.

Screenshot of Peter Pesti's siteCheck out the Night Map