I enjoy maps, always have. Maps tell us where to go and where we’ve been. I also enjoy history, it’s kind of hard to teach 20 years of social studies without developing an affinity. Now comes the good part, Google Earth Voyager is now showcasing a new interactive tour with over 100 historical maps and overlays hand-selected by David Rumsey from his private collection of over 150,000 maps. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Maps are organized by time, place and scale. When selected, the maps appear as an overlay on Google’s 3D globe.

Like a growing number of Google Voyager offerings, this one has embedded information and multimedia. Be sure not to miss the excellent embedded video on the origins of David Rumsey’s map collection and the importance of maps. This entire tour has something for nearly every grade level which makes it a reference worth bookmarking.

Let me know what you think of this collection.