Using Google Maps

Google Maps lets you 'see' places without actually going there. You can search the globe, either using the town name, the name of a destination or tourist attraction or either a postal (in the UK), or zip (USA), code.

Street view is available in most of Europe, Japan and North America, parts of South America, South Africa and Coastal and Central Australia.Coverage is patchy across the rest of the globe, but does increase steadily as the mapping project continues. Click here for an up to date map of the coverage available

Once you have found the place you are looking for, on the map, you can 'pull' down to street level and look at photographs.


View Larger Map

Here is a map that I have customised to show some of the Greek Islands that I have visited over the last few years: Greek Island Holidays

There are other sites that deal with maps available on the Internet. some are similar to each other, such as Bing Maps, which has a clever and realistic 'Birds Eye' view and others are more specialised, e.g.

• http://www.oldmapsonline.org/ which is a vast repository of antique maps that you can explore. This link takes you to a map of Greece from 1811!
• http://labs.necenzurat.com/foursquare/ which asks for your location then shows a map of  where you are with a list of businesses in the vicinity.  Presumably these businesses pay to be included in some way, so the list only includes them.
• http://www.mapometer.com/ This allows you to map where you have walked/run/swam or cycled and calculate the distance traveled along with the estimated calories you have used. An excellent resource in the fight to get, and keep, fit!

These are just a sample of the many varied offerings available on the Internet. It is worth searching to see if someone has created a website that will provide that extra tweak that you are looking for...