I've always loved maps... maybe because we moved all the time when I was growing up. Every map held the promise of a new start, new people, new school, and - most interestingly - new terrain to explore.
So, imagine my delight when I started playing around with the user-generated overlays/mash-ups for Google Maps. It requires that you sign in, but you've given up all those privacy concerns anyway... So, click the "My Maps" tab, then "Browse the Directory", and geek out. On top of a Google Map, you can overlay topo map elevation contours, pointers to any current earthquakes, population density, indication of land affected by rise in sea level, weather maps, even the results of an eBay or CraigsList search.
And another cool feature -- click the "Popular User-Created Maps" link, and it shows the most popular overlays for the area you are currently viewing. So, for example, I'm going to be in Charlotte NC next week. I brought Charlotte up on my Google Maps, selected Popular User-Created Maps, and now I see stuff I wouldn't have known to look for: parks and bike trails, neighborhoods, local churches, and where the Cub Scouts Pack 97 goes hiking.
As I'm looking through these, I can think of all kinds of uses -- the "Earth at night" overlay would help me see how likely it will be to see the stars when I travel; the population density overlay is a way for an out-of-town company (or individual) to decide where to relocate; I can map out my stops to all the office rentals on CraigsList...
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