Taking a virtual field trip around the world using Google Maps Street View

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/gallery/index.html

I follow Google in Education on Google+ and come across a variety of interesting posts. For those not familiar with Google+ take a look at the information I’ve written about this social networking site.

The post that caught my eye on Google+ and inspired this post was an entry about Virtual Field Trips using Street View technology. Google Maps with Street View lets you explore places around the world through 360-degree street-level imagery.

The latest addition is a gallery of the Grand Canyon which promised a virtual trip to the spectacular landscape in Arizona. I was not disappointed! In fact I then explored further and found that within their growing collection I could virtually visit world landmarks, university campuses, art projects and a whole host of places across the world. Places where I may never have the opportunity to visit, but will undoubtedly whet my appetite to find out more.

The impressive list of Street View collections in the gallery so far includes:

Grand Canyon
Seven Continents of Street View
Historic Italy
UNESCO World Heritage
US Highlights
Business Highlights
Parks of the World
Ski Resorts and Slopes
World Landmarks
University Campuses
Amazon
Russian Highlights
Thailand Highlights
Swiss Alps
Art Project
Discover Israel
USA Summer Attractions
World Wonders Project
Swiss Alps
Antarctica
California National Parks
NASA
Ocean
Arctic

Share your photo spheres on Google Maps

Photo spheres are 360 degree panoramas which you can create, share and even upload to Google Maps for the world to see. You can also explore the many photos spheres people have taken from all over the world by clicking on this interactive map.

For those of you that have an Android 4,2 (Jelly Bean) you can create a photo sphere using the ‘Photo Shpere’ app. The Android help page provides tips on how to create panoramaic pictures. You can then convert these into photo spheres by visiting the Google Maps Create a Photo Sphere page.

Google in Education

For more information about Google in Education visit: http://www.google.com/edu/