Two Cool Mapping Tools in the Felt Mapping Platform

A couple of weeks ago I published an introductory overview of a new digital mapping platform called Felt. As I said in that introduction, I've only begun to scratch the surface of all of the things that students can do and make on Felt. One of those things is the ability to quickly and easily map walking, running, and biking routes. Those routes can be displayed in a variety of colors on the map. Another neat feature is the option to overlay any image onto the map. 

In this short video I demonstrate how to use Felt to create a map of a bicycling route. In the video I also demonstrate how to overlay an image onto a map. 

Applications for Education
Creating a map of walking or bicycling routes can be a good way for students to familiarize themselves with their communities. It's also a good way for physical education teachers to map short routes for their classes.

Image overlays are helpful when you have an image of an old map or an image of how a place used to look. Overlay the image on its corresponding location to show students a "then and now" perspective.

On a related note, my Google Earth & Maps course is 50% off for the rest of the month use the code GEOAWARENESS22 during registration.

How to Create, Share, and Print Thematic Maps

Google's My Maps and Google Earth tools can provide a great way to create thematic maps. Unfortunately, those tools are quite limited if your students don't have Google Accounts to use at school. National Geographic's Mapmaker Interactive is a free map creation tool that doesn't require students to have any kind of registered account in order to make great thematic maps.

Some of the excellent tools offered in Mapmaker Interactive include measuring distances, adding placemarks, layering information, and switching between base map layers. All maps created in Mapmaker Interactive can be printed. They can also be shared online. In the video embedded below I provide an overview of the features in National Geographic's Mapmaker Interactive.