CIA World Factbook

Sometimes old tools are the best tools. I remember stumbling onto this great resource back in 1999 as we prepared for a trip to Peru. Ok, that's not so old, but it seems like the World Factbook has been a staple of mission teams for many years. You don't get information that would benefit your day-job in espionage, but this is a wonderful tool for quick reference on every country on the planet (and it was updated just last week). So, if you're preparing a trip for your teens or want to help your class pray for a missionary, here's the place to find everything from a color map to a .gif of the flag.

Link (and yes, it's a secure site!)

Google Maps Mania and BibleMap.org

If you haven't yet visited Google Maps, then you're missing out on a wonderful and simple teaching tool. With the satellite view and some quick photo editing, you can quickly orient students to a region of the world and then zoom in (even more so with Google Earth). BUT, that only scratches the surface. Because of Google's developer-friendly philosophy, there are many derivative uses. For example, sites like www.Biblemap.org take a standard map and work it through a customized interface or set of pre-defined criteria (called mashups). These do everything from map your own photos (here) to find the nearest Starbucks (here). This site indexes many of those derivative uses and features a special post on "50 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups."

Link via Micro Persuasion