I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I’m a huge fan of Google Local (formerly called Google Maps). I’ve used it on many occasions to get a better understanding of where I’m going, how to get there, and the satellite view is helpful for figuring out what the landscape of the area is like. These functions alone are useful enough, but they’re far from everything that the service can do natively. The most exciting thing, however, is that third party developers have been using the API to create extended functionality for the mapping system. Instead of having to listen to me repeatedly talk about new services that utilize Google Local, just be sure to regularly visit Cool Google Maps to stay updated on all of the new points of interest.

You may think that this site would only have a limited number of services to talk about, but you’d be wrong. The amount of developers taking advantage of the API is huge, and Cool Google Maps is regularly updated with new stuff to check out. Some of the creations are more goofy than useful, but don’t be fooled - there are a lot of gems here. Who knew maps could be so much fun?