I love using Google Maps, and my GPS. A feeling of exhilaration comes over me when I see where I am in relation to other places.
When I was teaching special education, years before Google Maps and the GPS, I made a handout for my students showing the locations of their homes on the same map. I made another handout that showed the location of our school on 9 maps; relative to surrounding streets, in our town, in our larger metropolitan city, in our state, in our country, on our continent, in our hemisphere, on our planet, and in our solar system. We used those images to play a variety of games, such as Bingo. My students gained an appreciation for where we are in our world. I believe they also gained an appreciation for who we are in the process.
Where in the World Am I?
Today, when I use Google Maps to plan a trip, I am excited to plot the many locations of my stops, and the routes between them, using the “add destination” feature. It also shows the distances in miles between each leg of my trip.
After using a map to plan my trip, I depend on the wisdom of my GPS to guide me along the way. I cannot help but be amazed each time my GPS reaches up to the sky for its contact with the 24 satellites above, and then tells me in a soft female voice to “take the next left turn.”
Geography, they say, is not an American strength. But, if kids start tuning in to Google Maps and GPS devices, that may all change.
I am no expert in Geography. Like many of us, I am embarrassed from time to time about my geographic confusions. Just the other day, while visiting with a friend and his family, a relative of my friend said she was from the Dominican Republic. My first thought was: Let me see – where the heck is that? I know it’s near Cuba. Once I Google-Mapped it, I was reminded that it was on the same landmass as Haiti. I missed my chance to ask, “Did the recent earthquake in Haiti affect your country?” Now I am a “minor expert” on the Dominican Republic. From Google Maps, I went to Google, and then to Wikipedia, to gain more knowledge.
In my hobby of genealogy, I regularly make maps showing exactly where my friends’ families lived, and showing the locations of different relatives in that same city or locale at the time of the census, arrival, naturalization, birth, death, and/or other document.
So how have you used a map recently? Do you rely on one of those folded paper maps? Are you a non-map person who needs directions spelled out to get from here to there? Do you have a computer, but have not yet tuned in to Google Maps?
By becoming more acquainted with maps and locations, I believe our world will become “smaller.” People we meet from other locales will become almost instant neighbors. A kinship and bond can develop by knowing where we are.
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com
