Study Geography Using Google Maps

What is Geography?

Geography is the study of Earth’s landmasses. Google Maps is the product by Google which maps the whole world. Combine them together and you will be a master of geography! Basically, we are acquainted to study geography by using paper maps. Doing map work is a tedious task to say the least and it’s also boring. That’s why, combining the study of geography with google maps is a great idea to spice up your study session.

Something about Google Maps

Let us first talk a bit about Google Maps. Google developed Google Maps to take maps to the next level. Not only you have the conventional map for the whole world, there are advanced features like 3-D view, satellite view and terrain view. You can type in any address and get to that location instantly. Other allied products like Google Earth and Google Street View are more advanced versions of Google Maps. Now, the question arises, how we integrate these awesome products to study geography.

How to learn Geography using Google Maps

It has often been said that a person is much better to remember something that he sees rather than something he reads. Therefore, you are much more prone to remember the places you see rather than the places you read about. In geography, you read about a place, its climate, its terrain etc. You have to memorize the facts about the place in order to get a good grasp over it. Wouldn’t it be much better if you could somehow see the place for once? Then it would be easy to remember the features of that place. This is where Google Maps comes in. Let’s say you are trying to learn about the environment of Kashmir. You can memorize the facts from the book. Then you can see the place in Google Earth or in Google street view to get a feel for the place. Now when you are trying to remember about the place, you will be able to remember it easily because you have ‘seen’ the place. This is a tremendous help for the students of geography.

Next comes map work. Let’s say you are to map the places which have an oil-field. Now you can do so on a paper map several times to memorize it or you can use Google Maps. Open up Google Maps and place a marker in the places where there is supposed to be an oil field. This will be much more effective compared to simply marking the points on a plain map. Scholars can use this feature to do their work with ease. Google Street View further enhances the experience by allowing to view the place. To learn more, you can view the place in 3-D and enhance the view. There is also a compass included in the Maps to let you know the direction in which you are marking the places. Google Maps is not only limited to map work or viewing places. You can use Google Maps to learn about the important road and rail networks in our country. If you use the ‘Get Directions’ feature on Google Maps then you will see a road route and a rail route between the two places. This is useful for mapping the important highways and railways in our country.

Some more tips

To aid you further in your study of geography, some people have developed a creative game called GeoGuessr. Just search for it on Google and you can play the game. Basically, it uses Google’s Street View technology to show you a random place and you have to guess which place it is. This is extremely helpful for students who have to study geography. Therefore, to summarize I can say that the technical advancements that we have can be effectively integrated with our traditional study methods to provide a powerful tool for learning. One such tool is Google Maps. The potential of Google Maps is limited only by how you use it. So use it to the fullest and make the most of the technology available to you.

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