June 15, 2005—A new technology from internet search behemoth Google Inc. is making innovators out of some educators, who have begun envisioning practical uses for the company's new Google Maps feature to make previously unavailable graphic representations of everything from school district bus routes to geography lessons.

Educators aren't the only ones taking advantage of the technology. Others also have discovered how to tinker with the search engine's mapping service to graphically illustrate vital information that might otherwise be ignored, overlooked, or not perceived as clearly.

"This is pretty interesting for organizations, such as school districts, that have maps that provide boundary information and such," wrote Tim Lauer, principal of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School in Portland, Ore., and a frequent contributor to eSchool News Online's Ed-Tech Insider, a blog for educators and technology advocates. "Imagine a district map that showed bus stops combined with Google content. Families could punch in their home address and easily find the closest stop."

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