Web developer Paul Mison has created a great mash-up tool using Flickr and Google Maps. Where? What? When? allows users to search for Flickr images by tag (keyword), by location, or by using tags and location together. For example, I searched using the tag “hiking” and the location level “continent” to find images of hiking in North America to create the map below. To see the images in the map above I just zoomed-in and clicked on a location.

Where? What? When? uses public images from Flickr, but if you authenticate (sign into your Flickr account) you can create a map of your own images.

Applications for Education
Where? What? When? could be a good tool for students to find images for slide shows or Animoto videos as many images on Flickr are tagged with Creative Commons licensing. Where? What? When? could also be an interesting way to look at what types of activities are frequently photographed in different parts of the world. For example, if you looked at the map in the screen capture above, it looks like very few photographs are taken while hiking in the Midwest, but many photographs are taken while hiking in the Northeast.