In Wednesday’s broadcast of Practical Ed Tech Live I answered a question from a reader who was looking for advice on how to have students create maps based on stories that students read. The person had seen it done at a Google Apps Summit but couldn’t remember the name of the tool(s) that was used. My hunch is that the person saw a demonstration of Google Lit Trips which is a collection of lessons and Google Earth files that are based on stories. My second guess is that this person a demonstration of Timeline JS. And my third guess is that she saw a demonstration of Google Earth Tour Builder. Google Earth, Timeline JS, and Google Earth Tour Builder could all be used by students to create maps with date-stamped events on them. Tutorials for all three tools are embedded below.

Google Earth Tour Builder Tutorial. Note that this will only work on a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.

Timeline JS tutorial. This will work on any computer provided that you have a Google Account.

Tutorial for creating tours on the desktop version of Google Earth.

Tutorial for creating placemarks in the new web-based version of Google Earth.

You can also create collections of placemarks by using Google’s My Maps tool.

Finally, to create maps without the need for a Google Account or any email address at all, you can use Scribble Maps.