Google Maps Engine Lite, a great tool for creating custom online maps, has been renamed to simply My Maps (not to be confused with “My Maps” that used to be in the old version of Google Maps). My Maps includes all of the features of Google Maps Engine Lite. My favorite of those features is the option to create multiple layers of placemarks in each of your custom maps.

Ideas for using My Maps in your classroom:
As I have written in the past, there are quite a few good uses of creating maps with multiple layers.

• Multiple layers can be used for showing data differences on a year over year or month over month basis. 
• You can display the same data with different base layers for comparison. 
• Students working collaboratively on a map can be responsible for editing their own layers on the same map. 
• If you’re using Google Maps Engine Lite My Maps to have students create literature trips (look here for inspiration), they can create a different layer for each chapter of a book. 
• Students mapping the history of an event like the U.S. Civil War can create a different layer for each year of the war.