This is a guest post from Lisa Johnson of EdTechTeacher.org, an advertiser on this blog.

While gathering resources to share with campus teachers, I stumbled upon the Photo Mapo app and quickly added it to my list of tools for summer archival. The intent was to provide a repository of tools and applications that educators could utilize in the midst of their staycations and vacations that could also be extended to the classroom. Photo Mapo is a FREE app that does just that.

Applications for Recreation

Transform your photos into mapped masterpieces with textual anecdotes, pics, and actual maps of places you visit. While map styles and formats change, each Photo Mapo masterpiece can include a photo, a textual blurb, and a map highlighting location data. As much of my summer is devoted to speaking engagements and delivering professional learning app-ortunities to educators, I thought it only fitting to include a sample to promote one of these events, The EdTechTeacher Summit, where I will be leading an exploration of S.A.S.S.Y. SAMR.

Applications for the Classroom

Research origins of famous people, historical figures, or events, and create a Photo Mapo to capture content in a visual manner. Consider assembling all student-created Photo Mapos in Book Creator FREE and add audio narration to create a historical travel guide or class travelogue. Take app-smashing to the next level and use Photo Mapo to create Augmented Reality postcards detailing facts about countries and landmarks. Visit EngageTheirMinds.com for additional classroom integration ideas for this little digital gem. Truly, the instructional app-lications are endless. Imagine using this app with World Language students to practice contextual vocabulary in different languages or English teachers mapping the travels of a character from a novel. For more inspiration, scroll through Photo Mapo’s Facebook page.

Lisa Johnson is the author of the TechChef4u blog and will be keynoting Keystone’s Technology Integration Conference with Richard Byrne June 18th, 2014. To learn more from Lisa Johnson, you can hear her at the July 28-30 EdTechTeacher Summit. She will also be teaching a three day iPad Classroom workshop in Austin, TX this August.