1) The Land Information Explorer

A new interactive map from non-profit Shared Assets can help you find out key information about any area of land in the UK. Land Explorer uses open data to provide information at the click of a mouse button about land ownership and current & potential land use.

Land Explorer couldn't be easier to use. Just click on a location on the map and all the land information is automatically displayed in the map sidebar. As well as information from the Land Registry you can view information about flood risk (from the Environment Agency), the potential for agricultural use (from Natural England) and any planning restrictions on the land.

Land Explorer also provides more simple geolocation data, such as the address, elevation and latitude and longitude of the selected location.

Thanks Google Maps Mania

2)The NEW and Improved Google Earth

Yesterday, Google unveiled the new Google Earth. The most obvious difference to the latest incarnation of Google's 3D map is that Google Earth is no longer a stand alone application but is instead now entirely browser based. The new Google Earth allows you to explore the world in glorious 3D. To this end the main on-screen tools are all designed to help you explore the world more easily.

These tools include a 'Voyager' button which provides a number of great tours of the world (provided by the BBC Earth TV program) tours of some of the world's national parks and a Street View tour of the Galápagos Islands. My guess is that Google will be working with other content providers to help develop and add more of these curated 'Voyager' tours to Google Earth. The on-screen tools also include a search option, which allows you to quickly find your favorite locations around the world. If you run out of places to search you can also use The 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button, which will take you to a random location. One of the great features of the new Google Earth is the 'Knowledge Cards', small information windows which appear on screen to provide you with information about locations and to provide links to other nearby points of interest. As well as the on-screen buttons you can access more functionality from the burger menu. This includes 'Map Style' which allows you to adjust map features, such as the visibility of place labels. 'Settings' can also be accessed from the burger menu, where you can adjust things such as the 'fly-to' speed and the unit of measurements used by Google Earth.

I've only had a brief look at the new Google Earth and so far I'm very impressed. One of the reasons I hardly use Google Maps any more is that it is soooooo slow and is too keen to show me the world I already know (giving preference to places my friends and I have already been and know exist). Google Earth doesn't seem to suffer from the new Google Maps speed problems. It also seems designed to help you explore and find the wonders of planet Earth.

3) Comparing Old Maps

The David Rumsey Map Collection is a fantastic collection of vintage maps from around the world. The David Rumsey Map Collection has also been at the forefront in working on digitizing vintage paper maps and making them available to view and use online. For a long time the collection has used Georeferencer to georectify vintage maps and make them accessible as interactive digital maps.

This year Georeferencer has released version 4 of their Georeferencer tool. The tool has added some great new features to aide anyone interested in georectifying and digitizing old vintage maps. It also has a great new interface for comparing different maps side by side.

Georeferencer Compare is an amazing way to find and compare old vintage maps side-by-side, It includes various different view modes. As well as comparing maps side-by-side you can overlay different maps as layers (and adjust their opacity), you can view them in swipe mode or you can use a 'spy glass'. 

The David Rumsey Map Collection has updated to version 4 of Georeferencer. This means you can use David Rumsey Georeferencer Compare to find and compare vintage maps from the collection. Using the tool is a great way to see view how maps of specific locations have developed over time,