Google releases My Maps

Google is now letting you create your own Google Map, by adding placemarks, drawing lines to demonstrate a route you’ve taken, inserting shapes, photos and videos.

Called My Maps, it’s all explained here. You get a URL for each of your maps so you can share it with friends, and you can submit it to be included in Google search results, and place it on Google Earth.

This is just the latest move by Google to add searchable pages to its massive database.

Below is a map produced by someone who traveled across the U.S. Route 66, with commentary on history and photos along the way. Another example shows Google’s campus, pointing out the location of its dinosaur skeleton and its SpaceShipOne.