Traditionally, photographers would keep “little black books” of their favourite photo locations. Having access to a hidden vista, or texture-filled building was seen as a competitive advantage – often providing signature looks to the resulting photos. Today the emergence of photo communities, GPS-equipped cameras, and an attitude of open access yields many tools for couples planning a destination wedding, or for photographers looking for something different to add to their portfolio.

As you already know, Google Maps has satellite views of most every corner of the globe. This view is able to climb over fences, dive through back alleyways, and show street-level views of most any place – from the convenience of your desk. I’m heading to Las Vegas in February and have been intrigued by the neon sign graveyard I’ve seen in photos on Flickr. A quick scan in Google Maps showed me the yard, the detail of the inventory, and a pathway to plan my shoot there – all for free.

 Flickr, an online photo community has a similar tool available called “Places”. Users are able to sort through photos via a map interface, viewing the resulting photo sets AND the locations they were generated from. The act of “geotagging” your photos places them in context of where you shot them. Searching through photos by content, in a map interface offers many different viewpoints for the same location.

Try it out, see what hidden gems are available for your next destination.