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.