Google Maps and Google Earth are pretty cool online tools. It amazes (and scares) me that I can zoom in on my house and see myself standing in the front yard. Just kidding! Even though I’m not on Google Maps, it is a very powerful web tool and makes me think about the future of the web and what tools like Google Maps and Google Earth can and will be used for.

To celebrate Earth Day, I’ve compiled a list below. Tons of people have made custom Google Maps, showing anything from dead cell phone areas to Earthquakes. There’s already a website for that. Instead I’ve listed extra creative ways people have utilized the tool.

The most recent is a Google Maps Alphabet (via every design blog) by Rhett Dashwood. He’s come up with the aerials from Google Maps of letters A through Z.

Even cooler is Street With A View. To quote from their website, “On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh’s Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way.”

There’s also Where on Google Earth, a trivia website using locations visible by Google Earth (via Planet Green).

Street View Fun posts fun and funny images that were taken by the Street View team.

Google Maps Mania is dedicated to Google Maps, and posts just about anything there is related to it!

Google Sight Seeing (exactly what it sounds like) posted about fictional characters being caught by the Street View team.

Melanie Coles did her graduation project inspired by Where’s Waldo – only in Google Earth: Where On Earth Is Waldo.