ESRI Visualiser

If you need to show students the world and have a free GIS / Visualisation tool, check out ESRI's Visualiser.

This is a free tool with no login. Maps can be viewed in 2D or as a 3D sphere.

There are some measuring tools, and also some layers that can be added e.g. ocean currents.

Geofolio

Thanks to Geofolio for an opportunity to explore your area and generate loads of information automatically.

As it says on the website:

Define an area of interest anywhere in the world, and we'll automagically create thematic factsheets containing interactive maps, charts, written overviews, and statistical summaries – all based on open geodata.

I had a play of course. I went to North Norfolk, where colleagues took part in 2 days of coastal fieldwork earlier in the week. What would the site tell me about this location?

Here's the report that was generated... 

Geofolio North Norfolk from GeoBlogs

It was a tipoff via Richard Allaway.

This has great potential for generating secondary data about locations.