Create a Tour with Google Maps

Map Channels, the Google Maps creation service, has added a really nice new feature that allows users to create an animated tour with Google Maps.

Tour Maps animate a route on Google Maps and show placemarks along the route as they appear on the created tour. A Tour Map is really easy to create. You can even create the tour by using the My Places 'create a map' feature in Google Maps and then using the KML or GeoRSS feed to create your tour.

In about twenty minutes I managed to create this Olympics Park Walk using Tour Maps. Tour Maps includes lots of options to customise the map including the map's appearance, the duration of the tour and the size of the information windows.

Completed tour maps can be embedded in a blog or website or you can just link to the full-size Tour Map hosted on Map Channels.