Re:Historical fun. (Score 1)

When you try to find a map of say... the USSR online, you'll realize how important a tool like this is for teaching history. The Soviet Union fell before the widespread adoption of digital maps, so finding a digital map of the pre-Cold War Soviet Block isn't as straightforward as you might think. A key to making impressions on people's minds, however, won't just be the visual presentation of static information, it will be the animated presentation of information against a historical backdrop. How and where did the plague spread, and why? Was it ever really true that the sun never set on the British Empire? What was going on in the rest of the world at the same time the Indus Valley civilizations were kicking off? What did Japanese art look like during the Impressionist period? Without turning this into a cog sci thread, understanding how all of these questions are answered would be enhanced with geospatial and chronological relationships. The next question is the incentive to create useful educational materials - textbook manufacturers don't share it, that's for sure. For a shameless plug to an undernourished open source project in this area, check out: www.gwhat.org. Apologies in advance... trust me, there's no profit motive.