Technology in travel is all for the good – global cellphones, GPS, travel websites (ahem). But even the most flashpacker-y among us can’t deny the nostalgic appeal of more analog trip technologies, ergo the Moleskine, journal of choice for the philosophically inclined backpacker, was recently resurrected from oblivion. Personally, I have a real fondness for postcards, bizzaro multicolored foreign currency, and old maps that show the world carved up by different boundaries than those that exist right now. This is why I love a new a new layer that’s been added to the latest version of Google Earth: The Rumsey Collection of Historical Maps. There are 16 maps from the 1600s to 1800s – including the knockout 1790 map of the globe above – that you can layer onto current satellite maps of the same location. To find the collection, look in the “Layers” Tab, select “All Layers” and look under “Featured Layers,” then zoom into some intense past/present fusion. (via Lifehacker)

Previously:
– Google Earth