My Google Map Blog

Google Maps Mania recently posted an entry that featured a variety of maps that help you explore the continent Westeros from the TV series "Game of Thrones".

The map created by theMountainGoat includes a very high-quality Google Earth KML, allowing you to pan and explore every facet of the continent.

He has a variety of KML files available. The version 2.0 KMZ is very comprehensive, but quite resource intensive. If your computer has difficulty handling it smoothly, the version 1.1 KMZ might work better for you.

Learn more about those files on theMountainGoat's Google Earth page, or see more great Game of Thrones maps in the full post from Google Maps Mania.

Google Earth had a tremendous year in 2012. We saw the release of Google Earth 7.0, which saw the addition of 3D Imagery to the desktop as well as a variety of other great new features.

Beyond that, here were some of our most popular stories of the year:

January

The big story in January was the wreck of the cruise ship Concordia, including rapidly updated satellite imagery and even 3D tours of how the tragedy unfolded.

February

February was relatively quiet, but we saw Street View finally arrive in Russia and the beginning of the GEC move to Google Groups.

March

In March we saw the first release of Street View imagery from the Amazon and Google Earth 6.2 for mobile. We also posted about "Google Earth Live?", which was a speculative post about what Google Earth could be like in the coming decades. However, apparently that's a feature that people want now, as it proved to be one of our most popular posts of the year!

April

In April we saw Street View come to Israel and Ukraine, explored the Titanic 100 years after its famous sinking, and saw some amazing enhancements to the unofficial Google Earth Flight Simulator.

May

In May we got our first look at the excellent Meograph project and took a look at the new One World Trade Center in New York as it become the tallest building in the city.

June

In June we explored the amazing rebirth of Crissy Field in San Francisco and got our first look at Google's remarkable new 3D Imagery.

July

In July we showed you the Project Geo web series (which is still going strong) and helped commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

August

In August we saw fresh Street View imagery in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette as well as the Kennedy Space Center and we showed you an incredible 360 Panorama from Mars

September

In September we saw new Street View imagery in 150 university campuses and followed the great story of a lost camera being returned home thanks to Google Earth.

October

October was dominated by two big stories related to Google Earth.

The first, of course, was the devastating Hurricane Sandy that hit the east coast of the United States.

The second was the long-awaited release of Google Earth 7 on the desktop, which saw many enhancements including the noteworthy "3D Imagery".

November

November brought us some big updates to Google Mars as well as a lot of neat geo tools to track the 2012 US Presidential Election.

December

In December we showed you NASA's amazing new "Black Marble", finished our months-long Google Earth A to Z series, and of course helped track Santa on Christmas Eve.

All said, it's been a great year for Google Earth! What was your favorite story of the year?

This is at Chenil La Poursuite, a dog sledding adventure business in Quebec, Canada.

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These images were taken in December 2012, so only a couple of days ago.