Website Evaluation 3

Website:  National Geographic: Maps

Website Address:  http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps

Copyright date and/or Last Update:  ©1996-2010 National Geographic Society. 

Author/Organization Credentials:  The website is maintained by the National Geographic Society.  The National Geographic Society is a nonprofit educational and scientific intuition which is run by a panel of distinguished educators, leading business executives, former governmental officials, and conservationists.  The society has been continually operating since 1888.

Web Site Design and Ease of Navigation:  This particular website is a sub-page of the main National Geographic website.  Due to the gargantuan nature of this site I chose to focus on this particular sub-page.  One of the first things you'll notice regarding this website is its use of pop-ups.  While annoying these pop-ups are easily clicked off of and are only minimally intrusive on the surfing experience as a whole.  This website is fairly complex with numerous links throughout the page.  There are also a few ads displayed on the page, most prominently across the top.  Just under this banner ad is a search bar and links to all the different sections contained within the broader National Geographic Societies website.  Under these links is the main Maps section which also contains several more links to various sub-pages.  Underneath this is a large interactive world map, much in the same vein as Google earth.  The map has several options such as street view and 2d or 3d displays.  The map is fairly easy to navigate and very informative.  The mouse does tend to get stuck on the map from time to time although again this is a minor impediment towards navigation of the webpage.  Located underneath the main map are several more links to additional interactive maps as well as the editor's pick of different features on the website.  There are also a few additional ads displayed on the bottom right of the page.  Most of the links featured in the editor's picks are merely retreads of the links displayed above the map.  These links generally take the surfer to small editorials covering different aspects of geography and conservation of natural resources.  By far the gems of the site are the interactive maps though.  Overall the website is fairly complicated and not that user friendly.  The ads as well as the pop-ups can easily confuse or misdirect a non web-savvy surfer.               

Response and Recommendation for Use:  Due to the complex nature of the website, in addition to its ads and pop-ups, I would recommend this site as teacher use or teacher directed use only.  In order to not get lost or waste time I would also highly recommend learning the layout of the site in detail before attempting to use it during instruction.  Once you get past all the minor annoyances of the site you will find that the amount and detail of the information contained therein is abundant.  The many different interactive maps, if used correctly, could be extremely useful when doing any type of geography or history lesson.  The educational value contained within many of these maps condenses massive amounts of statistics for a truly amazing geographical experience.