Ways you could you use Google Maps or Earth to engage learning in your classroom

With my grade 6 students I do a unit on getting around a new city. In this unit we start by learning the names of different important buildings, we learn how to ask for and give directions and near the end of the unit we look at the map of the Madrid metro system and practice providing detailed information on how to get around Madrid using the metro (where to get on, where to transfer to a different metro line, and where to eventually get off in order to reach your desired destination). Using Google Maps and/or Earth could be a great extension to this unit. Students can use the actual map of Madrid to create their own walking/bus tours pointing out specific places that could be of interest to them and their friends. Or, in order to connect to a cultural unit, students could use Google Earth and a series of clues provided by the teacher to follow a suitcase that got lost and is being shipped from one random Spanish speaking country to the next, tracking its route. That could be a fun way to learn a bit about the countries where Spanish is spoken.