Use Google My Maps to Plan Vacations

Planning your 2009 vacations? Whether you're planning a group trip or just going to a new city for the first time, Google Maps' My Maps is your ideal companion.

Create a My Map by finding the location you're visiting in Google Maps. Click "Save to My Maps," then "Create a New Map," and you just need to name it, like "New York Spring 2009." From there, you can make a myriad of markers for where you're staying, where your airport is, what transit you can use, and places you want to see.

Great for any vacation, but this is really a great tool when you're going on a group vacation. To share the map, just click "Collaborate," and you can share the map and the ability to edit and add markers with anyone you're going with. I've used this to let everyone plot out places they wanted to visit while in the vacation city, which makes planning days out super simple, when you can see what things are near each other, as well as give you a tangible sense of where you're going.

Having people from out of town visit you? Set up a My Map for them showing your address, where their hotel is, and restaurants and other places that would be helpful for them (like say, for out-of-town guests attending a wedding).