Interactive National Geographic Maps

Tomorrow my students are looking at their connections to the world starting with the clothes on their backs.  To that end I have been trolling the Internet for something that is interactive to show them.  But in doing so I found this amazing world map which at the touch of a navigation button lets you see topographical, seas, satellite, National Geographic's map for a total of eight levels.  But you can also get a tool to measure distances (across continents if you want) and draw with a pen or market all over the map.  Once you are done with the map you can then download it.  You can also mover your cursor anywhere and the longitude and latitude will pop up.  In the lower part of the map, you can also see the entire world and the subset of what you are working on.  You can also send someone a link of exactly what area of the map you are looking at, but I haven't figured out if you can save your work to that link.  Here is the interactive site.  If you figure out how to save your drawings on the map and have it on a url, please add it as a comment to this post.

So in the fall I may have my students use this to understand longitude and latitude as well as different types of maps.