Most people today use Google Maps to find local schools, malls, and the closest Starbucks, according to this year’s GoogleZeitgeist, which catalogs the top searches of 2011. But there was more to Google Maps–and its desktop sidekick, Google Earth–over the past 12 months than finding the fastest way to get your Caramel Macchiato fix.
In 2011, Maps and Earth cataloged the massive earthquake in Japan, local businesses and museums joined Street View, and Maps went inside buildings to help you get your bearings in airports, shopping malls, and big box stores across the United States.
Here’s a look at the best of Google Maps and Google Earth from each month of 2011.