Google Earth Pro
Google Earth is nothing new, but did you know that Google Earth Pro now is free to anyone? In the pro version you can record videos of your “trips” around the world with the included film maker, print in high resolution for use in presentations or reports, and import GIS data like Tiff files or shapefiles.
On Wikipedia a GIS – geographical information system is defined as a “system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.” So by this definition even the standard version of Google Earth can be considered a GIS (if a simple one). But with the possibility to import GIS data as is possible with the pro version Google Earth becomes much more of a useful tool for gis/map work and presentation of data. The idea of being able to make a film where you fly to a location and see your work on top of the virtual globe is very appealing to me, as opening up ArcGIS to show someone a map or just some data is not particularly fast.
A simple example is something I did on the train the last time I was travelling by train. As I happened to have data on Norway from OpenStreetMap (downloaded from Geofabrik) I could import the railways into G.Earth Pro and see the track between the 3D mountains.
Click on the images to see them bigger
A small tip: I often use the shortcut “R” (just the letter r) while navigating in G. Earth. This shortcut resets the compass direction and viewing angle, so that the north again is up and the angle straight down on the terrain. It’s much easier and faster than changing the angle back with the navigation buttons or by dragging the map.