Maps Just Keep Getting Better

I don't know if you were a kid like me, but I just loved to look at maps of cities over time. They even made a few books that started out with Greece, Rome, or Paris in ancient times and as you flipped the page the map of the city expanded showing the growth in centuries and then how rapidly it increased in the last 200 years.

Now archeologists, anthropologists, computer specialists, and engineers have all come together to rebuild Rome. First, I would love to be the person standing in the middle of that room looking head-on at the actual model, but I'd be happy to settle for seeing the video too.

These guys should really get together with the google earth folk and let lay people explore ancient rome. They could even have the little flags with information about the building and its history while you were zooming in and out or perusing down the ancient streets. Hey, we could even learn something while exploring the virtual city!

Yes, I understand that the gurus are trying to use the model to advance theoretical understanding of the ancient city, but wouldn't it be cool to pass this along to lay people? I can't imagine a cooler way to get kids involved with learning about the ancient culture than to let them tour it themselves. After all, we don't all have the opportunity to go visit it in person. (And for those of us who did, those 3 days in Rome was really just a whirlwind that could have easily been 3 months spent without ever seeing the same thing twice).