In honor of the 400th Anniversary of the acquisition of Manhattan by Henry Hudson, the Henry Hudson 400 Foundation has commissioned the creation of an excellent collection of interactive maps using the Google Maps API. The maps not only include a historical perspective on the times of Henry Hudson, but also include the use of the Google Earth Plugin to view 3D models of ships of the time. After just a few minutes of perusing the collection, I’m already impressed with the interface. Check out the Henry Hudson maps here 
Google was also impressed with the maps, and featured them on the Lat Long blog.
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.