Time again for our Website of the Week, when we showcase interesting and innovative online destinations.

This week we feature an online map service that's backed by nearly a century of mapmaking experience.

CARROLL:  "The National Geographic MapMachine is a web-based, interactive atlas of the world that allows people to browse and explore very detailed street maps and political maps, but also physical maps and a variety of thematic maps, ranging from weather to population density to nature and conservation."

Allen Carroll is chief cartographer for the National Geographic Society, whose MapMachine is online at nationalgeographic.com/maps. The easy-to-use maps feature a number of different ways of looking at your city, your country or your planet — from satellite images to earthquake risk

CARROLL:  "Maps can show, really, almost anything that is distributed geographically across the face of our planet, or other planets, for that matter. And that makes maps a really fascinating way of looking at the world. Maps symbolize and simplify and represent the world. And so hundreds, thousands, really endless characteristics can be chosen for a map."

If you want to find out more about the places represented on the map, just click on the link to a part of the site called "People & Places."

CARROLL:  "For several hundred nations and U.S. states and provinces and cities and some parks, you can go to our site and find video clips and photographs and news articles and more."

There is, literally, a world of information at the National Geographic MapMachine, online at nationalgeographic.com/maps, or get the link from our site, voanews.com/ourworld