Interactive Atlas Puts the Whole World in Your Hand

Did you ever spin a globe, vowing to travel to the exact place your finger landed on? You can do just that with the Barefoot World Atlas app for iPad.

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The interactive atlas, based on the Barefoot Books atlas, features a colorful globe that children can spin to discover far-off places. The app is optimized to take advantage of the new iPad's Retina display, though it will render fine with previous versions.

Kids can pinch and zoom their way through different countries. They learn about cultures, see 3D rotations of historical objects and find fun facts like how far away the country is or what the local weather is as they go. Navigation tabs let them jump directly to a specific country or region, and some include actual photographs taken from that location. Tap the voice icon and the info is read aloud.

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Exploring geography isn't always high on kids' lists of fun things to do, but this interactive atlas will keep them engaged and eager to explore.

At $7.99, the app is more expensive than most iOS apps, but given the amount of information and live updating -- and the chance to watch your kids interacting with other cultures -- this one is worth the trip.

This story originally published on Mashable here.



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