Geography has always been a favorite subject for me. Even as a kid I liked to make maps and do the quizzes to see if I could remember all the states or countries in South America.

Interactive Internet sites have made all that even more fun and easy to teach. Here are just a few examples of the many, many that are available:

• Sheppard Software has flash games for U.S. geography.
  
• TagMaps explores the world using maps and flickr images.
• PurposeGames.com has just about every imaginable geography map game. As a bonus you can register and keep track of scores.

But here’s a new twist on interactive geography, the Traveler IQ Challenge from TravelPod. The idea is to pinpoint locations on a map but the score is based on how fast you can do it and how close you are in kilometers to the exact location. It starts simple like finding Beijing or Washington D.C. But once you think you’re pretty smart you’ll have to find the Terra Cotta Warriors in China or something in Libya that I’d never heard of. In the ‘Expert’ level it asked for Kodiak Island, piece of cake for an Alaskan. But I was totally stumped by Bouvet Island, Norway which is in the South Atlantic.

Here’s a tip: it’s easier to pinpoint places with a mouse than a touchpad on a laptop and a bigger screen is nice, too. Also, there’s a Traveler IQ Facebook app to challenge your friends.

So, practice a few times and see how well you can do. I’ve managed a 125 after several tries.

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