I use Flickr to share my pictures, but I’ve never explored all of the fun features that Flickr offers. Poking around today, I found a couple of features that rival Google Earth in both their ability to make me want to travel and to waste my time.

Places: lets you drill down into a certain area and explore what it has to offer.

Maps: will take you whipping around the world to see some of the most interesting pictures on Flickr and recent uploads.

Start playing with these two fun toys and you’ll quickly find that you’ve burned away your Sunday afternoon. Trust me, happened to me.