Wow! How did I miss this? The site for the North Carolina Department of Commerce has a very interactive map of North Carolina that provides all kinds of information on NC economics, climate, and more. You can try it out at http://www.nccommerce.com/en/AboutNorthCarolina/Location/; you will need have Flash on your Web browser.

There are two sets of information here. The first set comes in a series of overlays. Selectable overlays show trade zones, universities, community colleges, county outlines, and leisure sites (unfortunately you can only look at one overlay at a time.)

The second set of information is contained in a set of tabs across the top of the map that includes climate, map of topological features, economic development regions, and workforce development board regions. Click a tab and then choose a county or region. You'll either get a little popup of information or some text underneath the map.

For example, say I want to learn about Madison County, out in the mountains. I can use this map to discover the two county economic development organizations, the contact information for the Mountain Area Workforce Area Board, the range of elevation for the county, the fact that the average high temperature for the county is 68, AND a lot more.

One more nifty thing about this map: there are two yellow icons with a "drag points to measure" note between them. Click on them and drag them to different points on the map. The map will tell you the approximate distance between the two points. And that's how I know it's about 230 miles between Raleigh and Madison County!