MNN - Mother Nature Network

With the official end of summer just a week away, Google presented an overview of how those in the Northern Hemisphere spent the summer of 2012. Based on searches in Google Maps, you'll see that summer activities today aren't so different than they were before the Internet — with one exception — the most frequently searched activity in the U.S. was paintball.

 

Whether people searched for beach, strand, plage or playa, sandy shores were in the top three searched terms in the U.S., the Netherlands, France, Spain. Camping was another popular choice, securing the top spot in France and ranked second in the U.S.

 

And it seems that Americans continue to treasure their national parks. In the top 10 U.S. landmark searches, national parks  captured the top four spots. Only two manmade attractions made the list: the Empire State Building in 7th place and Times Square in 10th.

 

Take a look at Google's infographic and see how you compare to your countrymen (click to see a larger image).

 

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This story was originally written for TechNewsDaily and was reprinted with permission here. Copyright 2012 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved.