This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

2007 may go down as the year people's perceptions of what a map is changed forever, and proved the value of user-generated content. Much of that sea change can be credited to Google Maps.

Maps -- for centuries static, analog pieces of information -- have gone digital, allowing us to add layer upon layer of additional information, in a variety that strains imagination. For example:

• Maps that contain links to photographs of the noted location. If you want to know what the intersection of the Dawson and Dempster highways in Alaska looks like, you might find it on a Google Map. (Hint: There's a big sign warning hunters that it is illegal to leave gut piles within 1 km of the road).
• Fans of the writer Patrick O'Brian (such as myself), can refer to a user-generated Google Map tracing the travels of his heroes Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.
• Followers of the television show The Amazing Race can track the participants' progress on a Google Map.
• The Los Angeles Times created a Google map for readers to track the progress of the recent outburst of wildfires.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: SanDisk (SNDK), Lear (LEA) and Sunoco, Inc (SUN) were today's most notable upgrades:

• SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) was upgraded at Goldman Sachs to Buy from Neutral because they expect an improved NAND pricing environment.
• Baird upgraded Lear Corp. (NYSE:LEA) to Neutral from Underperform, with a $36 target, following the buyout offer from Carl Icahn's American Real Estate Partners LP for $36 a share.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Sunoco, Inc (NYSE:SUN) to Buy from Hold due to better-than-expected demand as well as rising East Coast margins.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Merriman upgraded 8x8, Inc (NASDAQ:EGHT) to Buy from Neutral. The firm believes that by focusing on the SOHO VoIP market, 8x8, Inc has formed a solid revenue base from which to grow; the broker also finds shares undervalued.
• Wachovia upgraded shares of Parkway Properties, Inc. (NYSE:PKY) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuations, as opposed to Highwoods Properties (HIW), which was downgraded today.
• Stifel took RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK) up to Hold from Sell on valuation.
  
• Goldman reinstated Catalina Marketing Corp. (NYSE:POS) with a Neutral, up from its previous Sell rating.
• American Technology added Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) to its Focus List, as the firm believes its recent weakness provides investors with a buying opportunity.
• Matrix US upgraded MapInfo Corp. (NASDAQ:MAPS) to Hold from Sell based on valuation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).