Here's a very helpful online program for map development and research, Bible Mapper:
"Bible Mapper is a fully interactive, highly accurate Bible mapping system that helps you quickly and easily create customized maps of the Holy Lands or study a particular period and aspect of Bible history. Bible Mapper enables you to select exactly which types of objects you want to appear on your map (mountain peaks, rivers, contours, political boundaries, etc.) and what terrain imagery (relief and elevation, satellite land cover, etc.) to include. You can also choose which biblical eras to display on the map, and Bible Mapper will correctly include only those cities and boundaries that existed during the selected period. You can tailor your map even further by adding your own comments right on the map. Once you have customized your map, you can print it, save it as a Bible Mapper file and load it back into the viewer later, export it as a bitmap, or copy it to the Windows® clipboard. Bible Mapper can even tell you the exact distance between two points on a map or help you find a certain city or other object on the map. Bible Mapper is the ideal tool for studying and creating maps of the Holy Lands that are customized to your specific needs."