Mapping Family History

I have a bit of a weakness for maps, and lately I have been contemplating how to plot some of the never ending list of place names that appear in the course of digging around in genealogy and family stories. I know there is software out there intended to do this but I’m thinking more of a DIY approach using Google Maps in a similar way to HistoryPin (If you haven’t checked out HistoryPin before you really should). The problem now is, where to start!