Share your Ideas and KMZs...

There's a lot of geographers out there using Google Earth in interesting ways.
Why not share your ideas, and move towards being a COLLABORATOR rather than an ISOLATOR.
Thanks to Quentin d'Souza for allowing use of his image below. Which one most describes your practice and what can you do to move to the left ?

Google Earth and NASA

Ollie Bray made me aware of this via Boing Boing (getting hard these days to establish who does things first...) which is apparently the completion of something announced a while ago.
NASA are teaming up with Google Earth (and the National Geographic) to release NASA data in areas such as weather forecasting...
Could be useful for Geographers. I'll keep an eye out for more...

ViaTime

This post seems to have come out blank.
It was telling you about a virtual transportation simulator where you can set up an airline and see the routes in Google Earth.
Check out VIATIME for more. I'll try and have a play over Xmas.

Cambridge in 3D & Icelandic Posters

The first part of post comes via DIRECTIONS MAGAZINE and the Keyhole BULLETIN BOARD and OGLE EARTH. Thanks to all for the link.

Below is a general view looking down on Cambridge. Great work by Lattico, to add 3D Modelling - be warned though that this is a large file, and could take some time to load !
This will come in useful for us, as we take our 6th formers to Cambridge for a Human field day, and this will make our Virtual walk through even more lifelike. We use Google Earth for fieldtrip briefings.

Another find via Ogle Earth today was an interesting merging of two technologies I've used separately, but hadn't thought about putting together before. This is the work of Mr. Fjalar from Breidholt in Iceland, who has called his project ARTWORK EARTH. This is a rather nice idea which I may well borrow for an end of term project, or link in at the end of a unit of physical work such as COASTS, RIVERS, GLACIATION, VOLCANOES & EARTHQUAKES or NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS/BIOMES.Students are asked to find an image which looks particularly impressive artistically, perhaps like the one above, and save it - by screenshotting, or otherwise..

The images are then put into John Watson's superb BIG HUGE LABS' FLICKR TOYS site, which is one of my Top 5 sites of all time as those who are regular visitors to the website will know. (incidentally, having visited this today there's a new Warholizer which will make Warhol screenprint images out of your photos...)

The images are put into the MOTIVATOR tool, and then uploaded to the FLICKR POOL which this links to: ARTWORK EARTH.

Already this has been picked up and developed by others. This TAGZANIA post for example suggests using this idea to produce CHRISTMAS CARDS. I've already sent mine, or I might have used this idea myself...

And finally for this post, because I really have to get on to my marking...

Don't forget that if you're using Google Earth for a research project, you can use TOOLS and WEB to open a web browser window below the Google Earth view (or press CTRL and 8)
Might be a useful tip for some of you...

New Geographic Layers

Thanks to Frank Taylor at GEarth Blog for flagging up a new Geographic Layer option for Google Earth. This is a layer which needs to be turned on, but will then display Geographic content which increases as you zoom in. Worth investigating...

Planet Earth and Wiki Find

One of my other blogs was nominated for an Edublogs Award 2006 - I know because it was me that nominated me...
Unfortunately, I was passed over, but when I checked on the blogs that had been nominated I came across CLASSROOM GOOGLE EARTH Wiki.
There are some useful ideas for using Google Earth, and a recent posting led me to some High Definition Video Clips from the Planet Earth series.
Some useful Geography content here.Enjoying my Space Navigator - it's responsive and I'm getting the hang of the various axes of movement that are available. I love the ability to zoom right into details on images as well, which works very well on the IWB. Get one for Christmas! You can order one from 3D Connexion, delivery is very prompt.

Mystery Place and Space Navigator

Discovered this place today while flying around Google Earth with my Space Navigator.
Have been exploring the settings, and getting used to it....

UPDATE: The island is called CHRISTMAS ISLAND of course...

Sky News and Glaciers

Google Earth just been used by Sky News to zoom in to the location of a breaking news story.

Quite a few news networks are using Google Earth as a visual means of locating the news story they are reporting on.

Thanks to Noel Jenkins for flagging up a file mentioned on GEarth Blog which plots glaciers and whether they are advancing or retreating. Will be very useful !

Space Navigator and Google Earth in the papers

OK, so my Space Navigator is here, and I've installed it on my laptop and enjoyed zooming in and out of images and flying around the screen.
Will wait until Monday to try it with Google Earth at school (yes Noel, I'll show it at my Department meeting on Monday, and probably play about in my lessons too...)

Google Earth in the paper (The Times) today. There was an article explaining how it has been used in elections in Bahrain to show the opulent dwellings of the ruling family to try to sway public opinion. There was also a report on Google Sight Seeing. This has a section on the Top 10 naked people on Google Earth. You could use your Space Navigator to speed up exploration of this list...
Why not buy a copy. Click the Amazon link below to head there and buy a copy (or two - it's coming up for Christmas!)

Just noticed this is an old referral button. You only have to spend £15 now to get Free P&P.

Space Navigator

Head over to 3DConnexion to find out more about the mysterious object pictured above, or read Noel's post at DIGITAL GEOGRAPHY.
Mine is currently on the way from Germany, and I shall let you know more when I get hold of it!

Assessment of Pupil Work using Google Earth

Noel Jenkins has been innovative again.
He has published a link to some work done by his pupils on Google Earth, as part of his San Francisco assessment. You are invited to add comments to the pupil's work.
This has possibilities for an assessment for Pilot GCSE (or other specifications)

Image Update and some useful sites for educators

Stefan Geens over at OGLE EARTH has given notice of a recent image update which adds high quality imagery to some areas of the UK as well as some other useful locations - particularly interesting is the imagery of Darfur, plus 6 high-resolution regions in the UK (Bridgend, Cleveland, Dundee, Plymouth, Poole, Rochford)
Check out OGLE EARTH for a detailed lists of sites (including my own page), Noel's etc.

A reminder that Noel has now updated his JUICY GEOGRAPHY page to a nicely set out blog format. Some very good GUIDES to print off (including WINK presentations to demonstrate how to perform some of the tasks...)

Also, over at ROBLOG there is the return of the Autumn leaf colour tracked which I have featured at SAGT for the last 2 years... A good piece of work !

Virtual Helictopter Ride

The USGS have a Virtual Helicopter Ride along the Hayward fault using GE. Go HERE for the details and to download the Google Earth file. An interesting way of exploring tectonic processes.

Noel's new Blog..

Noel Jenkins has made a characteristically good job of his latest venture: a blog to carry all the content from Digital Geography and Juicy Geography which relate to Google Earth. He mentions the new BLUE MARBLE plug-in (click the link to go to Frank Taylor's GEARTHBLOG and get hold of the plug in, thereby allowing me to kill 2 birds with one stone, and also links through to this blog, for which many thanks.
Check out the website at http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/blog/

Maplecroft Maps in Google Earth

Text of an e-mail:
Maplecroft launches Global Maps series in Google Earth format
Available online NOW at http://maps.maplecroft.com/gedata

Maplecroft has launched a series of Google Earth files to complement its Global Maps series. These analyse a wide range of environmental, social, economic and political issues that impact on business and society around the world. With the extremely popular Google Earth 3D viewer, it is now possible to view Maplecroft risk data on an interactive globe, overlay it with other live sources of information, straight from your desktop."

Geography Awareness Week

Some new layers have recently been added for Geography Awareness Week in the USA, with a focus on Africa.
Flag layers, Interactive Quizzes, and some Trails 4 Africa stuff (tourist information...)

Google Earth Presentation on You Send It

For a limited time, my SAGT presentation (without the annotations on the blog) can be downloaded via YouSendIt.
Get in quick by clicking the link HERE. As Tom Biebrach has said "it's almost like being there", except for the bad jokes and the irreplacable experience of meeting me for real...

Also heard from Quentin d'Souza, who works over in Toronto, Ontario, who has produced a number of interesting resources. He has passed on details of a SLIDE SHARE file which is the first stage of a planned online tutorial for using Google Earth: one to watch.

And finally for this post, over on Juicy Geography, Noel Jenkins has now added FLASH TUTORIALS to his San Francisco Google Earth resource looking at earthquake susceptibility. This is a fine resource. Please support Noel and his work!

3D Images

Hunt out some 3D glasses


Try these 3D Google Earth Images for size. Can you see them in 3D ?

I'm slowly labelling up the slides below in the SAGT presentation. Got up to Slide 64, so I'm over half way. Feel free to comment on the progress so far, and let me know of any other ideas you have.
UPDATE: All slides now labelled.

Google Earth Users Guide Project

This project was funded by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) using an Innovative Geography Teaching Grant.
It was given funding in November 2005, and work has continued through the following 12 months. The next section of the blog below features the 100+ slides which made up the 2 x 50 minute presentations which I delivered at the University of Dundee in October 2006 as part of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers Conference.
Enjoy the slides. I will add annotations to most of them.
Other people who were at the conference have also posted materials online, notably OLLIE BRAY and Rob Chambers, who was unfortunately unable to attend owing to serious illness while in Kenya. See the weblinks down the right hand side of the weblog.
Enjoy the presentation, and note that there is now an even newer version of Google Earth than the one I mentioned at the weekend, which features the ability to add lines and polygons to images, which was previously a feature only found in Google Earth Plus.

SAGT Presentation Slides 1-4

This quote was up on the screen as delegates listened to the introduction to my session. Thanks to Liz Crisp, who teaches in Aberdeen, and Ken Muir , HMiE who introduced my 2 sessions and also spoke a few words at the end. Thanks also to all those who attended. If you have any further questions, see the GeographyPages website for e-mail details.
The quote was taken from an article with Michael Jones, Technology Officer with Google Earth, and was taken from an article on CNN News site.

The title slide, followed by the aims of the workshop. Notice the mention of 'my favourite price'..

The Photo Jam introduction was played as delegates came in, along with Sigur Ros music, which I've used for some time, but has become synonymous with the Planet Earth series.
To see the presentation without music, go to this online link for a PHOTOJAM view.

I also mentioned this article, which shows President Bush confessing that he uses "the Google"...

SAGT Presentation Slides 5-8

It's important for me to publicise the support given by RGS-IBG. It was also good to see Judith Mansell, the Education officer present at the conference too, although Parcelforce managed to lose all her materials (twice!)


I held up a copy of the Geographical Magazine from 1994. Except, I discovered that one of the tools that I had access to in the lecture room was a visualiser. Worked well the first time anyway. Recommended purchase for the department I think...
The article refers to someone called Danny, who "can't wait to do his geography homework" because he is able to explore a virtual world...

The Workbooks referred to are available to download by going to GEOGRAPHYPAGES. They are available in Word and PDF format.
Plenty of Generators to add interest are available at the GENERATOR BLOG.


This is a posting on the SLN forum from 2004, where someone wanted to do something which then became possible once Google Earth launched. The SLN forum has plenty of threads relating to Google Earth which have developed over the last 18 months.

SAGT Presentation Slides 9-12

I had an article featured in The Guardian's Brainstrust section explaining how I used placemarks to fly students to the location of the lesson.

Where were the first places you visited ??

Quite a lot of people are still using Version 3 of Google Earth. You're missing out on the latest features !

SAGT Presentation Slides 13-16

Of course now, with the new updated version of GE4, you get lines and polygons for free.
This slide demonstrates that there is varying coverage in the UK of high quality images, and that some of the ideas will be compromised by the quality of the images in particular areas of the country.
Ollie Bray has posted his presentation, which has a whole host of ideas, including Google Earth.
He has also created a series of different video casts, which require various Quick Time plugins (or not....) This is 1 hour and 40 minutes which is well worth watching.

SAGT Presentation Slides 17-20

Good imagery of Cambridge. This section looks at Placemarks in the context of a fieldtrip to Cambridge. Good placemark to customise.
How you can add images, colours, audio and video to placemarks. Changing size and colour of text.

SAGT Presentation Slides 21-24

How to customise placemarks continued...

Many people would only ever use the pushpin version. Click on the pushpin, right click for properties for the changes that you can make.The image of bicycles is hosted on Flickr. Had a comment posted on it, which said that someone had had their bike stolen from that particular bikeshed.

Noel Jenkins and Gavin Richards have both posted examples of how to customise placemarks to add other digital content.
A close up view of the Google Moon, while I took a picture of the audience...

SAGT Presentation Slides 25-28

Quentin D'Souza over at TEACHING HACKS, has produced a useful video introduction to using GOOGLE EARTH in the classroom.

http://www.eyespot.com/ is a new site allowing you to edit video online - could make little Google Earth movies of placemarks that have been located, or for starters to lessons...

Recommend you get yourself a weblog.
I started the GeoBlogs project in 2003, and people are finally catching on to the fact that they are a great way to communicate with students...


Some good examples of weblogs:

Here's one of my better ideas of recent weeks: marking homeworks and setting homeworks in the form of Google Earth KML files...
Could also include geo-tagged images using Picasa web albums (more on this later...)

SAGT Presentation Slides 29-32

Demonstration of how to share a placemark with the thriving and generous Keyhole Bulletin Board community. Some very creative people here who have produced lots of interest for Geographers...