Google Treks..

Visit some amazing places via Google Treks.



Keep scrolling down on the various pages to uncover some great imagery....

Google says 'Hello World'....

They said it a while ago...

Tour de France

Some ideas from Fred Martin for using the Tour de France as a context for teaching GIS.

A good place to start further exploring....

Eurovision Story Map

Here's another example of what ArcGIS Online is capable of creating with a little effort.
A map to show the various winners of Eurovision over the years...

Follow @EsriStoryMaps to find out the latest maps as they are highlighted...

Imperial Airways to Cape Town...

Reminded of this earlier, as an example of using Google Earth to tell a story - not necessarily GIS work, but has great potential as a framework for other journeys and investigations.
Lovely work by Richard Allaway from his Geography all the Way site.

Virtual tours of the Gaywood River valley

If you're after a tour with a hydrological / ecosystems services focus, check out these tours made for a rivers project close to where I live in Norfolk, created by UEA.

Dr Amii Darnell, Professor Andrew Lovett and Dr Jenni Turner have created three ‘virtual tours’ that can be viewed in the free Google Earth software and which provide an introduction to the key environmental features of the Gaywood Valley east of King’s Lynn in Norfolk. The tours have been created as part of the Sustainable Urban Fringes (SURF) initiative which brings together partners from five European countries in a number of projects to enhance the value of nearby rural areas for urban communities (www.sustainablefringes.eu). In the case of King’s Lynn one objective was to encourage local people to explore the valley and find out more about its history and wildlife.  The virtual tours have been produced to provide background information in an easily accessible form and to highlight sites that can be visited. Teaching materials are also being developed so that the tours can be used in local schools.The tours were constructed as sets of text, photos and map information that can be opened in Google Earth, provide instructions to guide the viewer to different landscape features and then display additional information about them (including links to websites). Each tour has a different theme, the first supplying a general introduction to the area, the second focusing on geology and past climates, and the third including details of possible walks and sites to visit.

New ArcGIS background map of London

If you follow THIS LINK you'll be taken to an alternative map background for your maps which is an OS map of 1890s London.
You can zoom down to a high resolution and compare with the imagery of the city, and then build a map on top of the vintage mapping.
Thanks to Jason Sawle for the tipoff to this new opportunity for historic mapping.

OS C1890's historic map of London now available in ArcGIS Online thanks to @natlibscotmaps http://t.co/SdMpEhp6l3 pic.twitter.com/iZclbEpWuI
— Jason Sawle (@GIS4Schools) May 22, 2014

Here's the area around Mary Ward House near Euston for example...

SketchUp Warehouse

Ready for the Google Earth and Beyond Course in London in June.

There are over 5000 models that have been made and placed in the SketchUp warehouse with the tag 'London'..... Well worth exploring...

Using Sketch Up Models in Google Earth

Instructions by Noel Jenkins which I used on the recent GA Course on Google Earth and Beyond.
They worked well...
Follow the instructions to grab a model from the SketchUp Warehouse and place it wherever you want on Google Earth...

Creating Virtual landscapes in Google Earth and SketchUp.doc

It's worth saying that you'll need to have SketchUp installed on your computer to do this.

SketchUp Warehouse has undergone a substantial face-lift since the last time I visited last year and now has various new options and a range of new models.

Models can also now be embedded as a preview in 3D
Here's the MARACANA stadium in Rio de Janeiro...

Making Google Earth more realistic...

One of the sections of the Google Earth and Beyond course that I run for the GA currently has a brief look at the OPTIONS (or Preferences on a Mac) that can be accessed from within Google Earth. These affect the user interface and there are some (like the vertical exaggeration of terrain) that are quite useful.
A recently tweeted post on the Google Earth blog, provided a link to a post providing a few tips for making your existence of Google Earth as 'realistic' as possible (although it may require more computing power and slow your computer down a little)
One of these relates to the atmosphere which can be made more photo-realistic and therefore allow you to sink the sun down over the sea....

Story Maps

A project for the summer is to get to grips with Story Maps on ArcGIS Online, which seem to be getting more straightforward to set up.
Here's one of Lord of the Rings filming locations for example.

Or the TWISTER dashboard...

There are lots of examples, and APPS that can be used to create the story....

OS Open Space and OS Maps in Google Earth

OS Open Space is a project which allows access to some Ordnance Survey mapping.
There's a Google Earth layer within OS Open Space apparently.

I normally direct people to Gavin Brock's OS Layer.

Tour de France routes

Starting in Leeds on the 4th of July is the world's greatest sporting event: the Tour de France.
You can download various KML files for the route from a number of places.

Map my Ride have created some kilometre by kilometre versions, and there are also some nice video tours of the route that can be accessed, such as the one below.

Similar tours can be created using Google Earth...

New maps and data for ArcGIS Online

We have updated our Free Maps and Data Gallery in ArcGIS Online http://t.co/gv8Itjmhke Easy GIS for your classroom pic.twitter.com/NmMnYLSIce
— Jason Sawle (@GIS4Schools) May 23, 2014

Check the maps and galleries here.

Click the LESSON IDEAS tab and provide an e-mail and school name to get access to some guidance documents.
And don't forget the day long dedicated ArcGIS Online course at ESRI's Aylesbury HQ

Where are the Google Street View cars driving ?

Recognise this - have you ever seen one ?

I've seen them twice - once near Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, and once in Lowestoft.... I checked the area, but I don't appear in the images...
I'm also waiting for my street to be done again as my house, which is about 5 years old, was in the process of being constructed when the car came down the road...
This website provides some interesting detail on the way that Streetview images are created, the different vehicles that are used, and then a map showing the global coverage.
Click your country to see where the cars are currently driving...

Would be good to spend a day with one of the cars....

New terrestrial biomes layer...

Via Google Earth blog, a useful file showing the earth's terrestrial biomes....

BRITICE - mapping the British Ice Sheets in Google Earth

BRITICE looks like being really useful for those studying cold environments, and the impact that the British Ice sheet had on the country, and the landforms that it left behind.
It's a project of Chris Clark and colleagues at the University of Sheffield.

There is a range of mapping available, including a Google Earth layer, and also files that can be opened in ArcGIS and other similar GIS packages.

One for those who want to get stuck in to some serious analysis of glacial features.

Thanks to Al Monteith for the tipoff to the site via Twitter.