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.

Historic Street View

Google is adding a historical imagery slider to Street View, so that you can see how the street has changed during the time that the imagery has been taken. This will vary in use depending on where you live, or which streets you look at, but might be interesting for charting retail change etc.

Want to talk Google Earth... or something else...

I'll be here during the Geographical Association conference.

Google Maps Gallery

Google Maps Gallery has just been released, and it provides a lot to interest Google Earth users too.
This post on the Google Earth blog provides more details.

The aim of the gallery is to "help unlock the world's maps".

ArcGIS Online Video

There will be a range of videos added here and some further content relating to ArcGIS Online, as I am using it in conjunction with Google Earth and other tools to explore locations...

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The slow demise of Google Earth... (?)

I've always called Google Earth the 'killer app for geography teachers'. I've used it every week since it first came out.

Its tremendous visual appeal, coupled with the uses that the community made of it, with additional layers and files meant that it very quickly became the best way to start a lesson with a visual 'wow' impact. This has lessened over time, and it's remarkable how many students still haven't seen their house on it, but it remains a really valuable (and free) tool.

Within a month of the launch, I'd been in touch with the Education Officer at Google at the time, and he was kind enough to let me have a version of Google Earth Pro for a year.

Google Earth offers virtually seamless access to huge amounts of data. For more information on just how great Google Earth is, I recommend reading the final chapter of Jerry Brotton's book 'A History of the World in Twelve Maps'
Over the last few years, a lot of the emphasis for Google has been on their Mapping, and several of the features that might have been developed for Google Earth have instead been diverted to the mapping option.
There was a recent post on the Google Earth Blog by its creator Frank Taylor, which suggested that support for Google Earth might be reducing.
This was also picked up in a post by Richard Treves, who has also made impressive use of Google Earth with university students.
He asked: 'Will educators miss Google Earth' ?
Maybe the next post, on Google Map Gallery will redress some of the balance ?

There's also been a recent update to Frank's original post

Exploring London - Google Earth may feature...

Delighted to say that I've been awarded one of just two of these awards handed out this year, given out by the Royal Geographical Society, to work on a collaboration jointly with Dr. Benjamin Hennig from the University of Oxford on a project related to the Census of 2011.

Ben is the genius who created the Worldmapper cartograms, and creates maps at Views of the World.
He is now working at one of the finest Geography departments in the world, and it is a real privilege to get the chance to work with him.
Our project is called LondonMapper: exploring a World city through Census Data

The Census 2011 produced billions of pieces of data, and by focussing on London past, present and future we will explore ideas related to London and its place in the world, and guide students on an exploration through the Census data and present them with some decisions that need to be made, which will shape London's future...

Our work will connect with, and expand on the nascent LondonMapper project.

Look out for more new maps like this one

Some more interesting London-based news coming in the next month or so too....

2014 Winter Olympics

Details here of some Google Earth models and other mapping linked with the current Winter Olympics.

Google Earth Time Zones

A useful resource which is one of several shared by Ted MacKinnon on his website.