250 000 page views

Well it's taken a while to get here... this blog is one of my older ones... thanks for your interest and for reading.

LiverpoolGEE

 

Via the latest issue of 'Geography' journal.

The University of Liverpool has shared a variety of Google Earth Engine tools for researchers (and educators).

This includes options for coding using Google Earth Engine.

Some school based resources are apparently on the way, and if you'd like to make some suggestions there's a form on the website.

200 000 page views

Thanks for viewing. 

This is one of my older blogs and started out sharing ideas for Google Earth before broadening out over the years....

New Google Earth home screen

 

🌏 Google Earth now has a new homescreen, helping you organize 🗂️ your 🗺️ mapping projects, check it out in this 📽️ 1 min video ✨

👉 https://t.co/AYqPvQcP6C

— Google Earth (@googleearth) November 18, 2024

 

Pathways to Ancient Britain - R4 and Virtual Tour

Radio 4's 'Costing the Earth' series broadcast a programme on the 18th of April called 'Losing our History'. It featured the Norfolk Coast and the village of Happisburgh. 

There are over 400 episodes available.

A recent issue of the programme explored the impact of erosion on historical remains.

For more on this, visit the Pathways to Ancient Britain (PAB) virtual tour of the area around Happisburgh. There are some particularly important archaeological sites on the coast.

This is developed using Google Earth.

Adding layers into Google Earth

Seems like this is back again: Andy Funnell has shared some ideas.

Google Earth 'time machine'

Some elements of this story have been around for a while....

500 up

A small milestone perhaps, compared to the 10 000+ posts over on LivingGeography, but passed 500 posts on this blog, which has actually been around for quite a while, in fact predating LivingGeography. The blog began as part of a project funded by the Royal Geographical Society's Innovative Geography Teaching grants - I've received quite a few of them over the years.

It has broadened beyond Google Earth to take in Digimap for Schools and then ESRI's ArcGIS Online and StoryMaps.

Meanwhile Google Earth has changed, moving to the PRO download, which is still my preferred format, and now the Chrome browser version with its Projects builder option....

RIP MTJ

 I heard earlier today about the passing of Michael T Jones via Ed Parson's Twitter feed.

RIP MTJ Thank you on behalf of all the earthlings pic.twitter.com/8fTIUfQbOy

— ED PARSONS (@edparsons) January 18, 2021

He was one of the people behind the development of Keyhole, which later became Google Earth.

For over 15 years, this tool has helped to revolutionise our geography teaching and also the way we, and students conceptualise the earth.

"We are going to make discovering the Earth a joy - like you're dating a planet and you want to know it, to hear all about its past and hopes. That's what we did: we made something immersive and engaging and personal. You can fly to your home--fly to your parents' home - and remember the time you snuck out in the backyard and did something you shouldn't do, or the place where you had a first kiss, or the place you got married."

This article from 2013 outlines some of his thinking, as downloads passed one billion.

Google Earth Case Studies

Andy Funnell has been working away on his Earth Case Studies mini blogpost.

Mapping our Future - from paper to pixels

A programme on how Digital Mapping and Paper Mapping interact. What are these map apps doing to us?

Jerry Brotton programme can be listened to on BBC Sounds. 
From paper to pixels... Mapping of the Coronavirus as an example of why it is important...
A good input from Ed Parsons on the dynamic nature of digital mapping and the change in map projection - from Mercator close in to a globe zoomed out. Google Earth as "a browser for the planet". This also shows no national borders... and referencing Tobler's first law of Geography.
Plenty of other good contributions as well.
Apple and Google worked together on a contact tracing app.
References 'Powers of 10' which I use to explore scale, and 'Earthrise'.
Reference to the Ordnance Survey's origins as well, and its military origins, and the US military's involvement in Keyhole - the forerunner of Google Earth. Earth Observation Satellite programme was also called Keyhole.

"Surveillance capitalism" is a useful phrase for some of the work of these large organisations in a book by Shoshona Zuboff.

It also mentionsWilliam Morgan's vast map of London.
Mentions the commercial information which blocks out some other information on the map.

A map of the human population is being created by our interactions with these digital maps. Counter-mapping is challenging this work.
Interested to read about Poly-Olbion

And the work of Stephen Walter of course.

Finishes with Borges 1:1 scale map of the Empire. The only truly accurate map, but its size makes it useless... All maps pursue certain agendas and define the way in one way rather than another.
Corporations are mapping the world....
Don't give up completely on the paper map.
Well worth listening to.

Google Earth Creative Tools - Part 2

I posted about the new Google Earth Creation Tools earlier in the week.

New in Earth! Use our just-launched creation tools to share your stories and maps using #GoogleEarth. Here's how it works: https://t.co/fqVXP8A4Ln pic.twitter.com/SQKBjQWuyO

— Google Earth (@googleearth) November 20, 2019

These have been launched after extensive beta testing.

Three tutorial videos have been added to YouTube for those who want to take a look at how to make a tour before getting stuck in. Also here's another tip

Did you know that you can embed info into a place using the new @googleearth creation tools ?
Here's how to add an interactive 360 image to a Pin https://t.co/qioCCP8put #GE3 #syd19 #GoogleEI @googledownunder embed codes for the win ! @EarthOutreach

— ѕteve sмιтн 🌍🇳🇿 (@crispy_smith) November 26, 2019

Google Earth Creative Tools

For some months now, thanks to an invite from Richard Allaway, I've been part of a group of beta testers for some new creative tools on Google Earth on Chrome.

The announcement is here.

Today is launch day and we have been given the news to share that these tools exist, and also some stories that we may have been working on.

Google wants Earth to become a “storytelling canvas” that lets you “create a map or story about the places that matter to you.” These creation tools are accessed by clicking the new “Projects” tab in the sidebar and creating one.
After adding a location by search or dragging a pin, you can attach images, text, videos, and customize other properties, including colors, pins, and choosing the right 3D view to frame. In addition to places, you can draw lines, shapes, and Street View.
All work is saved to Google Drive and supports standard collaboration. Once complete, there is a “Present” view that flies you from location-to-location while displaying all your notes on top. In addition to the web, the final project is available on mobile and tablet devices with the Google Earth app for Android or iOS.

I have started to produce a story on South Georgia for my first attempt, as part of a resource that I am producing for the South Georgia Heritage Trust. This has been blogged about elsewhere.

Here's the link to the story so far.

The tools produce a similar outcome to that produced with ESRI StoryMaps, but with variations in imagery and functionality of course. The two tools aren't necessarily in competition and it remains to you to consider.

Check Richard Allaway's examples here: revising extreme environments.

Google Earth Studio

I was invited to Google Earth Studio a few weeks ago, but just had a moment to take a look.
You need to request an invite and wait to be approved. This can take a while.

You will be able to access the STUDIO area - using Chrome.

Not sure what it can do? Watch this showreel...


I'm going to have a go at making some when I get a moment.

There is a series of Tutorial videos available in the Tutorials area.

Follow the links down the left hand side for all the relevant information.

I started with the Basics video - narrated by John Bailey I think... This introduces you to the basics of producing an animation: there are two areas to the screen, and you can animate sections to produce a completed video.



The second video explores easing animations, including curving paths and other effects to make your animations nice and smooth.

The final video explores Multi-camera views

Google Earth Studio

Just applied to have an invitation to this new tool for use with Google Earth.
Here's a video which may tell you more...

Google Earth Tour Creator

A new tool from Google, which has been trialled by a few folks. It's the Tour Creator.
Apparently it's easy to make 3D tours from my computer, so let's see...

For an early look, and a link to some examples, Richard Treves has been quick off the mark, and posted here.

Google Earth Tutorial Videos

Worth checking these out, and following on Twitter too...

Want to learn the ins and outs of the new #GoogleEarth? I made this #Youtube playlist of tutorials which can hopefully help! More details are in the descriptions of each video. Cheers! https://t.co/CGi9JJYqsH #EdTechTeam #GEEAB #GETN #WorldGeoChat #EdTech #GoogleEarthOutreach pic.twitter.com/6fXDhc1Rm7

— Donnie Piercey (@mrpiercEy) December 30, 2017

Google Earth Education

Launched in the last day or so: a new set of tools and resources and a rebrand for Google Earth continues, with this new Google Earth Education section.
See the resources and tools here.

More to come when I get the chance to explore in more detail...

New Google Earth

New Google Earth has been released, and there are some good (and not so good) elements. These are my initial thoughts on first look during this week.

It's now optimised for Chrome and also for DESKTOP machines, so won't work on my MacBook Air at the moment, which is a bit annoying... It also won't work on mobile devices. And it won't work on my classroom desktop machine which is an HP - just hangs and tells me it's loaded 0 of billions.... This is a little inconvenient, but at least you can still use older versions such as the Google Earth Pro I've been using for a few years.

It looks good if you can get it to work, and there are plenty of new features - some of which aren't too useful... but some of which will speed up its use: the search function is much improved for example.


The switch from 2D to 3D reveals (in many but not all locations) some interesting 3D renderings of aerial scenes. This was a bit random - switching from 2D to 3D provides a new Ken Burns style rotation, but it's hard to get the view to exactly as you want it, and then it tends to be quite a low level flat view, without the option to see distant landscapes. Having said that, the effect is really very impressive if you go to a location where it's enabled, which is not the whole of the UK yet it seems. Cities work well. Ely is still flat, and has lost other elements too, whereas Norwich and Sheffield work really well.

There are some new stories which have been curated for the new Earth, such as HOME.
The HOME stories are also trailed in the Google Earth extension which I have on Chrome, which shows a new aerial view each time I open a window.
From an article on the launch:

Google Earth’s Gopal Shah said: ‘With the new Earth, we want to open up different lenses for you to see the world and learn a bit about how it all fits together; to open your mind with new stories while giving you a new perspective on the locations and experiences you cherish.

‘It’s everything you love about Google Earth, plus new ways for you to explore, learn and share. Zoom in and see what adventures await you in the new Google Earth.’

I've not tried it with my 3D Space Explorer mouse yet either to see whether that works well.

Update
The Google World Wonders site which I worked on a few years ago also seems to have disappeared... I luckily downloaded all the education packs several years ago, and have then on my Mac.
Also finally worked out by holding down tab and scrolling you can tilt the view...

Does anybody else have any thoughts on the new Google Earth?

Google Earth at the movies...

Five years ago, I came across the story of a man who had found his way home using Google Earth, or at least that was the headline. As a five year old, Saroo Brierley had become separated from his family as a five year old, and ended up being adopted by an Australian couple after travelling across country by train. He was determined to find his way home, and through the use of Google Earth, and his memories, he was able to trace his steps back to the village in India where his family still lived. He'd remembered enough images and landmarks to navigate his way to his home village despite there being so many other similar villages. I blogged about the story, and used it to show the power of Google Earth in some CPD sessions that I ran at the time...

The story has now been made into a film starring Dev Patel, who rose to fame with 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
The film makers worked with Google Earth to ensure the accuracy of the visuals.

There's also a feaurette here, which includes some information on how Saroo used Google Earth to locate his family.

From the descriptions in the interviews, it seems that Saroo had a similar mind-expanding experience when he first downloaded Google Earth as many geographers did - he could see the potential for solving a problem he had had all his life... we could see the potential for opening students' minds to the wonder of the earth. Visit Saroo's site to see some additional videos, including the one that first introduced me to the story.