Friday, September 21, 2012

Map:Google Earth

Summary

Good. Better. Best. The staff at Google never stops to rest when it comes to their applications. Google Earth 6.2 is the most rich and versatile Google mapping tool yet. What’s better, your personal Google Map can be imported into Google Earth. Google Earth can be downloaded to your desktop and used to view geological features, buildings in 3-D, panoramic photos and more. These images are brought to you using both hi-resolution and low-resolution imagery. Much of what is seen is displayed from satellites; these images may appear pixilated and are not hi-resolution images. However, Google’s panoramic images and users self-submitted photos were most likely taken with hi-definition cameras, they images appear less distorted. These images are seen by operating the application similarly to Google Maps. Users are able to zoom in and out and scroll across the terrain using a mouse. However, in Google Earth, users are also able to “travel” using the ground level view as opposed to a bird’s eye view. In addition, millions of pictures can be viewed by clicking on the Polaroid icons. Hours could be spent exploring your neighborhood, a region you’ve always wanted to travel to, the depths of the ocean, and the wonders of the world (both natural and man-made) that you’ve only every read about or seen on television.
With Google Earth 6.2, users are no longer confined to exploring the far reaches of planet Earth. It is now possible to travel around mars and throughout the solar system.
 
What I Did
            People who have access to my Google Map are able to rate it, comment, and open map with a KWL file in Google Earth. After taking a look at Google Developers page about KWL, I learned that the acronym stands for Keyhole Mark-Up Language which is a file format used for displaying geographical data (to pinpoint locations, overlay images, etc.). Using the KWL file option, while it sounds complicated, was one of the easiest tasks I’ve had to complete yet. With my Google Map open, I clicked “KWL” and…….well, that was it! Google Earth opened automatically and zoomed in to show my place marks. From there, I could use Google Earth as normal or click on the place marks to view my descriptions.
To se the Jing Screencast of my Google Earth map, click here.
  
How I Use It & What I’ve Learned
I have been using Google Earth for several years now and have even worked it into previous lessons. One of my favorite uses for Google is the ocean feature. I have used it in the past to explore the features of the seafloor with my students. Although, I have not used Google Earth since it was last updated (the 6.2 version). I was disappointed to find that the ocean feature, while it had been updated, was less user-friendly than it had been. In the previous version, it was simple to plunge into the ocean and scroll along the ocean floor. The updated version drags the user down to the bottom and has them creep along the bottom by double clicking to move forward. If there is a landform, the user will be walked into it and then moved around it. It is a very tedious process and the landforms are more difficult to define. Unfortunately, I will have to be careful if I choose to do my sea floor lesson again.
Earth Science is my passion, in looking through Google Earth lesson plans in Google for Educators, I found a lesson for a Geological scavenger hunt. It’s the first one on the list in this Google Lesson Plan Library.
 
Standards Reflection
            When teachers engage their students in the use of Google Earth in their classrooms, they are meeting ISTE-NETS-T’s Standard 2 and its components. A typical lesson can be brought to life using Google maps, an interactive tool that encourages students to explore and make discoveries by following their interests. Using the varied features Google Earth offers students can create land marks, videos, measurements, and more to share their knowledge, develop innovative products, and provide evidence of their learning for purposes of assessment.


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