GOOGLE EARTH RESOURCES FOR GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS

funded project...

Last updated July 2008 - this page now ARCHIVED - see BLOG for more updates

http://googlearthusersguide.blogspot.com

NEW VERSION 4.3 NOW AVAILABLE , plus latest imagery updates and timeline animation feature, and also the new Lines and Polygones and altitude on Overlay features, plus ICON SETS for placemarks. Plus PATHS and POLYGONS.

You can also use CUSTOM ICONS: pictures that have been taken at locations for example, and use these as PLACEMARKS.

As featured on RGS-IBG website, and the Specialist Schools Humanities Update

http://e-learning.geodata.soton.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=15 - KOKAE resources - very good, by Richard Treves and team

GO TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION'S WEBSITE

BACKGROUND TO THIS PAGE

Had some exciting news way back on 17th October 2005. For the second time in three years I was awarded a Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers Innovative Geography Teaching Grant. This is to develop this area of the site, and produce a document in PDF form for downloading and a print version for distribution. This is to be called 'Earth: a User's Guide'

Go to GOOGLE EARTH PAGE for downloading the NEW file and more details.

Google Earth is a VIRTUAL GLOBE. There are others available, notably EARTHBROWSER.

GOOGLE EARTH RESOURCES FOR GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS

Google Earth Sites

NEW for MARCH 2007: Teaching idea from Noel to use with Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights"

Unusual and Interesting

Tips for Classroom Use

1. Get GOOGLE EARTH... It's a quick download if you have Broadband (and a slow download if you haven't...)

2. Update to GOOGLE EARTH PLUS or PRO  (There is a scheme to provide a free PRO license for educational use but due to the tremendous interest in the offer - particularly from the UK - this has been suspended... In the meantime, you can have PRO OR PLUS free for 7 days.

3. Set a group of students the task of identifying key locations (perhaps with the aid of a Pearson Longman student atlas) and saving them for all to use as PLACEMARK FOLDER.

4. Make sure that you download the SIGHTSEEING TOURS from the main GOOGLE EARTH page.

5. Noel Jenkins posted a set of lesson resources relating to the use of GOOGLE EARTH in the classroom on his JUICY GEOGRAPHY site. This now includes a guide to using 3D buildings with GE Plus version, which costs just $20 to download. It involves creating polygons and then extruding them (sounds painful!) using a plug in from a site called SKETCH UP (free as of April 2006)

6. Ollie Bray used Google Earth as a background on which to draw map symbols.

7. Noel Jenkins created an excellent SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE exercise which is very well executed and is worth exploring. It uses various techniques which will become more familiar to teachers over time. Recommended, and has been updated since. Also some other similar activities now produced.

8. GOOGLE EARTH TOURING:  http://www.googletouring.com/create.php A nice idea for a class activity, and which could also be given to a group of students to create. This could be an extension task for those students who have already done idea no. 3 above.

9. The data from GE can be saved as a file with a .KML extension. This allows users to save their data and share the data. There are also people working away to create scripts to post FLICKR images, GEOCACHES and other data. Some of those are listed in the table above. More details on this on the USERS GUIDE page.

10. SCALE: Give the impression of the size of physical and human features by positioning the cursor in the middle of / on the edge of your chosen feature and then set the view slowly scrolling along e.g. how big are cities, how long is a river ?

11. CROSS SECTIONS made easy. A full explanation is available from Tony Cassidy at RADICAL GEOGRAPHY. Saves all that messing around with strips of paper and graph paper. It is a bit fiddly mind..

12. Use the enthusiasm of the students - if they want to use it, let them use it ! They are expanding their Geographical literacy...

Google Earth was mentioned in the Evaluate supplement in the Education Guardian of 12/07/05 - the item mentioned a particular Geography teacher who used it in his lessons...  http://www.ictadvice.org.uk/index.php?section=il&catcode=nwslttr_index&icttypeid=2&icteditionid=15&ictsectionid=&ictsubsectionid=&ictitemid=332

 is a link to an article I wrote for the BECTa ICT ADVICE Newsletter in October 2005 on the subject of GOOGLE EARTH

13. Get a FLICKR account now if you haven't got one, and upload photos (you can download up to 2Gb of photos per month)


There's one key aspect of Google Earth and that is the rapid pace at which it is changing. If you are looking at this page and thinking - 'he hasn't mentioned X' then please e-mail me and tell me about it...

There are now some new files and sites which you will find useful. Check out the SAGT PAGE for more details.

15. Also appear in a GIS booklet produced by the Advisory Group.

16. FUTURE FIELDWORK workshop of the GA SPC at the GA Conference 2007, which featured Google Earth as well as other GIS.

17. Had e-mail (April 2007)  from Mr. P Wilkinson

At Haygrove School in Somerset we have been using Google Earth to help pupils revise their case studies.  Pupils have been writing their own placemark descriptions and we have built up a tour covering some of the case studies.  Pupils find it easier to learn the factual content when they see the information in its locational context.

 Nice work !

Download the KMZ file and check it out... Needs Google Earth

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This site is not affiliated with Google. I just happen to think their products are great, and have enhanced my teaching for several years.

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