Earth: A Users Guide - a project funded by RGS-IBG

Here is an edited version of the original PROPOSAL which I sent in (slightly edited to remove personal details...) - this may help those people who want to send in an application for the 2008 awards. Go to the SAGT06 page to see my PRESENTATION details, and Download a PDF version of the WORKBOOK (54 Kb)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I will use this space for thanking people who have offered assistance in various ways to this project. They will also receive a mention in the final document.

Greg Dow, Judith Mansell and all at the RGS-IBG for their support of the project

Noel Jenkins for helping with ideas for GOOGLE EARTH

Tony Cassidy for further GOOGLE EARTH ideas, plus Tom Biebrach, Rob Chambers, and Ollie Bray.

Frank Taylor - for his excellent work at producing the GEARTH BLOG which is the key resource for classroom ideas and new developments from my perspective.

Dennis Reinhardt for a good exchange of e-mails which ended up with the granting of a year's license for Google Earth Pro and also the 3 premium modules. These included the MOVIE MAKER module, although my laptop was a little under-powered to make full use of this.

All members of the Google Earth community who supply such inspiring ideas and suggestions at the Keyhole Bulletin Board.

Mike Douglass and colleagues at King Edward VII School for their support in development of ideas and personal CPD and enthusiastic use of ICT (as well as time out of school)

Members of the SLN Forum community.

KEYBOARD / MOUSE SHORTCUTS

F11 - View Full Screen (removes the side bar and bottom bar to allow you to appreciate the imagery) - this requires you to use the keyboard to control the navigation, but you get a much better experience without the side bars.

F10 - Plays a Tour: moves between 2 or more Placemarks

The actual movement will vary a little depending on which laptop you use. Mine involves the Fn key in there too as well. The key keys are the cursor (arrow) keys, and the CTRL and SHIFT, plus various others...

MAKING OVERLAYS & NETWORK CHANGES

A key aspect of the use of Google Earth is the production of overlays. These are added by a fairly simple technique, which I shall add to the USERS GUIDE page shortly.

OTHER CHANGES

At the top of the page is the TOOLS button, and the menu has an OPTIONS option.

This allows you to do some rather interesting things which would help make a point in certain locations. For example, you can alter the VERTICAL EXAGGERATION on the relief from the default of 1 - increase the number and slopes get steeper. Remember to put it back to 1 before you go to the Himalayas though... The maximum that it can go to is 3, so don't try higher.

Use the MOUSE SCROLL wheel and PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN keys to zoom in and out...

An idea for putting placemarks in order in a folder. These need a bit of organisation once they are placed in, so that they come in the order that you want them to. It's also a good idea to start (and finish) with a placemark on your own school, so that you can go to the area first and show the students where it is in relation to their home.

Go to Google Earth TOOLS tab and change the settings for the TOURS. Make sure that you have a decent PAUSE at each placemark, and make sure that the journey is not too fast or slow.

Slow the tour down, and increase the PAUSE time so that you have chance to talk about the next stop on the tour before it moves on. You could also provide a caption, which can even be tethered to a location and float above it.

•It’s possible to run a Google Earth file from within PowerPoint. I use Office XP, so the procedure could be different on other versions, but is quite straight forward.
Save a Google Earth .kmz file on your computer and insert it as an object. When the Insert Object dialogue pops up choose Create From File and browse for the selected file. In PowerPoint, right click the new object and choose Action Settings. In the new dialogue, select Object Action and Activate Contents. Finally you might want to improve the visual appeal of the Object, which can be done using Format Object.

Tip by Noel Jenkins

From the Sightseer: Geotagging Photos with Google Earth and Picasa

Picasa is free software from Google for finding, organizing, editing and sharing photos on your PC. Now, starting with version 2.5, Picasa allows you to use Google Earth to quickly locate (or geotag) the place your photos were taken. You can then create a map in Google Earth to share your photos with your friends. The process is really simple. Once you have your photos in Picasa, simply select a group of photos you want to locate. Then choose the "Tools ->Geotag with Google Earth" option. Google Earth will open and a small window with thumbnails of your photos appears. Find the location where the photo was taken in Google Earth using search, or by moving to it with your mouse. Zoom in as close as you need to identify the location. Finally, select the "Geotag" button. You can also select a group of photos taken at the same location and choose the "Geotag All" option. The location information is stored in a standardized fashion in the photo file itself.

You can then use Picasa to generate a Google Earth file with snapshots of your photo as a map by choosing "Tools->Geotag->Export to Google Earth". If you choose "Tools->Geotag->View in Google Earth" and your geotagged photos will automatically appear when you look at their respective locations. And if you need a place to store and host your photos online, try Picasa Web Albums.