Advanced Google Earth

Advanced Google Earth Creating Curricular Materials and Adding Custom Placemarks

Building Placemarks • Creates Innovative Lessons • Advanced placemarks allows the addition of information and graphic to placemarks. • Descriptions • Images • Video links • Hyperlinks

Advanced Placemarks • Ask question that students need to answer. • Turn lessons into inquiry • Motivate students • Use emerging technologies • Be creative

A few reminders • Most of the images in Google Earth are taken by low flying planes. • Zoom to the desired appearance before placing your placemark.

Adding Placemarks • From task bar, select the pushpin icon • A window will open to permit information to be added

Adding information to the Placemark • Give the placemark a name • The coordinates are given • Add a description • Click on the Style/Color tab and make selection • Altitude tab allows placement to be at a given altitude above the ground.

Change the icon appearance • Select the icon beside the title box • Select the icon of choice or import a custom icon.

Editing information in the balloon description • To add/edit information in a balloon • Right click • Select properties • Add information in the description area • If only text is entered, the formatting will not change. • Once the first piece of html is added, all the formatting is lost.

USING HTML • The addition of formatting in the html code uses “tags” • Tags begin with a “<“ and end with a “>” symbol. • There will be instructions placed between the < and > symbols. • The instructions must also tell when to end that formatting. This is performed by using </instruction>. • Example: Dr. Archie Bone will bold only the words Dr. Archie Bone.

A Few Basic Formatting Codes • This is for a paragraph and is really a double enter – double spacing. • This is a Break or a single space • Bold for bolding information • Underline for underlining information • italizing

More Code • To bold and underline • The order does not matter; however the order must be reserved to close the command Example: America This text is said to be nested. The resulting text will look like America

Adding a link to Internet • The anchor tag is used to add a link to Internet. • Represented by <a>. It must be closed by using </a> • <a href=“ url”</a> • There is a space between a and href. There is no space before the end tag. • Tinyurl.com • HTML code chart

hyperlink

Bring in images • Locally from computer • Images from your camera • Short videos from your camera • Link to a web address • Images from your Internet • Short videos from the Internet

Bring in images • HTML code is needed by a recipe can be followed! • An image tag is written • Pathway on local computer • <img src=“image location” > • There must be a space between “ and > • Locate the image on your computer, right click, go to properties, copy path, add the image name and extension Example: <img scr=“C:\Documents and Settings\coleyj.JCTC\My Documents\cow.jpg” >

More on images • The width of the image may be limited by using the following code: • <img scr=“C:\Documents and Settings\coleyj.JCTC\My Documents\cow.jpg”, width=300 > • There is a space before width= • 300 pix is a good setting for an image in a balloon. • The balloon may be saved as a .klm file and shared with others.

Image code

What is a .kml file? • The curriculum piece in Google earth will be saved as a .kmz file. This nothing more than a zip file. • Individual information such as a ballon will be saved as a .kml file. • To save a ballon • Right click • Save as • .klm

Other formatting changes for placemarks • Font color • or • To assure that the same color shows on all computers, use the color number (RGB color Values) • Font size • text here • X = Font size and may be from 1 (smallest) to 7 (largest) • Background color for the balloon • This MUST be the first entry in the ballon. • <body bgcolor=yellow>

Question? Let’s Start Creating!

Advanced Google Earth