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Google Earth. An Introduction to the Program and Resources for Educators. Google Earth Overview. Provides a way to explore the world without leaving your computer Free software Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac Easy to use
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Google Earth An Introduction to the Program and Resources for Educators
Google Earth Overview • Provides a way to explore the world without leaving your computer • Free software • Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac • Easy to use • Google Earth Pro also available, which has a few additional features such as importing GIS data
Google Earth Overview • Initially provided mainly satellite imagery of land • Has greatly expanded datasets over time • Photos, 3D Buildings, Ocean Data, Weather Data, etc. • Resources available to help educators use Google Earth in the classroom
Google Earth Demo – Basic • Basic Features • View from Machu Picchu • Built-In Weather Layers • Clouds • Gallery • Tsunami Wave Height
Image Overlays and KML • Users can add their own images to Google Earth • Ability to accurately geolocate where objects are placed, including satellite imagery • Using KML files users can share data
Sharing Data with KML • KML follows an XML schema that defines what the tags in a document mean • Using those tags, users can insert a multitude of types of data into Google Earth • Sharing the data is a easy as a user downloading a KML or KMZ file and opening it with Google Earth • Issues with large image files • Loading speed • Quality can be degraded depending on video card
Tiling or “Super-Overlays” Cut original hi-res image into four “tiles” Resample hi-res original to make file size smaller Google Earth only downloads tiles in current view, reducing necessary data transfer Air Mass Product starts as 4096 x 4096 pixel image Tile size set at 256 x 256 pixels (for small file size), and create 5 separate zoom levels of tiles 341 image tiles in total per original image, each resampled to 256 x 256 pixels
Time Dimension • KML 2.2 standard (released May 2008) added a time dimension • Provides the ability to loop images as you would with most satellite data • Can be combined with tiling to create user-controlled zooming of image loops
Google Earth Demo – Advanced • SSEC MODIS Data • http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/ • RAMMB Real-Time Products • http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/products/google_earth/ • NWS Southern Region Headquarters • http://www.srh.noaa.gov/gis/kml/ • WDSS-II Data Bundle • http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/?r=products • University of Illinois • http://www.atmos.illinois.edu/weather/google_earth.shtml
Resources for Educators • Easy to use in the classroom, as well as for students at home or in a computer lab • Visually interesting way to look at many types of data • Finding interesting KML files • Search for “filetype:kmlsearch_terms” in Google • User Guide • http://earth.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide_toc.cs • Educator resources available, including Teacher to Teacher forum for sharing lesson plan ideas, etc. • http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/