Ideas to Explore

Using Google Earth is a powerful way to connect learning and experiences with places on our amazing planet. We will star gaze, fly to the moon and even take a dip into the ocean from the comfort of our seats. Come and see how Google Earth can be used in your classrooms to make learning more meaningful through the use of images, audio, video and the web. Alternatives to Google Earth will be briefly discussed if not available at your school.

Geography as an universal infomation tool

Google Earth Activity

1. Navigating Earth
2. Using Layers
3. Saving Placemarks
   1. Create a home placemark - your reset button
4. Flying to Sky, Moon, Ocean & Mars
5. Finding, saving and using Tours
   1. Earth - Geosights of Utah, Crisis in  Darfur Layer, California Academy of Sciences Ocean Exhibits Quiz
   2. Sky - Where is Hubble
   3. Moon - Moonbase Alpha
   4. Ocean - 3C Oceans Model Tour
6. Other Map Resources and Programs
   1. Community Walk - Create tour in Community Walk and import into Google Earth (to help w/bandwidth issues)
   2. See more examples below
7. Exploration of Resources

Google Earth Help and Tips

• Getting Started Guide
• Google Earth User Guide
• 23 interesting ways to use Google Earth in the classroom
• Google Tools for schools boot camp: Google Earth
• How to teach with Google Earth
• Google Earth Blog (Unofficial Earth blog)
• Google for Teachers - Geo Education Home
• Using Google Earth in the math curriculum

Google Earth Tours and Lessons (to download)

Earth

• Google Lit Trips - Teaching literature using Google Earth
• Google Earth Gallery - Tours shared on Google Earth website
• Google Siteseeing - Take a tour of weird and wonderful sites in Google Earth
• U.S. Geological Survey
  • Display real-time streamgages
  • Latest Earthquakes
  • Other Earth files
• Juicy Geography Earth Lessons
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Available under the Global Awareness layer
• Google Earth Geocache Browser - Must be a member of http://www.geocaching.com
• Geography Awareness Week 2009

Ocean

• 3D ocean models tour
• Google Sketchup Ocean Layers Collection
• Google Earth Ocean Gallery

 Sky

• Google Earth Sky Gallery
• Sky Goodies

Google Earth Tools and Mashups

• http://www.earthalbum.com/ - A mashup of Flickr and Google Maps
• http://www.geogreeting.com/main.html - Create a message using Earth satellite imagery
• http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer - EarthExplorer - U.S. Geological Survey
• http://flickrvision.com - View Flickr photos on a moving map
• http://www.ushmm.org/maps - Interactive maps of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Mapping Initiative
• http://earth-api-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/demos/milktruck/index.html - The Monster Milk Truck
• http://www.henryhudson400.com - Henry Hudson's legendary voyage for the Dutch to the Hudson River and New York
• http://www.davidrumsey.com - Historical maps overlaid on Google Maps

Google Earth Videos

• Visit the Google YouTube channel for other videos

Other Map Exploration

• Google
  • Google Maps - http://maps.google.com
  • Google Sky - http://www.google.com/sky
  • Google Moon - http://www.google.com/moon
  • Google Mars - http://www.google.com/mars
• Bing Maps - http://www.bing.com/maps/ - Works only in Internet Explorer
• Flash Earth - http://www.flashearth.com -View satellite & aerial imagery of the Earth from multiple mapping websites inside a single flash-based interface
• Map Builder http://www.mapbuilder.net - Based on Google Maps and Yahoo Maps
• http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/index.html - World Wind - NASA (program download) - Available for Windows only
• Community Walk - http://www.communitywalk.com - Create a map with placemarkers and download into Google Earth - Does not require an account to create a map