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Geography 417

Google Earth - Field Assignment - Lab

Background

Students need to know how to make maps and increasingly map-making is a computerized task. Google Earth is probably the most accessible, easy-to-learn map making software available to students and teachers. This program offers a wide range of exciting learning opportunities for students in a media that helps them learn multiple skills, and teachers cover multiple components of the required curriculum all in one exercise.

Teachers also need to know how to make the most out of field trips when they lead them with students. Too often field trips become a wasted day because students are not properly prepared for their field experience. Field trips turn into a noisy ride to a some interesting place, followed by excited wandering around, a sack lunch, a stressful trip through the gift shop and a noisy ride home. How to keep field trips fun without squandering the educational opportunity they present?

One possible tact is to require students to create a sort of "scavenger hunt" in advance of their arrival at the field site. Each student could responsible for creating a question about the field trip location that other students would in turn seek to answer once at the site. Students would have to research the location they are about to visit and from that research, generate questions for other students to seek out during the field experience.

You will create a short "scavenger hunt" of your own that others could use to enrich their visit to a field trip site...or to allow students to "visit" sites in California they could otherwise not because of time and money...or use this for other creative purposes.

CSBE Standard: This exercise addresses in part several of the California State standards for 4th graders. Among them:

4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California.

  1. Explain and use the coordinate grid system of latitude and longitude to determine the absolute locations of places in California and on Earth.
  2. Distinguish between the North and South Poles; the equator and the prime meridian; the tropics; and the hemispheres, using coordinates to plot locations.
  3. Identify the state capital and describe the various regions of California, including how their characteristics and physical environments (e.g., water, landforms, vegetation, climate) affect human activity.
  4. Identify the locations of the Pacific Ocean, rivers, valleys, and mountain passes and explain their effects on the growth of towns.
  5. Use maps, charts, and pictures to describe how communities in California vary in land use, vegetation, wildlife, climate, population density, architecture, services, and transportation.

CSET Standard:This exercise address in part several CSET Skills and Abilities requirements. Specifically covered by this lab are the domains below. Quite a few other standards could be addressed, depending on the manner in which you complete this assignment.

Part II-A. Candidates for Multiple Subject Teaching Credentials utilize chronological and spatial thinking.

Part II-B. Candidates for Multiple Subject Teaching Credentials analyze, interpret and evaluate research evidence in history and the social sciences.

Google Earth - Background

Many, if not most of you, are already familiar with Google Earth. Google Earth is a geographic information and visualization program that superimposes an ever-expanding range of datasets onto a dynamic three dimensional globe. At the core of Google Earth’s functionality is its ability to display a vast array of satellite imagery and aerial photography, allowing users to explore the entire planet—virtually speaking—from their computer.

Help Menu

Downloading Google Earth
If you have not done so already, begin by downloading a copy of Google Earth to your computer. If your computer is more than two or three years old, you may want to have a look at the system requirements before downloading the software. If you are unable or unwilling to get Google Earth running on your computer, you are welcome to use one of the Geography Department’s GIS computer labs. The labs are located on the first floor of Sierra Hall and are available only to students registered in a Geography course. Enter the labs through SH105. The computers here are in Active Directory, so you may log into them by simply entering your campus username and password. You may also check with your instructor about the availability of alternate assignments.

A very short video detailing the download process is available by clicking on this video link.

Using Google Earth
The list of Google Earth’s capabilities grows with every release. A detailed discussion of its functionality is beyond the scope of this lab. If you are totally unfamiliar with the software, or you have limited experience using it, begin by accessing Google’s Online User Guide. It can be found on the help menu. This will get you up to speed on the basics of operating the software, including navigation and adding content. Note that this user guide refers to version 5 and later. Google also provides a series of online tutorials (including videos) for your convenience. Another excellent resource is the Google Earth Blog, which features news and discussions on all things Google Earth. In particular, make sure to check out their Google Earth Basics section; this page contains links to blog articles covering the basic functions of Google Earth. In addition to these resources, there is a wealth of other useful information that may be found online. Don’t be afraid to search the web or even YouTube for more detailed information about specific Google Earth topics.

You may want to watch the video below, if you are unfamiliar with how to navigate in Google Earth.

Explore
Once you have grasped the basics of navigation, I encourage you to spend some time just exploring. You do not need to be a geographer to appreciate all the cool things you can do with this application. Just checking out places that you are familiar with can provide hours of pleasant distraction.

Sharing Content
One of the coolest features of Google Earth is the ability to easily share what you have created with others via .kml files (short for Keyhole Markup Language). You can get a good idea of what’s possible by checking out the user-generated content found at the Google Earth Gallery. You can learn more about how .kml files are structured and what you can do with them by checking out Google’s .kml tutorial. Again, additional content on .kml can be found by doing a simple web search.

Your Task

Your task is to create a virtual field trip in which you create a series of annotated placemarkers in Google Earth that can be used by others who might not be able to visit the place or places you have visited...or haven't visited, but you researched. You are to design these field trips with the general public and/or elementary school students in mind. You are to utilize what you have learned about California's history and geography to construct place markers that connect what visitors see with the historical or geographic significance of what they are visiting in the virtual environment of Google Earth.

To do this, you will create five place markers, presumably all somewhere in California, perhaps a place that you are to about to visit on a field trip, or can't because it's too far away...(you can be creative and invent other options). Your place marker needs some text, could have embedded pictures, video or sound, internet hyperlinks, etc.

The only thing you MUST have in your place marker is at least one question that others visiting this location, or by doing some research, should be able to answer during the visit...or through research conducted about this location through a hyperlink you provide.

Once created, you will put your placemarks in a folder, save your folder and your folder of placemarkers as a .kml file and then send it to your instructor via email or course management software. Check with your instructor for details.

Instructions

Once you have gotten the hang of navigation in Google Earth, you will need to know how to create and edit placemarkers, place them in a folder and send them. The paragraphs below offer step-by-step instructions on this process. You may also want to watch the embedded video below to get a sense of how to complete this assignment.

Step 1. Zoom in on the place you want to put your placemarker. You may want to type the name of the place in the "Fly To" window in the left sidebar. There are a variety of ways to zoom in. It is best if you zoom in very close.

Google Earth Toolbar Image

 

 

The tools found in the Google Earth toolbar allow you to create placemarks, record a tour, view the sky, moon, and planets, and measure distances (among other things).

Step 2. Once you have found the location(s) you want visitors to better understand, then you must click the "pushpin" or "thumbtack" icon on the top tool bar. That will open a dialog window that gives you information about the latitude and longitude of the spot you have chosen, but also allows you to include a description of your place mark.

Step 3. In the box labeled description, you may type interesting facts about the location you are pinpointing on the map. It is in this dialog box that you are to include your question(s) that will prompt visitor learning. This is also where you could provide clues to enable visitors to "do" the scavenger hunt.

Note that once you have created a placemarker you can further refine its characteristics by accessing the “Edit Placemark” dialog box .Refer to Google’s Online User Guide for detailed instructions on how to create placemarkers and subsequently edit them, including adding descriptive text.

Among the various options you can apply from the “Edit Placemark” dialog box is setting the viewing angle. Make sure you set an interesting viewing angle for at least some of your placemarkers, especially if there are located in hilly or mountainous terrain (note: make sure the Terrain option is turned ON in the Layers Panel).


Advanced Options for Extra Credit
The “description box” is capable of handing basic HTML tags. This means that you can build in web URLs, stylized fonts, and even images (stored either locally or online). This capability enables you to design a far more dynamic presentation than simply entering unformatted text. See the Writing Descriptions portion of the Online User Guide for more information.

The easiest way to learn how to add HTML is to copy what somebody else has done, but just erase their information and replace it with your own. Luckily, I have already done this for you. Below are a couple of links to a couple of files that you can copy and paste into your own word processor document, edit and then copy back into the box where you want your placemark description.

  1. Google Earth placemarker description template in Microsoft Word format for you to download and modify.
  2. Google Earth placemarker description template in Adobe .pdf format with instructions for you to view.
  3. Google Earth placemarker description template in .jpeg picture format with instruction for you to view.

Save Your .kml File
Once you have completed placing and editing your locations, save them as a .kml document and title it with your last name (i.e. smith.kml). You can do this by simply selecting the folder in which you have saved your placemarkers, and then choosing Save>Save Place As from the File Menu. Make sure to test your .kml file for problems before submitting it. [Note that the standard version of Google Earth also allows the user to save static scenes as .jpg images by choosing Save>Save Image… from the File Menu; this option can be extremely useful for creating quick, professional-looking 3D scenes for class projects and PowerPoint presentations].

Submit
Turn this .kml document into your instructor via email or by the course management software required by the instructor.

Rubric

Your score on this assignment will be generated by the following rubric. A total of 20 points are possible on this assignment.

  1. The student created five placemarkers using Google Earth (0 -5 points).
  2. The five pop-up balloons associated with the placemarkers each have a paragraph useful information about the location/site (0-5 points).
  3. The five pop-up balloons associated with the placemarkers each have a question that prompts visitors to seek an answer at the site or through research (0-5 points).
  4. The overall presentation should be useful to visitors, has no significant grammatical problems, looks good, etc. (0-5 points).
  5. Extra credit can be an additional five points to the total and will be granted to students who include additional audio and/or visual components to their placemarks. Other inventive or creative applications may also be eligible for bonus points.

Tutorial Video

Watch a video tutorial demonstrating how to do this lab, plus how to do the extra credit portion.

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