Google Earth: Travel the World (without leaving your classroom)

Google Earth is a 3D model of the entire planet. The free program lets you grab, spin and zoom down into any place on Earth. It’s fun, but the real power of Google Earth is the ability to insert content. Teachers can create interactive lessons with hyperlinks, pictures, and video. See why it made Computer World’s top 10 products of 2006.

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by sbrandt

Google Earth Basics

• Search for your house or school
• Tilting terrain
• Zoom in and out
• Rotate the map
• Move the map left, right, up, or down
• Viewing layers
• Set your "Starting Location"

Marking a Location with Placemarks

• Placemarks work like "bookmarks" for specific locations
• Take a "snapshot" to record the view for each placemark
• A variety of icons can be used to categorize different placemarks (i.e., capitals, attractions, transportation, etc.)

Create a Virtual Tour with Custom Placemarks

• A series of placemarks can be saved in a folder to create a tour
• Placemarks use "bubbles" to provide additional information
  • Download my Placemark Template.kmz 
  • Embed video from one of these sites: TeacherTube, GoogleVideo, Blip.tv 
  • Embed other content like: VoiceThread, SlideShare 
• Placemarks/tours can be saved as (.kmz) files to share with students and colleagues

Measure Distance

• Line tool measures from point A to B
• Path tool measures the distance of each point on a path

Add Content Created by Others

• Add Content from the Google Earth Gallery
• Download Google Earth Tours created by other users

Ideas for the Classroom

• Google for Educators 
• Classroom ideas from Google 
• Google Earth and Discovery Educating Streaming 
• Do you have an iGoogle page? Add this Google Earth Gadget 
• Where are we today? Warm-up activity
• Lang. Arts: Google Lit Trips
• Google Earth Lessons: search by subject 

Additional Resources

•  
  Tip Sheets 
• Quick Guide 
• Graphing Tools 
• Educators... get Google Earth Pro for free!

Google Earth "Mashups"

• Geo Greeting: Create a message with pictures from Google Earth
• Google Maps: See how we shared our summer road trip with family and friends
  • Take a look at the new Street View button
• YourGMap: Created for the intent to share maps/locations
• Study earthquakes? View all the Earthquakes in the Last Week
• Are you a runner? Measure your routes and log your miles with RunningAhead