Introduction to Google Earth

Google Earth is a free, downloadable program that combines satellite images, maps, and terrain to create a 3D virtual model of the world.

You can search for specific locations in Google Earth and create your own virtual tours.  Other options to explore are content developed by NASA, Discovery Education, National Geographic Magazine and more!To get started you need to download and install the latest version of Google Earth from http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html.  Google Earth is available for PC, Mac or Linux computers.

When you first open Google Earth you will see a large globe of the world. You can “fly to” any place by typing the name of the location into the search bar and then press enter.  Google Earth will rotate the globe to the location and zoom in.

Move your cursor over right corner of your screen to use the navigation controls.  Here you can tilt the view, move around, or zoom closer to view your location or better view the geography. There are also many keyboard controls for navigating Google Earth (for example Ctrl+Up=tilt up or try holding down Shift and use scroll wheel on mouse).  Another option to better see variations in geography is to go to Tools > Options and the 3D View Tab – change the “Elevation Exaggeration” to 2.

Saving Locations

Use the Places panel to save and organize places that you visit, addresses, or natural features by zooming in on your location and clicking the Placemark icon on the toolbar menu.  You can then name the placemark, write a description and choose a position and altitude for the placemarker icon.  To permanently save this point of interest to the My Places folder, right-click on the placemark in the viewer and select Save to My Places. You can also share placemarkers with others on the Google Earth Community BBS website at http://bbs.keyhole.com/.

You can tour items in your Places listing by selecting the check box next to items you want to tour and clicking on the Play Tour button at the bottom of the Places panel. The tour begins playing in the 3D viewer, which flies to each location and stops for a period of time before flying to the next place in the list.

Exploring Content

The Layers feature in Google Earth provides a variety of points of interest that you can select to display over the map.  Layers content is created by Google (or its partners) and can be turned on or off by checking or unchecking various layers in the Layers Panel.  You can spend hours learning about the world by exploring this information.

• Turn on the Borders and Labels layer to see outlines of countries and names of locations.
• Turn on the Terrain layer to show 3D elevation of your current view. Elevation is limited to natural geographic features, like mountains and canyons, and does not apply to buildings.
• In the Ancient Rome 3D layer, you can fly into Rome as it looked in 320 A.D. and tour famous buildings. You can visit sites such as the Roman Forum, Colosseum and the Forum of Julius Caesar.
• In the Rumsey Historical Maps layer, you can view overlays of maps from historic period that represent the cartographic art of that time period.  Some of the maps fit perfectly in Google earth while others reveal interesting geographical misconceptions of their time period.
• Turn on Panoramio images in the Geographic Web layer to see photos from all around the world.  Panoramio community members share their photos of travel locations and Google Earth selects images to embed in this layer.
• Interacting with the various layers in Google Earth is fun and educational.  Check out 360 Cities, 3D Buildings, and National Geographic Magazine.  Remember to zoom in on a region to see if an icon appears.

KML and KMZ files

KML (Keyhole Markup Language) and KMZ (Keyhole Markup Zipped) is a file format used for modeling and storing geographic features in Google Earth.  You can use these files to share places and information with other users.  You can find interesting features and places on the Google Earth Community website or search for KML/KMZ files by “file type” in Google’s Advanced Search.

• A KMZ file from Sacred Destinations can be downloaded from their website so you can explore interesting religious places in the world  (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/earth/world.kmz)
• This KMZ file was created by Dale Witte to show the location of the 12 Tribes of Israel. (http://witte.dale.googlepages.com/12TribesofIsrael.kmz)

*Google Earth 5.0 required to view KML and KMZ files

Google Earth User Guide: A listing of topics to learn Google Earth basics – navigating the globe, searching, printing, and more.  (http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_toc.html)

Google Earth Community BBS website is a forum to find KML & KMZ files, ask questions, read about Google Earth features and more.  -  http://bbs.keyhole.com/.

• Example:  Explore the California Missions and see lesson ideas and find additional web resources.  (http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=99414&filename=211362-MG_California_Missions.kmz)

The Google 3D Warehouse -  A free, online repository where you can find, and share 3D models that can be viewed in Google Earth. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

• Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square in Vatican City
• Herold’s Temple
• Egypt’s Wonders and Monuments

Google Lat Long Blog – Official Google blog with news and notes about Google Earth and Maps team – http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/

The Google Earth Blog – Stay up to date on new features of Google Earth – http://www.gearthblog.com/

• Bible Geocoding: The location of every identifiable place mentioned in the Bible arranged by book and by chapter. http://www.openbible.info/geo/

• Sacred Places for Google Earth: Explore some of the most beautiful and interesting religious places in the world. Each placemark includes a photo, a short description, and links to articles and photo galleries from the Sacred Destinations website.  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/earth/download.htm

• Using Google Earth in Religion Class:  An excellent site created by teacher, Dale Witte, with examples of how he uses Google Earth is Religion class.  http://witte.dale.googlepages.com/home

• Other curriculum ideas can be found at Google Earth Lessons, these are lessons made by Teachers, for teachers! – http://gelessons.com/lessons/
• Google Lit Trips can take your students to the setting of a book and make the story come more alive with the pictures and resources available with the placemarkers.
• Maps show the westward explorations of Lewis and Clark. The placemarkers take you to the lewis-clark.org website for more information.
• Find out about the Crisis in Darfur or track the US Unemployment Rates at the Google Earth Outreach website. Look here for other Google Earth files from community and environmental action groups.
• Map the Fallen: Google Earth mashup of the 5,700+ American & Coalition members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Use the measurement tool for Real World Math Lessons with Google Earth
• Study the effect of Global Warming with this lesson from David R. Wetzel.
• Explore Google Earth and clean watersheds at http://cleanwatersheds.wikispaces.com/
• Resources from the Queen of all things Google Earth, Cindy Lane at http://googleearthgoods.pbworks.com/
• Another Google Earth Guru, Joe Wood, has tons of resources on his wiki at http://joewoodonline.pbworks.com/Google+Earth+in+the+Classroom
• Just for fun check out the Top 10 Google Earth Games or send a GeoGreeting.   Have your message spelled out with buildings found in GoogleEarth.