My MACUL 2010 Experience – Thursday Google Earth Workshop

Google Earth (GE) is basically a geographic browser, much like Internet Explorer is an information browser (I like this analogy). Because computers have IP addresses and can be located, basically anything that is posted to the Internet has a geographic location…find the IP address, find the information source (a bit scary if you over think it). Aiden (the presenter from Google), showed us tips on using the navigational tool bar…the biggie is if you press the “r” key GE will reorient your view to directly above your map position, with north in the upward position. I learned that you can actually zoom below the ocean and see the terrain on the ocean floor. And you can “record” as you build your map/journey/tour, etc. and play it back in sequence. This would be a great feature to evaluate the logical nature (or lack thereof) of student work. The presenter was great, but the wireless connection was terrible; we ended the session watching as Aiden demonstrated…so much for “hands-on”!

NOTE: You can find speaker handout material at: http://macul.org/conferences/2010maculconference/attendees/speakerhandoutmaterial/