Home Technical Services  |  Student Information Services  |  Technology Integration Services Technology Plan Campus Login Campus Assistance EDP Attendance Viewpoint Email Custom Websites Educational Technology News Information Technology Policies 651-603-HELP (4357) www.spps.org Site Map Contact Information MyPortal Home > Technology Integration Services > Programs and Projects > Technology Integration Initiatives > Previous Technology Integration Initiatives > Teacher > Teacher Tools > Coaching > Tech Integration Courses  Print View Tech Integration: Research and Information Fluency: Google Earth in the Classroom Tech Integ:  Google Earth for the Classroom   Getting Started   Download and Install Google Earth   Go to http://earth.google.com   Click on the Download button   This will load a file with a .dmg extension onto your desktop   Double click on the .dmg file   Click "agree" and this will mount the drive on your computer   Drag the Google Earth icon to your Applications folder   Drag the Google Earth icon from the Applications folder to the Dock   Launch Google Earth -- double click on the Google Earth icon (wait for the file to initialize and the 3D Earth to move to the front - a tip of the day may appear on top of the Earth, close it after the Earth has finished moving to the front)   Navigation Features  - Version 4.3   Look Joystick in the upper right corner.  Use this to look around from a single vantage point -- much as you would turn your head to look around.   Click on an arrow to look in a specific direction   Move the mouse around the joystick to change the direction   Click on the "N" button on the joystick or on your keyboard to return to a North up direction   Pan or Move   Move Joystick -- this allows you to move your position from one place to another   Click on an arrow to look in that direction   Continue to press down on the mouse button to change your view   After clicking on an arrow, move the mouse around the joystick to change direction   Mouse Navigation   Click on the screen until you get a hand icon and then drag in the direction you want to move   Zoom   Zoom Slider -- this allows you to zoom in or zoom out on a location   Click on an icon on either end of the zoom slider to zoom in (+) or zoom out (-)   Move the slider bar toward the "+" or "-" sign to zoom in or out   As you move closer to ground level, the view will tilt to change your viewing angle to be parallel to the Earth's surface (NEW in 4.3)   To turn off the tilt feature on a Mac -- Google Earth > Preferences > Navigation > Navigation Controls   To turn off the tilt feature on a PC -- Tools > Options > Navigation > Navigation Controls   Mouse Navigation   Double click on a place on the screen and it will zoom in; click once on the screen and it will stop the zoom   Using a USB mouse, right click and you will get a double arrow icon   Drag up to zoom out (push mouse away from you)   Drag down to zoom in (pull mouse toward you)   Sun -- this allows you to create a time-lapse view of the location from sunrise to sunset   Click on the sun button on the tool bar across the top   Slide the button toward one end of the bar or the other   Press the "play" button in the Places panel to watch the time-lapse view   Google Maps   Click on the Map icon in the toolbar to view your selected location in Google Maps   Google Sky   Click on the planet icon in the toolbar to view the sky above your selected location   View constellations   View the solar system and the movement of planets   Zoom in on distant galaxies and Nebula   View high resolution images taken from reputable scientific sources   Add and view layers provided by scientific sources -- Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, etc.   Sidebar Panels -- expand panels by clicking on the arrow to the left of the title.   Search Panel   Fly To -- type in an address and Google Earth will fly to the location.   Type in "1930 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN"   Click on the "Begin Search" button to the right of the address bar.   Formats for Searching   City, State -- St. Paul, MN   City Country -- Lisbon Portugal   Number Street City State -- 1930 Como Ave. St. Paul MN   Zip Code or Postal Code   Latitude, Longitude in Decimal Format -- 37.7, -122.2  (must list latitude first, longitude second)   Latitude, Longitude in DMS format -- 37 25 19.07N, 122 05 06.24W   Unrecognizable Search Terms   Minor City names in many countries   State or Province names alone (Minnesota)   Find Businesses -- type in an address, select the Businesses tab, and type in the type of business you are searching for.  Google searches are integrated into Google Earth.   Select the "Find Business" tab,   Type "restaurant" in the What box   Select the current view, type the address,  a zip code, or an airport code..  Type "1930 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN"   Click on the "Begin search" button   Click on one of the placemark icons on the page to see the address, phone number, and ratings.   Directions   Type the start address in the "From" box   Type the end address in the "To" box   Click "Begin Search" button.   The driving directions will be displayed in the search panel.   The route will be plotted on the 3D Google Earth map.   If you hit the "Play" button, the tour will fly over the route on the 3D Google Earth map.   Places Panel   My Places -- any of your saved searches will appear in the "My Places" folder. Hint:  The more places you save into this location, the longer it will take to load Google Earth and stream locations.  Any kmz or kml files you download should be saved on your computer and not in Google Earth.  Create a folder on your desktop and save all KMZ files in one location.   Temporary Places -- any kmz or kml files you drag into the "Places" section, will by default go into the "Temporary Places" folder unless you save them. When you close Google Earth, if you have any files in the Temporary Place folder, you will be prompted to save them.   Sightseeing Folder -- Select the Sightseeing Folder   Click the "Play" button and go on a sightseeing trip around the world to a variety of places of interest -- Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower, etc.   Open the Sightseeing Folder and select a single location -- "Grand Canyon".  After the window finishes flying to the location, zoom in, tilt the screen, and examine the terrain of the Grand Canyon.   Layers Panel -- provides a variety of data points of geographic interest that you can select to display over your viewing area.  This includes Points of Interest (POI), as well as map, road, terrain, and building data. Featured content also includes pictures in Panaramio, Wikipedia articles, and National Geographic magazine links.   Geographic Web -- Add National Geographic, Panaramio (pictures added by people from around the world), Google Earth Community,  and Wikipedia   Roads -- if you want to see street names, keep the "Roads" box checked at all times.   Zoom in on Ramsey county. Select the "More" feature, "U.S. Government", and "Postal Codes".  You should now be able to see all of the different zip codes within Ramsey county.   Deselect the "Postal Codes," "US Government", and "More" features.   Select "Places  of Interest" and click on "Schools".  School icons should appear on your map.  Scroll over a school icon to see the name of a school.  Zoom in closer and more school names will appear.   3D Buildings -- when this layer is enabled, you can zoom in on a city and see 3D replicas of the buildings within the city   Streetview -- currently only available in the United States -- in locations where Google has photographed the city by driving up and down the street with a camera that rotates 360degrees.   Gold camera icon just above street level indicates that Streetview is an option   Zoom down to streetlevel until you see a sphere (looks like a bubble).  Click on the sphere and it will open a dialog box with a picture.  Click on the picture to enter Streetview.   To navigate in Streetview, move the small white rectangle inside of the picture in the upper right corner of the screen.  This will allow you to turn around and view your surroundings.   To view other locations on the street, double-click on the next sphere and it will take you into that photograph.   Slide the transparency slider in the Places panel to the left to  see the 3D view of buildings.  Slide it to the right to see the photograph of the buildings.   To exit Streetview, click on the "Exit Streetview" box in the upper right corner of the 3D viewing pane.   Borders and Labels -- enable this layer to see country names, international borders, coastlines, and islands   1st Level Admin Borders = States and Provinces   2nd Level Admin Borders = Counties   Weather  -- cloud coverage, radar, and forecast information is provided by weather.com   Enable clouds to view the effects of cloud cover on the location you have selected in Google Earth   Click on Information to open a dialog box that will allow you to download  a 24-hour cloud coverage animation or 6-hour radar animation   Gallery -- enable materials and links to information from National Geographic, New York Times, NASA, European Space Agency, YouTube, or Gigapixl photos   Global Awareness -- link to a variety of material that is meant to raise awareness on a variety of topics of international interest including EarthWatch, Jane Gooddall, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, or UNICEF   Places of Interest -- this area allows you to find dining, banking, emergency services, schools,  parks, and a wide array of other places of interest within a community.    More -- enable this layer and various sub-layers to locate city borders, zip or postal code boundaries, U.S. Congressional Districts, School Districts, or U.S. Senators   Terrain -- enable this layer to get a better view of the terrain in a specific location.  For example, locate the Grand Canyon and zoom in.  Look at the view.  Then, enable "Terrain" and see how the view changes.  This is a good layer to use when you are examining places with significant changes in elevation, such as mountains, canyons, etc.   Saving Locations, Adding Placemarks, Creating a Tour   Saving Locations   Find a location and right click (control click on a Mac) on a location   Select "Save to My Places"   If you click on the triangle to the left of "Places," you will notice that the place has been saved.   Adding Placemarks   Click the "Add Placemark" icon (pushpin) and a dialog box will appear   Drag the icon to the desired location (the latitude and longitude will change in the box)   Name the Placemark   Write a description   You can change the color and opacity of the placemark icon and the altitude (attach to the ground)   Click "OK" to save your placemark, description, and other features.   Saving Placemarks   Select "My Places"   Right-click (control click on Mac) and select "Add Folder"   Enter Folder Name   Click "OK"   Drag the placemark into the folder   Creating a Tour   Create  and name a folder in "My Places"   Add placemarks to the folder   Arrange the placemarks within the folder by dragging them into the correct order for the tour   To save as a kmz file which can be played in Google Earth, select the folder, right-click / Control-click, select "Save As", name the tour, and save to your Desktop   Finding and Using kmz Files    Finding kmz files -- Be sure to preview any kmz files before using them with your students.   In GE version 4.2 and later, click on the "Add Content" button.  This will open the Google Earth Gallery in a browser window and allow you to search for kmz files that have been created by others.  You can search the gallery by featured, popular, educational, travel, fun, or sky.   Search any of the resources listed at the end of this lesson for kmz files that have been created by others   Downloading kmz files - You can save these in "My Places" in the Places panel, however, it will slow down your load and stream time.   Click the button that says "Open in Google Earth"   The kmz file will download to your desktop   Create a folder to store all of your kmz files and create sub-folders to organize these files by topic / subject matter.   Playing kmz files   Click on "File" > "Open"> find the name of the desired kmz file on your desktop or in your documents folder > Click on the file > Click "Open" and the file will be opened in your "Temporary Places" folder.  These files can then be dragged into any area in the "My Places" folder.  If you leave it in "Temporary Places," the file will be deleted when you quit Google Earth, however, you will be prompted about saving the file before GE closes. Click on the "Play" button.   Another option is to grab the kmz file from your desktop or folder and drag and drop it in "My Places" or "Temporary Places" and then click the "Play" button.   Advanced Tools in Google Earth   Adding Image Overlays   Find your location   Click on the Image Overlay icon   Name the image   Find the image -- click on "Browse" and search your files (iPhoto library;  remember to use Safari as your browser to collect images - place your cursor on the image, control-click and select "Add to iPhoto Library")for the image you want to add.  Select the image and click "Open."   Resize image to cover your location -- place your cursor over the corners of the green frame around the image until you see a double arrow and move the corner in the desired direction.   Select the level of opacity for your image.   Click "OK"   Measuring Distances - Click on the Ruler in the tool bar   Line  -- select the Line tab in the dialog box   Select measurement type (miles / km, etc.)   Click on any two points to measure a distance   To start over, click "Clear" and select another two points   Path -- select the Path tab in the dialog box   Select the measurement type (miles / km, etc.)   Click on your starting point   Click on each point where you would make a turn, and keep clicking at turn locations until you have reached the end of your path   The distance will be displayed in the measurement box within the dialog box   Creating a Path   Select the Path tool and name the path   Start clicking on points to create your path, and click "OK" when finished.   In Places, select the path and press "Play" -- GE will do a flying tour using this path   Printing   Select the print icon in the tool bar   Select the type of view you want to print -- Graphic View of 3D View (works best) and Screen   Click "Print"   If you are unable to print, you can create a PDF of this view by selecting the PDF button and click on "Save as PDF".  Then, name it and save it to your desktop to print or email as an attachment at a later time.   Email -- this feature doesn't currently work  with a Mac unless you use OSX Mail, Entourage, or Eudora as your email   Option to get around this -- select "Print" option and create a PDF file of the image and save it to your desktop.  Then, open your Lotus Notes account and send an email and include the image as an attachment.   Setting Preferences in Google Earth   3D View -- detail area; label / icon size; show latitude and longitude - select format; elevation; terrain quality; map size; zoom relation; default settings   Touring -- set fly-to speed; tour speed; tour pause; play tour; show balloon when tour is paused (name of placemark and details you entered)   Navigation -- mouse speed   Google Earth Resources   Help   Google Earth Help -- - offers a user guide; help center website; video tutorials; link to the Google Earth Community   Atomic Learning offers video tutorials on Google Earth   Google Earth Blog also offers various tips and help including videos the blogger has posted to YouTube   Online Resources   Google Earth Community -- http://bbs.keyhole.com/entrance.php   Google Earth Blog --http://gearthblog.com   Google Earth Lessons -- http://gelessons.com/lessons/   Juicy Geography -- http://juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm   Google Sightseeing -- http://googlesightseeing.com/   Scholastic & Google - http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/exploreyourearth/   Google Earth & Discovery Education (unitedstreaming) -- http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth_discovery.html   Google Lit Trips -- http://googlelittrips.org Back to Top  NavigationToolsGE43_2.pdf   Navigation Tools in Google Earth 4.3  Google_Earth_Resources_2.pdf   Additional Google Earth Resources   GoogleEarth4.3_2.mov What's New in Google Earth 4.3   NavigatinginGE_2.mov Navigating in Google Earth 4.3 1930 Como Avenue - 651.603.4925 Webmaster george.adams@spps.org