Google is a Mapping Company

Google is a mapping company. For years I've used Google Earth in lieu of a physical globe in my world geography courses. If you have not experienced Google Earth download and install Google Earth (GE) after reading my post. Don't download and install now because once you realize the shear genius of GE I will have lost your attention.

GE is a wonderful teaching tool for children 7 and older. GE is easy to use and is loaded with simple features, like a measuring tool and bookmarks, which can help parents teach basic geography to kids. GE is linked to Wikipedia; thousands of sites are referenced via Wikipedia. YouTube places are also linked indicating where people have posted videos of some event occuring at the location. Be advised: some videos are not educational and only informative in the sense of illustrating Darwinian processes at work among people. But, some videos are nice and informative. GE contains a wealth of links to outside sources such as the World Wildlife Foundation, National Geographic, and the United States Geological Survey.

Grabbing screenshots from Google Earth is a cinch and embedding JPEGS from Google Earth can improve posters and presentations. Using a keyboard or a mouse, 3D terrain can be simulated providing a sense of scale and landscape relief. I recommend visiting the Karakoram Mtns in northern Pakistan, my favorite mountain range. The world's highest highway is found here.

GE also has a flight simulator embedded within. Using simple controls and basic physics, a user can pilot around any place in the world.

Now, Google recently revealed plans to map in 3D a number of cities using aerial photography. Nothing especially new about such efforts. Most large cities engage in aerial mapping missions every few years. As cities grow aerial photography helps city planners identify buildings, land use, help them plan for utility growth, estimate population density, estimate potential stormwater drainage issues, and in public safety efforts - all sorts of pursuits. Most states will fly aerial photography mapping missions every 5 to 10 years to help monitor landscape change. The federal government acting through the Department of Agriculture collects aerial photography across states dominated by agriculture. The USDA uses aerial photography information to assess crop type, acreage, productivity, and keeping farmers honest with regards to subsidies and set aside programs.

Kentucky has plans for collecting not only aerial photography statewide but also LiDAR statewide. LiDAR is an acronym for "Light Detection and Ranging." Essentially, a plane equipped with a laser shoots the ground a million zillion times and the laser reflected back to the plane is sensed, allowing distance to be calculated. The result after post-processing are highly detailed terrain maps or maps of city structures, or landforms. The amount of data points is immense; LiDAR collected for a small watershed in Arkansas was in excess of 300GB.

Right now, Google Earth users can fly around the world with some interesting terrain but the cities are mostly flat unless someone has used SketchUp to add 3D buildings. Examine Washington, D.C. for a good example of 3D urban builds.

With Google's new efforts to collect aerial photography of major cities people from around the world will be able to go on virtual field trips, or plan real trips. I'm sure Google will expand their Google Earth API to include such data for wild and crazy new apps.

Check out earth.google.com

PAX

Google Earth's Coolest Addition

I was setting up Google Earth for my lecture/discussion on the Middle East last night and noticed a funny new icon I had not noticed before.

In Google Earth, I always click on icons I am unfamiliar with just to see what happens. Maybe not always a good idea. I trust Google explicitly, though ....

Anyway, I discovered this great new addition: Webcam.travel. People from around the world have posted geotagged webcams to Google Earth. Now, anyone from around the world can visit webcam.travel, or load up Google Earth with the Webcam.travel layer loaded and look at conditions - as they are within a few minutes - almost anywhere in the world. Man, this is awesome!

We looked at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after taking our map quiz over Southwest Asia. Part of the webcam.travel website includes a Google Map showing the location of the webcam, giving you an idea of where you are within a city, town, village, etc. Plus, you can view the typical Google Earth satellite imagery or map layer to give you a bird's eye view of the area you are looking at. The Rotterdam perspective seemed to be directed to the ocean; the view was brilliant, almost like the city was on fire. I thought I was looking at the fires in southern California at first, before I noticed the webcam's title, and vicinity. The webcam captured the intense illumination in the area, bright, saturated yellows and golds of urban lights. The skies were low and overcast, giving the effect of smoke. Taken all together, the image appeared to be that of many lines of fire, when in actuality, we were looking at four-lane highways, industrial districts, and other urban features. Cool stuff!

Google + YouTube = GoogleTube

GoogleTube - that is my word for what happens when you allow people to geotag their videos. I have been ranting about this for about a month, since classes began. Which is funny, as I had no idea this was in the works at YouTube, as my site visits to YouTube can be counted on one hand.

The idea of geotagging videos came to me in my sleep one night. Prior to teaching my geography class for that night, I checked my mailbox and found a brochure for geography videos. The costs of these videos was outrageous; $200 for a 20-yr old video. Forget it! Neither I nor my department(s) have money to shell out for a 15-minute that is two decades old.

Anyway, it dawned on me that when university faculty travel to some place, they ought to take a DV recorder with them, video something that could be educational, and post it to YouTube. No more than 5-10 minutes, keeping it short, and focusing on one theme or topic.

Now, that is possible through Google Earth and YouTube. Excellent!

Now, get busy everyone! DV the earth!

The Associated Press: GPS Adds Dimension to Online Photos

The Associated Press: GPS Adds Dimension to Online Photos

Hot of the AP wire, this news item is probably old news to many. Geotagging photos I first discovered through Google Earth and Panoramio. I have since discovered another source of geotagged photos at Trekearth.com.

These sites are wonderful in being able to examine places around the globe, to get an idea of culture, landscape, and the general diversity around us.

I use these sites in teaching World Geography, and students really seem to appreciate the efforts that the photographers go through to acquire their image and post.

My only complaint is this: most of the dialogue about the photos deals mostly with composition issues. People state whether or not they like how objects are framed, colors captured, etc. Ideally, for me any way, would be the time and date of image acquisition, plus some discussion of what we are looking at, the culture of the people, the type of food, the type of crop, something that will enhance the story-telling ability of the image, and put that image in a context that we can understand.

That would be a big help.

Also, I have this idea. People need to begin geo-tagging video. Web sites need to be able to geotag videos. I would love to be able to use Google Earth in my class, find an area that I would like to discuss in class, and click on a short video of that particular place to learn more about it. How awesome would that be?