Two great days’ training

Thank you to all the participants at the past two days’ training at the Royal Geographical Society. It’s been great getting the courses underway for the 2008/9 academic year.

I promised participants that I would post their work on the blog, but unfortunately some of the advanced work was lost with Google Earth being closed down before I could get to it.

Participant Google Earth files, RGS-IBG Course 21/10/2008

Participant Google Earth files, RGS-IBG Advanced Course 22/10/08

Please do comment with any more thoughts on how to apply the course content in the classroom or on expedition.

Free Google Earth Pro Licence for schools

Google have extended their US programme for free Google Earth Pro licences to UK schools.

Before you think about applying, please consider whether you really need the Pro version.

Visit the Google Earth product comparison chart to see which product is best for you.

The next step is to email Anna who works on Geo-Education for Google in California – geec@google.com. Anna will then send you some information about the programme and a questionnaire to fill in. At this point, you will also be prompted to download the 7-day free trial version of Google Earth Pro. Once Anna has received all the information, she will then be able to convert the trial into a year’s licence.

If you are looking for a entry-level GIS tool and are considering something like Google Earth, but would like to be able to integrate it with spreadsheets and GPS as well, then Google Earth Plus is probably best. It currently costs $20 per licence (good for two log-ins for a year). For more information about Google Earth Plus licenses see my previous post on the subject.

I am currently pushing for a site license for Google Earth Plus, which I hope will be pitched fairly reasonably.

The geo-web: next steps

It has been a few years now since Google Earth first appeared on the scene. According to figures released by Google, over 350 million people have used the software. But how many of these users have moved beyond looking at their own house or perhaps researching a holiday destination? And how does the arrival of earth browsers (the generic name for software that displays virtual globes) change the way geographical information is represented?

One of the barriers to the full-scale use of Google Earth has been the need to download the software separately from your internet or web browser (software such as Internet Explorer or Firefox). This means that users will go to a website to view information, and then be redirected to download data in a separate application, with the associated 15-30 second wait for Google Earth to load.

Some of this has changed through the use of Google Maps and the ability to create bespoke maps and embed them in a web page using the ‘My Maps’ service. However, this takes away from the awesome 3D experience of Google Earth.

The most recent innovation has been the Google Earth browser plug-in, allowing for the full 3D world to be displayed within a web page. There is as yet no data as to how many downloads of the plug-in there have been. Educators and expeditions, as well as international NGOs must be hoping that the plug-in download may become as ubiquitous as browser plug-ins such as Flash and Java.

I am in two minds as to whether I think that the Google Earth plug-in should be an included download with other Google products. It is a really powerful tool, and yet I am reticent about software providers bundling products together. The other problem at the moment is that the plug-in is only available on PC. Mac users will have to wait, alongside anyone using Google’s new Chrome internet browser (oops!).

Let’s say by some time in 2009, the Google Earth plug-in will be installed on enough computers globally that we can start to make it a primary, rather than secondary mode of online communication. Where does that take us?

First, have a quick think about how much of the web content that you consume or produce is geographically located. Then, ponder how much better we can communicate what is happening in the world if instead of using the blank slate of a web page, we can start to use an interactive 3D globe as a starting point.

By using a 3D environment, web designers are not limited to placing the media we are all used to (video, photographs, text and graphics) but 3D models (using SketchUp) and 3D graphs come into play.

This development marks a exciting departure for expeditions (really take the online audience with you), education (the ability to use this new 3D world for anything from a decision-making and scenario-planning environment to locating news stories and lessons about our world), news (watch and read where it happened) and NGOs and development organisations (real-time media and statistics to encourage public involvement in development and disaster relief).

So what does geo-web 2.0 look like? We are already there in some ways. Google ‘My Maps’ allows users to create and share maps in the same way that Flickr allows users to share photos or YouTube enables video sharing. Maps have entered the media sharing/hosting aspect of web 2.0. Some blogs use geo-blogging plug-ins to show the location of a particular post on a 2D map.

The social networking side is lacking and it is in the sphere of MySpace, Facebook and friends that the real innovation and societal worth could be realised. It is accepted that we must act locally and yet think globally. The geo-web can become a tool that allows us to understand the world better and provide a platform for informed debate and action.

We can start to tell stories geographically, place media that ehance our understanding of the world and now place all these in a 3D global environment, and maybe in the not too distant future we will be able to add comments and interact more fully.

Take for instance the decision by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to plant 10,000 new trees in London. Wouldn’t it be great if Londoners had some say in the matter. Here’s my image of a beech tree planted on Columbia Road. Should other people have the same ability to choose the type of tree they would like and where it should go. Maybe my neighbours think it will block too much light and would prefer a shorter tree such as a rowan or willow. Can their voice be heard too? Or could I get a community group together and buy a tree online which the council would then plant?

The geo-web fully realised means a citizenship-based world, with communities making decisions about their lives and their environments using participatory technology. These stories can then be shared globally to create a web of information and positive action.

We have the technology, do we have the will?

Google Earth competition for students and researchers

Google launched their KML in Research Competition today with a host of prizes, fame and fortune at stake. KML is the programming language used in Google Earth, and the judges are seeking examples of research where KML is used.

Entries will be judged on their usability, educational value, visual appeal and efficiency.

For more details and information on how to enter visit the Google For Educators pages.

Google Earth browser plug-in

It’s now possible to have all the functionality of Google Earth but within your internet browser (e.g. Firefox and Internet Explorer), using a new plugin. It works in a similar way to downloading Flash to watch video online. Most of us do this without really realising it.

This opens up the possibilities for creating educational web-based games using Google Earth as the 3D world to explore.

Have a go at playing the Monster Milktruck game (this is me above enjoying the view from Westminster Bridge). Google has also listed other examples online.

Using Google Sky to teach astronomy

Google have released really useful tools for bringing the sky, moon and mars to the classroom.

You can also view the sky layer in Google Earth…

The Google Educators site has some ideas about using Google Sky in the classroom.

Google Geo-Education Summit

A very inspiring day on Friday at the Google offices in London talking about the future of Google’s geo-applications to education (Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Sky).

It was a very informative and thought-provoking day with a reallly good group. Noel Jenkins, of Juicy Geography fame, spoke about his fantastic work on using Google Earth as a basis for developing in-depth enquiries (diamond trade, siting wind-farms, scenario-planning for San Francisco, etc.). Richard Treves from Southampton University, spoke amongst other things about the need for good design in Google Earth (more at his Google Earth Design blog). Also there were Ollie Bray, a great proponent of web 2.0 in Scotland, Martin Law from Teaching and Learning Scotland, Steve Bruce, Head of Education and Outdoor Learning at the Royal Geographical Society, Ed Parsons, Geo-spatial Technologist for Google and Tina Ornduff, from the Google Geo-Education team in California (a big thank you to her for organising the day).

Both Noel and Ollie have already blogged about the day, but both the day and their blogs have reminded me of several developments in new Google tools for education that I will mention in separate posts.

New School Environment Project video

It was very exciting to run a pilot School Grounds Project at Eastbury Comprehensive School. We used many of the same techniques that we have employed on overseas expeditions – digital media, blogging, geo-tools (Google Earth and Google Maps) – to investigate the School Grounds and then take action to make a difference to the school environment.

This pilot wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Google UK and especially Kate Hammond and Liz Ericson. Also many thanks go to the pupils and staff at Eastbury Comprehensive School, who were amazing, enthusiastic and talented. Special thanks to Tracy Knight and Ruth Owen for their help and support.

This amazing film was made by the wonderful Jonny Madderson of Just So Films. Thank you for all your hard work.

Continuing thanks to Mark Thackara at Olympus for the great pupil-proof TOUGH digital cameras, that we used for photography and video during the pilot.

As always thank you to Marjan who makes sure that everything just happens, somehow, though still not quite sure how.

[de]‘s Google Earth training video on YouTube

The video of Digital Explorer’s ‘Virtual Fieldwork Using Google Earth’ course is now on YouTube. Thank you to everyone who made the recent teacher training UK Roadshow possible: Kate Hammond and Ed Parsons at Google, Shane Winser and Lucy Bruzzone at the Royal Geographical Society, Will Evans at Just So Films and Marjan Shirzad here at Digital Explorer.

Google Earth at the Geographical Association Conference

Just received a very nice note from the Geographical Association. I ran two sessions at their conference at the end of March and managed to pack in 55 geography teachers. We managed to make good progress especially given I had condensed the normal 6-7 hour course into 2 hours.

Anyway, they had some very nice things to say…

Excellent and inspiring new ideas

I have never realised the full potential of Google Earth as I have never had the time to sit and mess around with the computer for long enough. An excellent session with an excellent handbook to take back to school.

Great way to develop fieldwork in a very pupil friendly way. Have already used it in my teaching as a way of promoting appreciation of fieldwork.

Can be put in to use immediately – hopefully with out too much cash outlay!

Excellent tutor – good practical ways to use Google earth.

Well delivered, fast pace, interesting and appropriate skills being implanted

Thank you to Lucy at the GA for organising ever thing and if you would like to find out more about what happened at this year’s conference see the Geographical Association website.