Google Maps/Earth Workshop Resources
September 30, 2009
jake kulstad
jkulstad@richmond.edu - x8258
Examples from my website.
Goals
Learn key features of Google Maps and Google Earth
Create Custom Maps and Tours
Explore online tools to find data and tools
Share custom Maps and Tours with others
Understanding the basic features of KML
Google Maps
“My Maps” (log-in or create an account)
save/send/organize
GPS Visualizer tool http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/
-create KML overlay using coordinates from Google
KML factbook http://www.kmlfactbook.org/
-Good for displaying country-level data
-Adjust “Full Chart Value” to “data max”
example data query
save KML
display in Maps or Earth
Lighthouse Geospatial Data Gateway http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/
National Landcover dataset
Google Earth
-Controls
-Layers
-Geographic Web
-Roads
-Street Views
-Panoramio
-YouTube
-3D Buildings
-Terrain
Placemarks and lines
Tours
Taking a tour
Grand Canyon Example: http://www.gearthblog.com/kmfiles/GrandCanyonTour.kmz
http://www.googlelittrips.org/
http://citytours.googlelabs.com/
http://www.googletouring.com/
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/google-tour/google-tour.html
http://googlesightseeing.com/
Recording a tour
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Links:
http://sites.google.com/a/kimbridges.net/google-earth-workshop/
http://geoday.nl.googlepages.com/index
http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/how.html
http://www.googlelittrips.org/
100 tools: http://mashable.com/2009/01/08/google-maps-mashups-tools/
NOAA Maps: http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/
Wifi hotspots near UR: http://hotspotr.com
USA Photomaps http://www.jdmcox.com/
more data / pictures/options, but is a little hard to use
Hurry, quick! Podcast while you can!
June 26, 2009
If you talk to anyone familiar with Web 2.0 technologies, one of the recurring themes you’ll hear in conversations are “Yea its a great tool, but how long until it disappears”, or “This is so amazing, I’m sure it’ll get snapped up by a larger company”. Affordability and sustainability are key elements regarding the use of Web 2.0 in education. Aside from analyzing the ‘daily pop-up of new technologies’, I’d like to present you with a ‘technology pop-up for the day’ called Vocaroo:
It will allow you to podcast and record your voice right from the web, in real time! No need to download additional software, save files in mysterious formats or reboot your computer. Just log into the website, state your narrative and waa laa! It will result in a hyperlink that you can share via email OR embed into your website. Note: Wordpress.com blogs do not allow embed, you’ll just have to post the link.
Here’s an example of me narrating this blog post and embedding it into this website:
This technology could be great for foreign language courses or courses that have students with special needs - imagine an English speaking student in New Jersey wants to practice their German diction and vernacular and send it to their Richmond professor for evaluative feedback. It could be done with Vocaroo and the click of a button!
Now, this is a “Web 2.0″ technology, so I can’t promise it will be available for free to the public in July, August or September (although it probably will). However, it will give you a good sense of the possibilities of podcasting in the curriculum - so, hurry quick! Podcast while you can!
Email me if you have questions or concerns and we can talk about other voice recording technologies available at UR like Wimba Voice!
File Dropper
June 24, 2009
Ever wanted to share a file that was too big for e-mail with many people? Perhaps a 5 GB file? Fear no more; it’s File Dropper to the rescue. Upload the file; FD gives you your own URL, which takes those interested directly to the file. As long as people are downloading, the files are kept forever. One caveat: You can’t make the files private, so don’t share your latest yet-to-be-published research paper. But if you’ve got a large video you’ve shot that you don’t mind anyone seeing, File Dropper is perhaps the easiest way to get it out on the web.
Skitch: easy and free screen-capture program
April 24, 2009
Software-design team Plasq has created Skitch, a one-step screenshot-sharing webapp. Want to share a snapshot of your desktop or picture with the world, sending out a link rather than attaching it to an e-mail to each person you wish to share it with? Look no further than Skitch. Skitch lets you resize, crop, add text, etc., then publish. Skitch saves all your thumbnails for easy re-access. You can even use the thumbnails on your blog posts, then link to the full-size shots on Skitch (or Flickr, or FTP to your own site, or your .Mac account…).
Check out this video to learn all about Skitch in three minutes.
Facebook: Your data is your data … for now
February 18, 2009
Just a day later, Facebook has withdrawn its amendments to its user agreement. See the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.
So, you still own your content … at least until Facebook revises its terms again.
Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use, New York Times, February 18, 2009
Twenty-five best blogs of 2009
February 17, 2009
Recently, TIME released its list of the 25 best blogs of 2009. No, they’re not all academic, but an interesting read for the savvy, Web-2.0 attuned websurfer. These include:
and more. Check out TIME’s site for the full scoop.
Google Docs in Plain English
July 22, 2008
You may have heard the term “Google Docs” being thrown around (or, if it was early in 2007, you would have heard “Writely”.) I stumbled upon this video today that explains what Google Docs (and spreadsheets) are, and how they can make your life easier. Personally, most of what I work on is stored in Google Docs because of the flexibility they give me to get my work done at home, the office, Panera Bread, Starbucks, etc.
Without further ado, it’s:
Flash Card Machine
May 30, 2008
Looking for a quick study tool that your students can use to create, customize, and share content in a flashcard-like web application? Look no further than Flash Card Machine, “a web application that enables users to create interactive web-based study flash cards and share them with others.”
Check out a sample set (this one’s on word prefixes).
UR Web 2.0?
February 20, 2008
When I have attended talks or conference presentations about Web 2.0, I seem to inevitably hear the question: “Is this presentation Web 2.0?” Which is often a legitimate question for newcomers who don’t really get the logic of Web 2.0 by just listening to someone talk about it. So, I have been experimenting with creating a “Web 2.0″ presentation that I will be giving to a group of people this afternoon using a WordPress blog.
It is an overview of what Web 2.0 is (and is not), and how it might be conceptualized for education uses. The cool part is that each of the attendees will sign-on to the blog and navigate around it with me (both the front and backend with full admin rights) so that they can interact and comment on different parts of the site; add tags to posts’ and play with del.icio.us and flickr. [...]
