Home School Helping Maryland families find the answers they need along their educational journey.

www.handinhandhomeschool.com Entire Internet

Show and Tell #2: Google Earth © 2005. Mark Engelberg Google Earth is a new, free computer program that will completely change the way you think about and teach geography. One of the big challenges in teaching geography is that it is hard to connect the large-scale global view with the small-scale details.  You can look at a globe and point to which continent you are on.  Then you can show a country map, and then a state map, then a local area map.  But each map is separate, and it takes a lot of imagination and abstract reasoning ability for kids to get a firm sense of how these localized maps fit into the big picture of the globe they've looked at.  When flipping back and forth between different maps, each level of detail seems somewhat divorced from the others.  Google Earth elegantly solves this problem. When you first start up Google Earth, you see a 3D rendering of the earth.  Using either the mouse or the keyboard, you can spin the globe around, and zoom in on any part of the world.  As you zoom in, your computer seamlessly downloads relevant satellite images and makes it feel like you are flying down to the earth for a close-up view.  The satellite images are a few years old, but are astonishingly detailed.  Zoom into your own house (just by typing your address), and you'll be able to see it quite clearly, and maybe even your car in the driveway! Google Earth also supports various overlays, so that you can see the road names superimposed on the photos, or see restaurant names highlighted.  You can enter an address, and generate directions, just like Mapquest, but then you can do a virtual "flyover" as if you were in an airplane.  My children have spent hours typing in the names and addresses of restaurants, libraries, parks, and activities which we frequent, and watching as the camera's viewpoint soars from our house along the roads we travel to get there. Want to get a sense for how far away your house is from famous landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, or Eiffel Tower?  Zoom in to your house, and type in your desired destination.  You'll see your viewpoint zoom out and soar across the globe and zoom right into the target.  And remember, you don't just see a label saying, "Eiffel Tower", you actually see the Eiffel Tower right there in the satellite photo! Outside of urban areas, Google Earth doesn't use satellite data, but instead uses topographic data to generate a 3D rendering of the landscape.  Because it is 3D, rather than an overhead satellite photo, this means that you can look at the landscape from any angle.  So, for example, you can actually fly "through" Yosemite or the Grand Canyon.  Try heading into Yosemite, and see if you can find the vantage point for Ansel Adams' famous photo of Half Dome! The ease of use is an important feature, and my children have spent hours effortlessly cruising over various parts of the earth.  The other day, I walked in and asked my son what he was doing.  He explained that he was looking to see whether there were any islands in the middle of the Chicago River.  I don't know what possessed him to wonder about that, but I thought it was awesome that he was able to easily find the Chicago River on the map and answer that question for himself.  And on top of that, the "fun factor" of using Google Earth made him want to find the answer for himself. This is the future of maps.  Check it out and see for yourself just how much fun it is to use. © 2006 Hand In Hand Homeschool Consulting. Contact Us ~ Submit a Listing ~ Last Updated 1/13/06