EDUCATOR’S PAGE
Google Earth: A Visualization Tool for the Geosciences
Michael J. Urban, MEM-1910
I decided to try a different approach with this issue’s installment of the Educator’s Page. Instead of separating out a topic and a featured resource, I thought I would unite the two and write an integrated description about Google Earth and some related resources. [The eventual online version of this issue at the AIPG website should provide an easy way to access the links.]
Introduction
A useful way to teach and learn about geologic features and phenomena is to visualize them using computer software programs and other technologies (or tools). A variety of technologies for visu- alizing in the geosciences exist today, and a few examples you may encoun- ter in an educational setting include: ArcGIS, GeoMapApp, and Google Earth. These types of tools are powerful aids for helping students locate, identify and describe features (e.g., volcanoes, deep-ocean trenches, lithographic units, geological landmarks) as well as make connections to, or see relationships among, features.
Younger generations of students are continually drawn to technology and most of them expect it to be used in one way or another in their classes (at any level: elementary to college). Although some of us may struggle with implement- ing certain technologies in our univer- sity courses, it can be instructionally valuable – plus it can serve to motivate students. Technology should not drive the curriculum; however, it is difficult to imagine a curriculum that would not be enhanced through the incorporation of technology.
Google Earth
Arguably, no single visualization tool is more heavily relied upon for teaching geology-related topics in K-16 settings than Google Earth. Google Earth pro- vides basic geographical, image, and map information on a virtual globe. Just grab the Earth image (with a little hand icon) and move it where you want to go, zoom in and out, change the aspect, or
type in specific latitude and longitude coordinates to explore towns, topography, and more. However, beyond finding your house and neighborhood (a favorite use of the tool by many students), Google Earth can be used to search out geologic features of interest and explore multiple layers of data simultaneously via a transparency function. Consequently, it can be used to examine relationships between features and among different datasets. [Check out the Urban et al. resource link in the references for an example of how to add a data layer to Google Earth and use the transparency function.]
Google Earth uses KML (stands for Keyhole Markup Language) or KMZ (zipped KML) file types, which are com- monly available for a variety of data today. Numerous websites are devoted to describing how to use Google Earth to teach about one topic or another, and oth- ers provide access to various KML/KMZ datasets. Many government agencies now provide KML/KMZ datasets. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is one government agency that offers data layers for Google Earth (the National Weather Service is another). Several resources for obtaining KML/KMZ files for use in the geosciences are identified below.
Resources United States Geological Survey
The USGS provides a variety of data and file types, and KML/KMZ files are available in some instances. Earthquake, plate boundary, geologic maps, faults and folds, and landslide data layers for Google Earth may be accessed at the links:
U.S. Geological Survey. (2015). Geologic maps of U.S. states. https://mrdata.
usgs.gov/geology/state/
U.S. Geological Survey. (2016). Google Earth/KML files. http://earthquake.
usgs.gov/learn/kml.php
U.S. Geological Survey. (2016). Google Earth streamgages KML files.
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index. php?id=stategage
Other Sites
Other websites and blogs provide data files for use with Google Earth.
Some sites may be endorsed by Google, while others are not. Conducting a browser search can reveal several. A few examples are below. [Warning: Always know your source when downloading datasets or files.]
Cull, S. (n.d.). Rocks from above: Google Earth files. http://rocksfromabove.
blogspot.com/p/google-earth-files. html
Google Earth community forums. (2016). http://googleearthcommunity.
proboards.com/
Taylor, F. (2016). Google Earth blog.
http://www.gearthblog.com/
In addition to sites that provide Google Earth-ready data files, there are web pages that enable you to convert other file types into KML/KMZ file extensions. Even a simple spreadsheet of data, if associated with coordinate information, can be made into a KML file and layered in Google Earth. An internet search will bring up several websites, depending on the type of file you wish to convert into KML. There are also potentially use- ful (and reputable) curricular resources online for Google Earth applications in geology (see the references for examples)
Summary
If you have never used Google Earth, or specifically for a geoscience purpose, I would encourage you to try it out. Seeing some of the geology of our planet with Google Earth is fun, and the tool lends itself well to formal classroom or instruc- tional applications (including virtual field trips). It is also quite user-friendly, as technology goes, and the added benefit of being able to import and investigate data layers adds a deeper dimension to the value of this visualization tool.
References
Richard, G.A. (2014). Teaching with Google Earth.
http://serc.carleton. edu/sp/library/google_earth/index. html [A variety of instructional activities are available from this main page.]
Urban, M., Bojkov, B., Carter, B., Dogancay, D., & Ferrman, E. (2008).
Exploring Air Quality in Aura NO2 data. Earth Exploration Toolbook.
http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/aura/ index.html
www.aipg.org
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