This is quite exciting news! Live Local now features drawing tools so that you can now draw over maps and photos. A quick demo here - I’ve guessed the extent of a local flood risk area.
click to enlarge
There’s more about this latest feature at the Virtual Earth blog.
Thanks to Google Earth blog!
More geography teachers are using blogs to communicate with students. Examples of the best ones include Kenny O’Donnell’s Odblog, while Val Vannet prepared her students for their Iceland trip with her stunning HSD Iceland Fieldtrip. Val has also started publishing Higher Geog Blog for her 6th form students.
Try it out for yourself - Blogger is possibly the most popular free blogging service, while WordPress.com offers a few more features.
Can it get any better? Well now that EditGrid supports charts in the latest version, I’m unable to think of any improvements. The legendary Valery35 has continued to push the possibilities with KML and his recent spreadsheet examples can plot point and line information in Google Maps/Earth as well as graphics in Google Earth (although to be honest it’s all getting a bit hard for me to follow)

This stunning interactive panorama 2.4mb QuickTime file) was created by the Digital Urban team. They have posted an easy to follow tutorial on the site. I’m looking forward to trying this out at the weekend!
via Google Earth blog
Need music for PowerPoints and exciting audio visual presentations using PhotoStory 3 or PhotoJam?
eMusic is probably the most straightforward way of acquiring legal music that works on any mp3 player and isn’t affected by annoying restrictions. Unlike the deservedly popular, but highly controversial Russian mp3 site, the artists do actually get paid and there really is no catch at all. You pay a small monthly fee which entitles you to download music at half the price of ITunes or similar services. The chances are quite high that you won’t find the latest chart music, although searching through the huge catalogue of independent labels will reveal endless opportunities for introducing new music to the students. Actually, since eMusic UK was launched last month, the catalogue now contains quite a lot of current releases, for example the new Franz Ferdinand album.
Click the banner to download 25 mp3 songs over two weeks absolutely free with no obligation to buy anything else.
I had a quick go at compiling my personal album for the geography classroom from eMusic. A couple of my favourites including “Giving It All Away” by Leo Sayer, “Sound of the Suburbs” by The Members and “The Circus” by Erasure didn’t make it in because they’re not in the catalogue, however most did. So here are my top 25 tracks, all classroom tested and approved by students. Some fit with generic themes such as urban decay, volcanoes or migration, others create an atmosphere, and a couple are just played very occasionally when the mood takes.
How You See The World No. 2 Coldplay
Riddler! The Fall
I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore Woody Guthrie
Tipitina Professor Longhair
9-5er’s Anthem Aesop Rock
Northern Industrial Town Billy Bragg
Dreamy Days Roots Manuva
The River Nitin Sawhney
Bhindi Bhagee Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
Down By The River ‘O’ Rev Hammer
Ghost Town The Specials
Council Estate of Mind Skinnyman
The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House Belle and Sebastian
Another Pearl Badly Drawn Boy
Brand New Day Dizzie Rascal
Firestarter The Prodigy
Holiday in Cambodia Dead Kennedys
F.E.A.R Ian Brown
Wake The World The Levellers
Shipbuilding Suede
Download Sway
Nowhere Road Steve Earle
Leaders of the Free World Elbow
Gnossiennes No.1 Erik Satie
Call to Prayer (Adhan) Unknown
Helen Gosnell has an excellent Geography Songs blog.
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