I’ve extensively revised and updated my Google Earth based lesson on wind energy:
Author Archive for Noel Jenkins
The latest incarnation of EarthBrowser is in beta testing and looking really interesting. It’s not yet available for public download.
Earth Browser 3 is Flash /Adobe Air based, and in a number of respects will be a genuine alternative to Google Earth, indeed possibly a better classroom tool for studying certain topics, especially weather and tectonics. Here’s a quick preview of how the application is looking at the moment.
EarthBrowser is a delight to use, extremely intuitive and quick in operation. Expanded to full screen on an interactive whiteboard, the virtual globe is stunning. The navigation is hugely enhanced with a neat and attractive draggable menu:
The data sets include comprehensive real time weather information, tectonic plates, earthquakes, volcanoes, webcams and country borders. The Layers panel in Google Earth by comparison is becoming rather unmanageable - try finding the new Earthquakes layer without a guide!
The Placemarks tab adds several other data sets including Aurora Activity. You can also add your own placemarks. I’ve done this in the screenshot below, ading a photo that I took recently in Tromso:
KML files can be opened by dragging them into Earth Browser, and clicking names or flags in the weather window brings up a related Wikipedia search.
The Placemark menu includes the option to open a Google Map that tracks the Earth Browser view when panned. This is an important feature, partly because the Google Map will display a satellite view at resolutions that Earth Browser can’t manage.
The New Map window (click to enlarge)
I’m very excited about EarthBrowser 3 and will be eagerly awaiting the finished version. The USP for geography teachers is the clean and efficient navigation and essential real-time datasets. I notice that Apple are hosting some useful looking teaching resources for EarthBrowser here.
An Alternative Guide to Our World
Start time: 11:00
Tickets: £3
16 short films with geographical themes including the geography@work film
awards.
The Planet
Directors: Linus Torell, Michael Stenberg and Johan Söderberg
Start time: 12:30
Tickets: £3
82mins + open discussion
Planet Earth is changing and this film is a self proclaimed ‘wake up call’
to us all. Set to outstanding imagery twenty nine experts from around the
world explain how the geography of our world is changing and how this is
being witnessed globally.
The film will be followed by a short discussion.
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
Directors: Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack
Start time: 14:30
Tickets: £3
85mins + open discussion
This 90 minute documentary explores our world’s obsession with oil and
argues that in the near future we will exhaust Earth’s viable supplies with
devastating effects. A Crude Awakening effectively shows the risks involved
within becoming dependent on natural resources and what our futures may look
like without black gold.
The film will be followed by a short debate.
The relative quietness on Digital Geography is part of a planned temporary break from blogging and Juicy Geography, in order to focus on a variety of new projects, and to reflect on the last few months. I’d like to concentrate on producing some new teaching materials and add to the podmovie series. I also want to spend some time researching for the long-planned Juicy Geography book. Since switching to a Mac, I’ve become far more interested in exploring video and digital photography. I’ve been going for One to One sessions at my local Apple Store (which I hugely recommend) to learn Final Cut Express It’s also time to start going to the climbing wall to get strong for the summer. So I’m slimming down my RSS reading, unfolding my Thinking Space and will just be posting news of my projects as they are completed.
I have been doing a few INSET courses recently. Geography teachers can usually see the benefit in learning the basics of KML, however there’s never enough time during a course to ensure everyone leaves as a fully proficient Neogeographer. The tutorials on the Google Earth outreach site are superb. Videos and clear instructions, together with the Google Spreadsheet Mapping Tool, (you need a Google account) mean that anyone can create attractive content for Google Maps/Earth.
Finally, should the BBC sort out the voting, please support the team “We’re Going To Change Britain” on BBC Upstaged. We’re the wildcard slot, hoping to use geography to make Britain happier in a 6 hour broadcast from Bristol.
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