Tag Archive for 'hazard'

Tonga Earthquake in Google Earth

Published by Noel Jenkins on May 3, 2006 in Google Earth. 0 Comments

There’s just been a large earthquake near Tonga in the South Pacific. (BBC article) Nobody was hurt thankfully, so it seemed like a good time to compare how Earth Browser and Google Earth report the event.

I’ve noticed that the Google Earth USGS network link for recent earthquakes has been improved with a floating legend. It’s one of the most useful Google Earth add-ons.The image below illustrates how the network link has displayed the earthquake in Tonga.
tonga earthquakeclick to enlarge

Earth Browser is still my favourite application for near real time analysis of tectonic hazards in school, being slightly faster and more reliable on my rather over-stretched school laptop. The globe has been enhanced recently and is even more beautiful. The image below shows the earthquake in Earth browser.

earthbrowser tongaclick to enlarge

In both appplications, clicking on the earthquake icon takes you to the relevant USGS page. I marginally prefer the way that Earth Browser displays the magnitude of the event on the icon, and it is faster to display earthquakes once the database has refreshed.

New hospital for San Francisco placemark

Published by Noel Jenkins on March 1, 2006 in Google Earth, ICT, Student work and Teaching resources. 1 Comment

I thought I’d post a Google Earth placemark created by Year 8 students as part of my lesson for visualizing a safer San Francisco. The placemark locates a suitable site for a new hospital. See previous post
New hospitalclick to enlarge

Lots of placemarks were created by the class, and a peer assessment exercise selected this one as the best overall site. I was impressed by the detail, and the way the students selected information from the standard Google Earth layers as well as the overlay information provided. The students also make links to previous learning.

google earth placemarkdownload the new hospital placemark

An assessment based on Google Earth placemarks

Published by Noel Jenkins on January 30, 2006 in Google Earth, ICT and Teaching resources. 0 Comments

A class of (very) mixed ability year 8 students have begun work on my San Francisco decision-making exercise.

After the first session they have come up with some suggested sites for a new hospital, designed to be safe from earthquakes. Download the file here

new hospitalclick to enlarge

The original lesson resource is here

Next lesson we will have a little peer assessment and the opportunity to improve and refine their decisions.

Any feedback is most welcome and will be passed to the students.