EDAD660 (2010)

Reeham and Omneya asked a great question in class last night – can you incorporate images into the description box that appears when you click on a place in Google Earth?  After a little bit of research I found a solution.  It’s requires a few steps but it’s not too difficult – here’s how you can do this yourself.  For more information please check out the official Google Earth user’s guide.

1. Find an image on Flickr that you would like to use in Google Earth.  This can be an image that you find via the Flickr search tool or one that you upload to the site yourself.
2. With the picture displayed, click on the ‘All Sizes’ button.
3. Select a size – I recommend going with ‘medium’ or ‘small’ as you don’t want to overload the Google Earth text box with a very large image.
4. At the bottom of this page find the ‘photo URL’ box – copy this link.
   

   The photo URL that you should copy

5. Next, open up Google Earth and edit one of your placemarks.
6. To add in an image you need to type in a little HTML code.  Here’s what you should type:<img src=”PASTEPHOTOURLHERE”>
7. Make sure to paste in the URL that you copied in the correct spot.
8. Your photo should now show up when you click on your placemark!

Google Earth is a free downloadable application that lets you view the world, explore interesting places and create your own customized “overlays” that can be used to help convey a wide range of topics in your classes.  Here’s how you can get started

1. To begin, download a copy of Google Earth by clicking here.
2. Install the package on your computer.
3. When finished, launch Google Earth.  A screen that looks like the following should appear:
   

   Google Earth Opening Screen

4. To search for a place, simply click in the blank labeled “Fly-To” (#1 on the image above) and click the tiny search button.  The global will reorient itself to zoom in on your desired location.
5. You can manually move around the globe by clicking and dragging it around.  You can also use the three tools on the very right side of the screen to adjust your orientation as well (#2 in the image above)
6. You can store placemarks on the globe just as you can in Google Maps on the web.  To do this, simply navigate to a place that you would like to mark and click the “Add Placemark” button (#3 on the image above.)  You can change the name, detailed description, color and type of placemark by using the dialog box that appears.
7. Placemarks are stored in the Places panel (#4 on the image above.)  To visit any of your places simply double click on the placemark inside this panel.
8. You an edit an existing placemark by right-clicking on the mark in the Places panel (#4) and choosing “Get Info.”
9. You can delete a placemark by right-clicking on the mark in the Places panel and choosing “Delete.”
10. You can also add in shaded regions to the maps.  Clicking on the “add polygon” button (#5) will bring up a menu simliar to the “add placemark” menu.  When this appears you can begin clicking on the map to draw a shape on top of the land or ocean.  In the dialog box you can specify the color, transparency and description for this shaded region.  If you make a mistake when you are drawing your shape you can simply grab one of the small corners with your mouse and move it back into position.
11. There is also an “add path tool” next to the “add polygon” tool (#5.)  This lets you add in an un-filled shape.
12. Finally, you can overlay an image on top of the map by using the “add image overlay” tool (next to #5 as well.)
13. You can control the visibility of items on the map by checking off their corresponding checkboxes inside the Places panel (#4.)  You can also right-click on the places panel to create folders to organize your items.  Folders themselves have checkboxes associated with them – checking or unchecking a folder will cause all places inside that folder to appear / disappear accordingly.
14. You can record a “tour” in Google Earth as well.  Tours allow you to pre-record movement on the globe that can be played back at a later date.  Tours can be recorded by clicking the “Record a tour” button (near #5.)
15. The paid version of Google Earth has a “create movie” feature that will let you export a screencast of your Google Earth creation to a movie file.  Unfortunately we are not using that version in class.  However, you can use your newly acquired Jing skills to capture a tour using the technique covered in Assignment #3.
16. Before you quit Google Earth be sure to save your places (File -> Save)

Google Maps is a great way to get driving directions, but did you know that you can also use the system to create your own maps and “overlays?” Here’s an example of an overlay that some of you may find useful:

View Larger Map

Here’s how you can create your own Google Map mashup:

• Log into your Google account
• Click on the ‘Maps’ link or visit http://maps.google.com
• Click ‘My Maps’
• Click ‘Create new map
• Use the pushpins and map markup tools at the top left side of the map to create our own layer. You can also search for places using the Google search bar at the top of the screen to help you locate places of interest.
• If you lose your pushpins at any time you can click on the ‘My Maps’ link – from there just click on the map that you were working on to return to ‘edit mode’.
• When you are finished click ‘Save’
• To embed your map click the ‘Link’ button at the top right side of the screen. Click ‘customize and preview embedded map’ to get your map to look just right. Then copy the embed code and paste it into your blog, site or course management system.
• Note: for WordPress, make sure that you paste your code into HTML mode. Don’t switch over to Visual mode after you have pasted it over. Switching modes will cause WordPress to remove certain necessary portions of the embed code and will cause your map to display incorrectly.