Google Earth Directions For Whale Rider

Google Earth Directions for Whale Rider Project – Part I Downloading and Installing Google Earth

1. Open and Internet Browser and navigate to – http://earth.google.com

2. Click on the “Download” button to start the process.

3. Click the “Agree” button to agree to the license agreement.

4. The software will be downloaded to your computer. When it is finished, click “Run Google Earth” button to install the software.

5. NOTE: At a later time you might also want to consider trying Google Earth Pro, which can be downloaded from the same page. Pro has a number of advantages over Free Earth, including better measuring tools and integration with GPS data and GIS shape files.

Networked Learning - 2009

Networked Learning - 2009

Logging into Google Earth Pro

1. Double click on the icon with your cursor to launch the software. There should be an icon on your desktop. If you do not have an icon, please inform the instructor.

Navigating In Google Earth

2. The software offers a navigation tool in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This tool will help you to zoom in or out, change your direction, or tilt your perspective. 3. Clicking the “N” on the compass will reorient the globe. Dragging the “N” will adjust the north axis. You can rotate in 360 degrees. 4. The top compass lets you change your perspective from overhead to a position along side of it. 5. The bottom compass spins the Earth North, South, East and West. Clicking and holding down the four directional arrows either on the compass or on your keyboard will also spin the Earth. 6. The horizontal slide bar beneath the compass lets you zoom in and out. Spend some time zooming in and out.

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7. Move your mouse over the Earth and a hand will appear. Clickingand dragging in one of the cardinal directions will move the Earth in that direction. 8. Use your mouse to practice moving around. Try to center your location on the Southeastern United States. When you get there, zoom in on your school. Can you see the building where your class is?

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Finding Places in Google Earth

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1. In the upper left-hand corner, type in your address, and then click on the magnifying glass. The program will zoom in on the location of the address you entered. Any place with a physical street address can be found this way. 2. You can also find places of interest such as National Parks or monuments by typing in its name. Type in “Statue of Liberty” and click on the magnifying glass to zoom in on that location. Notice anything interesting? What can you see of the statue? What can’t you see? Why is this? 3. In the Layers Panel, click on 3D Buildings and wait a couple of minutes for the layer to load. What has changed? Now use the arrows in the top compass to change your perspective. 4. Besides address and places of interest, you can find an exact location using latitude and longitude. To the right are the coordinates for Auckland, NZ. Type in their latitude and longitude. 5. Other places mentioned in the book include: The Valdes Peninsula of Argentina, Tonga, Galapagos, Easter Island, Tokelau, Rarotonga, Hawaiki, Island of the Ancients, Antarctica, and Whangara, NZ (summarized on pp. 139). Find each of these places. Notice how each search is stored in your temporary folder in the search panel. 6.

You can travel back and forth to each place you have visited by double clicking on that place.

7. NOTE: You can change the speed that you travel around the Earth by going to Networked Learning - 2009

Tools >> Options >> Navigation and using the slide bar to adjust the fly-tospeed.

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Searching GE’s Database 1. Students can use GE’s extensive database to research a number of topics. For example, as part of The Whale Rider project you might want students to research various Oceanographic research facilities around the globe.

2. To find a type of business, click on “Find Business” and type in your search string. 3. Students can use these business balloons to find the address, phone number and typically a website in which to begin their research. 4. NOTE: You might even want students (or yourself) to call the public relations department and arrange an interview with a researcher, which could be done in Skype or Elluminate.com and then recorded and posted on the project wiki for others to view. You can find some Interview Guidelines on the Documents page of my main site (The Networked Learner – http://thenetworkedlearner.wikispaces.co m/documents ) and other project documents and rubrics which you are welcome to distribute to your students.

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Exploring Google Earths Layer Data 1. Google Earth contains over 210 layers, at my last count that,can be used by students for research. With the release of GE 5.0, they have added a layer on the oceans.

2. To access this layer, click the “Ocean” folder in the Layers panel. 3. To expand the folder, click on the (+) sign. 4. Layers that students might study for The Whale Rider project include: ARKive: endangered Ocean Species; Marine Protected Areas; Animal Tracking, and Census of Marine Life. 5. NOTE: The visibility of a layer’s balloons depends on your elevation in Google Earth. If you don’t see a layer, try zooming in or out. 6. Take a few minutes to explore these layers. Then “Turn and Talk”: What is one way you could incorporate ocean data into your classroom.

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Adding Layer Content 1. Google Earth has a number of layers that are not included in the primary database. These layers are created by a number of organizations and stored on Google Earth’s website and can be downloaded and added to Earth. 2. To download a layer, click on the “Add Content” button from Google Earth’s Outreach Community. GE will bring up a browser and navigate to the web page where the layers are stored. 3. Take a few moments to explore some of the Educational layers. 4. For this project, click on Ocean Layer and then choose a layer that interests you. To load a layer in GE, click on the link that says “Open in Google Earth”. 5. In my case, I chose the layer “Exploring America’s Oceans”, as Right Whales have been spotted along our coasts. As you can see, the new layer is loaded under the “Places” panel in your “Temporary Places” folder which contains all of the searches you have done during this session.

6. NOTE: You might assign particular layers to students and ask them to evaluate the importance of this data to the whales in our story. 7. Google Earth also has a number of layers as part of their Outreach program, filed under the headings of “Showcase” and “Case Studies” which can be found at Networked Learning - 2009

http://earth.google.com/outreach/index .html

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Searching for Data Layers 1. Other research organizations may have layer data stored on their servers which are not part of Google Earth Outreach. A good strategy for finding these layers which can be added to Earth are to use the advanced search features of Google Search – http://search.google.com

2. Navigate to Google Search and click on “Advanced Search” to the right of the search box. 3. Type in your search string and then under “File Type” choose “KMZ” or “KML”. This will look for only those types of files. The search on the left for Right Whales yielded a number of layers that have information about the species. 4. NOTE: KML stands for Keyhole Modeling Language, while a KMZ file is a zipped file that contains not only layer data but any information you have personally added to the layer, such as links to images and your own text.

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Google Earth Directions for Whale Rider Project – Part II Creating a Folder to Store Your Placemark(s) 1. One of the major goals of The Whale Rider Project is for students to use Google Earth to visualize the journey of the whales. Because different groups of students may be working on similar aspects of the project it is important for each group to store their placemark data in a separate folder with an appropriate title and their name. 2. To create a folder to store your placemarks, move your mouse over the “My Places” icon in the “Places” panel and then right-click with your mouse.

3. Choose “Add” from the menu and then move your mouse toward the arrow for the pop-out window.

4. Choose the “Folder” option. 5. Give the Folder a title and also include your name (for example: The Whale Rider – ThomasC – Spring 2009). This will help the teacher know which placemark belongs to which student and also what year it was done. 6. NOTE: If students are working on various topics, such as culture, oceanography, geography, ecology, language, you might want to have them name their folders with that designation.

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7. You can also provide a description about the project under the description tab. In this text box you can type in any information you want and also format how it will be displayed using XHTML. For now just type in a short description. We will be learning how to work with XHTML later.

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Creating a Placemark 1. Click on the yellow push pin in the tool bar at the top of your screen. A yellow push pin will appear along with a dialog box where we will be entering information later. 2. Click and drag the push pin to where you live. 3. NOTE: If you can’t see a location in enough detail, you can use the navigation tools to move around or the zoom tool to zoom in or out until you are at your desired location. 4. Type in a title for your placemark, such as the name of the place and click OK.

5. NOTE: You could also have students create extra placemarks that deal with one of the major subjects that can be addressed along with the general story, such as cultural anthropology, biology, ecology, geography, history, linguistics, and oceanography. 6. You should now see your placemark. If it’s not in the right location and you want to move it, right click on the yellow push pin and choose “Properties”from the menu. Once the dialog box is open you can use your mouse to move the placemark to where you want it.

7. Now spend a few minutes creating a placemark for each location the whales travel mentioned in the book: The Valdes Peninsula, Tonga, Easter Island, Hawaiki, Antarctica, and Whangara.

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8. Give each placemark a title and then move each placemark into the storage folder you created.

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Measuring Distances 1. Google Earth provides a number of measuring tools that can be used by students who want to explore various aspects of geography, such as the spatial relationships between places on Earth. To use one of the measuring tools, click on the ruler in the tool bar. 2. In the Free and Plus version of Google Earth, students can draw lines to determine the distance between to places. Distances can be converted to a number of different types of measurements as shown to the right. 3. The path tool can be used to measure distances not in a straight line, such as following the path of a road from one city to another. 4. In the Pro version of Google Earth, students can also use a circle tools or the polygon tool to measure different areas. 5. Use both the path and line tool to measure the distance between two places mentioned in the book, The Whale Rider. 6. NOTE: You could have students use the path tool to measure the distance the whales travel on their journey. Which legs are the longest, or the shortest? What physical, biological, or ecological factors may have contributed to the time it took for the whales to travel from one place to another?

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Saving Your Information to Your Computer 1. The placemarks you create are stored on the computer you are working on and not on Google’s server. It is therefore necessary to save the placemarks you create to your folder on the school’s network. 2. Before we save our placemark (or layer), make sure that any placemarks you created are in the folder. If they are not, then click on them and drag them into the folder you created earlier. 3. Collapse the folder by clicking on the “+ “ sign next to the folder.

4. Make sure there is a “Check Mark” in the box next to the folder. This means that all objects in the folder have been selected. If there is not, then click on the box to the left of the folder until a checkmark appears. NOTE: This is the most common way students lose their information.

5. Click on the folder to highlight it.

6. In the File menu, choose “Save” and then “Save Place As”. Because your placemark(s) are in a folder the program considers the folder to be one object.

7. Navigate to your folder on the school network by clicking on “Browse Networked Learning - 2009

Folders”. Then click “Save”.

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Changing Icons

1. Right click on one of your placemarks in the Places Panel.

2. Choose “Properties” from the menu.

3. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the Edit Placemark window.

4. Choose a different icon from the list.

5. Click “OK” to save.

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Downloading and Installing a Custom Icon 1. Icon Archive is a website that contains thousands of free icons that you can use for projects. Use an Internet browser to navigate to - http://www.iconarchive.com/ 2. Use the search box to find a whale fluke icon, like the one shown at this location http://www.iconarchive.com/show/newzealand-icons-by-afterglow/WhaleWatching-icon.html .

3. Right click on the largest image of the whale fluke and choose “Save Image As”. Save the image to your project folder on the school network. 4. To upload the file, right click on a placemark and then click on the icon in the Edit Placemark window. 5. At the bottom of the window, click on “Add Custom Icon” and then browse your computer for that icon. 6. Click “OK” to save. Repeat this process for each icon.

7. NOTE: I would create a “Documents” page on the project wiki to store any files you want the students to use, such as images or direction on how to use Google Earth.

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Adding a Path to Connect Your Placemarks 1. The path tool is one way to connect placemarks in a layer. To draw a path between two placeamrks, click on the “Add

Path” tool, path.

then name your

2. Click on the location where you want to start your path and drag your mouse until you reach your destination. You do not have to draw in a straight line. 3. Click “OK” to save your path. 4. To edit your path, right click on the path icon in the “Places” menu. Zoom in to see the section of the path you want to change. Click on the sizing handles to adjust the path. 5. NOTE: If you want to increase the length of your path, you will have to choose the sizing handle on either end of the path and drag it. You cannot add to the path. If the path is not sufficient, you will have to delete it and start over.

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Adding Text to a Placemark

1. Each placemark will displace text like a Word document. You can type in any information that you choose in the text box of the placemark. Take some time and add a short summary about The Whale Rider to the Description tab of the project folder you created in Google Earth. If you haven’t read the story you can get a summary from

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_Rider Book Review http://www.curledup.com/whalerid.htm Film Review http://www.reelviews.net/movies/w/whale_ri der.html

2. Click “OK” to save the information.

3. Click on the placemark to view your information.

4. NOTE: If you want to format your text, such as making it bold, or in italics, you will have to use XHTML and CSS code discussed in a later section.

The following is an excerpt from the book The Whale Rider (pp. 27). We will be using this code in the following sections. Please copy and paste this code into the placemark – Navel of the Universe. If you did not create one for this location, then do so now. Locate

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this placemark about 400 leagues from Easter Island in the Pacific. A league is about 3.000006 miles. Then copy and paste the following paragraphs into your placemark:

Four hundred leagues from Easter Island. Te Pito o te Whenua. Diatoms of light shimmered in the cobalt blue depths of the Pacific. The herd, sixty strong, led by its ancient leader, was following the course computed by him in the massive banks of his memory. The elderly females assisted the younger mothers, shepherding the newborn in the first journey from the cetacean crib. Way out in front, on point, and in the rear, the young males kept guard on the horizon. They watched for danger, not from other creatures of the sea but from the greatest threat of all – man. At every sighting they would send their ululation back to their leader. They had grown to rely on his member of the underwater cathedrals where they could take sanctuary, often for days, until man had passed. Such a huge cathedral lay beneath the sea at the place known as the Navel of the Universe.

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Formatting Text in a Placemark 1. To edit the the placemark, right click on the placemark and choose “Properties” from the menu. 2. Copy and paste the text from The Whale Rider provided above into your placemark.

3. To start a paragraph, type the code

in front of the paragraph. At the end of the paragraph, type code

to end the paragraph. 4. To make the Maori phrase “Te Pito o te Whenua” italics, type the code in front of the first word. To end the italics, type the code after the period that ends that sentence. 5. NOTE: I have provided an XHTML Crib Sheet that I give to the students as a guide which explains how to also underline or bold text. You can find more XHTML code on W3Schools website at http://www.w3schools.com/html/D EFAULT.asp

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Adding Links to a Placemark 1. If you closed the placemark from the previous exercise, reopen it by right clicking on it in the Places Panel and choosing “Properties” from the menu. 2. We are going to add a link to an online resource where students can learn more about marine diatoms at - The "Friedrich Hustedt Study Centre for Diatoms http://www.awi.de/index.php?id=2366&L= 0 3. In front of the word “diatoms” type the code
4. After the quotes, copy and paste in the link to the diatom online database and then type the code “ rel="nofollow"> 5. After the word “diatoms” type the code to close the link 6. The complete code for this link should be:

Diatoms

7. NOTE: You might considerlinking to other types of media, such as right whale sound files. You can find other Right Whale sounds and learn how to read a spectrogram at the Right Whale Listening Network which is part of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornthology http://www.listenforwhales.org/NetCommu nity/Page.aspx?pid=430

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Google Earth Directions for Whale Rider Project – Part III Adding Images to a Placemark

1. Right click on the placemark you want to add a picture to and choose “Properties” from the menu to edit the placemark.

2. Click above the text you entered from before and hit enter to make room for the code for the picture.

3. NOTE: All pictures must already be loaded on the Internet. You can access pictures by searching for images in Google or by using a photosharing site such as Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) or Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com) to upload your own pictures.

4. Bring up a web browser.

5. Type in the address for Google Search (http://www.google.com)

6. Click on images link in the upper left corner of the screen.

7. Type in “Southern Right Whales” in the search box.

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8. Click on an image of your choice that relates to the project.

9. Click on “See Full-Size Image” at the top of the screen.

10.Right click to bring up the menu and choose “Properties”. This will bring up an “Element Properties” dialog box which contains information on the image.

11.Highlight the location code for the image. It should start with“http:” and end with a file extension, such as “.jpg”.

12.Click above the first text entry and then hit enter to move the text down. Copy this information into the placemark. I like to put my images above the information in the placemark.

13.Click before the “http:” and add the following information:

14.Click “OK” to save the information.

15.Click on the placemark to view the information.

16.NOTE: You can add links, images, video, and other objects to your placemark but you will need to understand some XHTML Networked Learning - 2009

code. In the appendix, I’ve provided a crib sheet that I give my students.

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Adding Video to a Placemark 1. You can embed video into a placemark to add some dynamic content. To do this, open an Internet browser and navigate to YouTube.com or another video sharing site such as Google or DailyMotion.com. 2. In the “Search” box, type in your search criteria. For this exercise we will search on Southern Right Whales, which is the type of whale discussed in The Whale Rider.

3. Choose a short video that you like. Once you have one that you would like to embed, look for the “Embed” code. For YouTube.com it is typically shown on the right side of the screen under the “Link” code. 4. Copy and paste the “Embed” code into a placemark that you are working on.

5. Click “OK” to save the code and then click on the placemark to view it. 6. NOTE: You can also add text above this embedded object or below it by using the text formatting codes we discussed earlier. 7. A great place to find educational videos is the Census of Marine Life Project’s video gallery http://www.coml.org/video/index.html

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Embedding a Document or Spreadsheet into a Placemark 1. You can use the same embed code to embed a document or spreadsheet into a placemark in Google Earth. For this project you might consider having students use Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) to create a spreadsheet on data about Southern Right Whales or other organisms mentioned in the text. Students could obtain this information from one of the data collection projects connected with the Marine Census of Life http://www.coml.org/census-resources. Some project quick links are shown to the right. Or, they could search for other online databases. 2. To embed a document/spreadsheet, have students create their document and then save it as a PDF file. To do this, click File >> Save As and when the menu appears, choose Adobe PDF or another PDF creator, as shown to the right. 3. I then have students sign up for a Scribd.com account and upload their document there. 4. Have them copy the “Embed” code that is provided by Scribd.com as indicated by the blue highlighted code to the right.

5. Open a placemark and paste the code into the placemark where you want it to appear. Remember that you can add text above or below it to explain what the presentation is about by using the text formatting code Networked Learning - 2009

discussed earlier.

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Embedding PowerPoints into a Placemark

1. You can use the same embed code to embed a PowerPoint Presentation into a placemark in Google Earth. For this project you might consider having students create a multimedia presentation on the biology of Southern Right Whales, Oceanography, or the Ecology of New Zealand. 2. To embed a presentation, have students create their PowerPoint and then save it as a PDF file. To do this, click File >> Save As and when the menu appear, choose Adobe PDF or another PDF creator, as shown to the right.

3. I then have students sign up for a SlideShare.com account and upload their presentation there. 4. Have them copy the “Embed” code that is provided by SlideShare.com as indicated by the blue highlighted code to the right. 5. Open a placemark and paste the code into the placemark where you want it to appear. Remember that you can add text above or below it to explain what the presentation is about by using the text formatting code discussed earlier.

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Networked Learning - 2009

Using a Dreamweaver Template to Layout Elements in a Placemark 1. Open a web browser, such as Internet Explorer and type in the address for The Whale Rider Project in the address bar of your browser: http://whaleriderproject.wikispaces.co m

2. On the right-hand side of your screen under “Resources”, click on the “Documents” page link.

3. Scroll down and look for the “Placemark Template Code” file and double click on it to open it.

4. If it asks you if you want to save it or open it, choose “Open with” and choose Microsoft Word from the drop down list. Then click OK. 5. Copy and paste the code from the Word document into the placemark.

6. Click OK to save the template to your icon. 7. Double click on the icon to see what the template looks like. There is a banner which ties together each placemark and gives them a common appearance. There is also a place for you to write about your project, add the results of your data and also to add an image. The image could be of you or a friend taking a water quality test, or you could place an image of a graph in the picture place holder.

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Networked Learning - 2009

Changing the Placeholder Text in the Template 8. If you navigated away from the “Documents” page of The Whale Rider Projectreturn to that page by clicking on the “Documents” link on the leftside of the wikispace. 9. On the documents page, scroll down and open the file “The Whale RiderTemplate Guide”.

10.As with opening the file in the last section, if it asks you if you want to save it or open it, choose “Open with” and choose Microsoft Word from the drop down list. Then click OK. 11.When the file opens, take a couple of minutes to review it. This document explains some of the code and shows you where to substitute your text with the place holder text. Items on the right in the boxes give you directions on what to do. Arrows point from the boxes to the text where you should substitute your information. A section of this document is shown to the right. 12.If you have any questions about where to place your text, you should ask your instructor. 13.We will be editing each sections and then saving it. Once you have replaced the text for a section, click OK on the placemark.

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Animating Tours 1. With the release of 5.0 the free version of Earth, you now have the ability to create animated tours of your placemark balloons. 2. To create a tour, click on the video camera icon in the tool bar. A small recording tool bar will appear at the bottom of the Earth window. 3. Click the “Record” button represented by the red dot. 4. To add audio to the recording, click on the microphone and speak.

5. To stop the recording, click on the red dot again. 6. To review the recording, click on the “Play” button. 7. To save the recording, click the “Save” button. Then name the tour. You could also add a description of the tour if you want. As with other placemarks, the description will handle text and other formatting code. 8. Click “OK” to save the tour. Also, make sure to click the “X” on the recorder. Having the recorder open, limits other functions in Google Earth.

9. NOTE: Make sure to move this tour placemark into your folder for the Whale Rider before you export it.

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