Category: Mapping

15 Interesting Ways to use Google Maps to Support Learning

Interesting Ways, MappingPublished onUpdated on4 Comments on 15 Interesting Ways to use Google Maps to Support Learning

As many of you will know I am a bit of a map nerd and have always enjoyed peering down at the Earth through a map or using tools like Google Earth and Maps. In the past I have explored ways to use the strong visual resource to inspire writing and all sorts of other learning.

It is good to dust off this Interesting Ways resource, which is still emerging – it would be lovely to have you help extend the resource with more ideas about using Google Maps to support learning.

To add an idea use the little cog icon on the presentation above and click “Open Editor” – jump to the last slide and follow the instructions.

It would be great to see this resource developed further and is a great opportunity for you and your colleagues to share some of the creative ways you use Google Maps.

BBC Dimensions: exploring the human scale of events and places in history

Data, Mapping, Maths, Social MediaPublished on5 Comments on BBC Dimensions: exploring the human scale of events and places in history

Dimensions is an experimental project from the BBC that allows you to compare the scale of different types of events with something that we can all recognise. There are two parts of the project “How many really?” and “How big really?“

“How many really?” is all about the numbers of people that were involved in a whole range of different events throughout history. The tool allows you to either add in your own numbers, for example 30, the number of children in your class, connect with Facebook or Twitter and compare your networks or even the number of people who can board a double decker bus or a Boeing 747.

You are then shown a visual comparison with the number of people involved in the event that you have chosen. The events fall into the following categories:

  • Battles
  • Civilisations
  • Current Affairs
  • Disasters
  • Diseases
  • Entertainment
  • Modern Society
  • Religion
  • Slavery
  • War

“How big really?” is all about getting a better understanding for the scale of different historical events and locations compared to our own map location.

We want to bring home the human scale of events and places in history. The D-Day landing beaches measured from London to Norfolk in the UK. How far would the Titanic stretch down your street?

Dimensions simply juxtaposes the size of historical events with your home and neighbourhood, overlaying important places, events and things on a satellite view of where you live. Certain “Dimensions” can be transformed into short walks, so you can get a physical appreciation of the distances involved.

The tool provides a range of example categories to explore including:

  • The War on Terror
  • Space
  • Depths
  • Ancient Worlds
  • Environmental Disasters
  • Festivals and Spectacles
  • WW2 – Battle of Britain
  • The Industrial Age
  • Cities in History

From the Ancient Worlds category you can place all sorts of significant monuments, like the Colosseum, on top of your own location. It gives you a true understanding of the scale of these structures. This would be great for classes to begin to really appreciate these huge monuments. What would be even better would be seeing a 3D model – as in Google Earth or Maps – on your location and then being able to pan and zoom around it.

The Dimensions tools would be interesting to use within a history class but also within maths to help children and classes get a better appreciation of different sizes. It will eventually be integrated into the online history resources at the BBC depending on user feedback.

#UKSnowDepth

Mapping, MathsPublished on11 Comments on #UKSnowDepth

The snow in the UK has really kicked in this week and many, many schools are closed – I thought we could take the opportunity to create some learning resources related to the conditions.

I discovered this list of snow depths but then thought perhaps we could simply crowd-source some accurate data from colleagues across the UK adding their own personal measurements. Collaborating on a map would also provide us the location too.

Here is the map so far – use the link below the map to add your own measurements.


View #UKSnowDepth in a larger map

I expect there are a great many different ways we could use this data (and this snowy experience) when we get back to classes. Here are a few thoughts of mine:

  • Create simple graphs and chart to represent the data. Answer questions to interpret the information.
  • Develop your own map for the snow depth on your school site, taking measurements in different locations. Explore the conditions that might have brought about the highest depth.
  • Gather information from other countries in Europe that have been effected.
  • Make comparisons to countries that have a constant or more regular snowfall.
  • Cross reference the snow depths to the temperatures – repeat for other countries.
  • Design a snow depth instrument.
  • Learn about the depth of snow during expeditions to Everest or the Poles.
  • Read historic accounts of expeditions and references to snow depth.
  • Learn about different types of snow and how it changes under different temperatures and conditions.
  • Explore freezing and melting.
  • Look at insulation and conduct an investigation about keeping something cold or hot.

What ideas do you have for back-to-school-after-the-snow days – leave a comment with your thoughts.

Embedding Google Maps on Your Blog or Website

Blogging, Google, Google Earth, MappingPublished onUpdated on11 Comments on Embedding Google Maps on Your Blog or Website

This is a pretty straight forward process, but it also can have a variety of different outcomes depending on which map you want to display. It is useful to know these options to offer a richer visual experience on your blog or website.

Here is the basic run through:

  1. Navigate to the location on Google Maps that you want to embed elsewhere.
  2. Click on the LINK button above the map.
  3. You can take the second link of HTML to embed in your blog – this is the default size 450 by 350.
  4. Useful to note here that this is iframe code which doesn’t work well in WordPress (or Edublogs for that matter) – so if you have a WordPress blog write your blog post in the Visual editor and when you are ready switch to HTML editor, paste your code and then publish straight away. If you switch back to the Visual editor the code will get stripped out and your map will vanish.

Customise your map for embedding:

  1. Hitting the Customise and preview embedded map link will give you a bunch of options and allows you to refine exactly what you want embedded.
  2. The map sizes you can choose from are Small, Medium, Large and a Custom option for you to define the exact size.

You in fact have four different choices for the style of map you can use at this point.

Earth = Google Earth (plugin needed)
Ter = Terrain style
Sat = Satellite imagery
Map = Map

For a fifth and sixth option you can combine the Satellite or Earth imagery with the Maps labels, a little rollover on each button.

Here are the examples of the different maps that you can display embedded below, plus an extra bonus. I particularly like the Google Earth choice that provides that functionality to any user, they of course need the GE browser plugin which is available on Flock, IE, Firefox and Chrome.

GOOGLE EARTH


View Larger Map

GOOGLE EARTH and MAP


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TERRAIN


View Larger Map

SATELLITE


View Larger Map

MAP


View Larger Map

SATELLITE and MAP


View Larger Map

STREETVIEW


View Larger Map

To embed Streetview just drag the little Orange pegman to the map and find your preferred Streetview, then just follow the process explained above, easy. You can always alter the view on the Customise page if you need to.

The location of these maps is the Angel of the North. It is worth looking out for these special locations where Streetview goes offroad and follows footpaths to get up close to various monuments or unique locations.

There you go, seven different types of maps to embed in your blog or website – I hope you found this little guide useful.

Newspaper Car Park

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At the London offices of Google they have a Google Earth tour displayed on a wall of the reception area. I happened to spot this quirky use of space by an Amsterdam based newspaper printing company.


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According to James Turnbull and the Google Sightseeing blog the translations include:

  • “Entree” = “Entrance”
  • “Afhalen kranten” = “Pick-up newspapers”
  • “Parkeren vrachtwagens tot 5m” = “Parking trucks up to 5 metres”
  • “Papier” = “Paper”
  • “Aanvoer goederen” = “Supply Goods”
  • “Uitgang” = “Exit”