google earth: a public meeting place for diverse earth system data glenn richard, stony brook...
TRANSCRIPT
Google Earth:A Public Meeting Place for Diverse Earth System Data
Glenn Richard,Stony Brook University
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
What’s good about Google Earth?
1. Easy to use
2. Lots of data
3. Base map always there
4. Large user community
What’s bad about Google Earth?
1. Lacks the analytical ability of a GISTank farm in New Jersey
Some Geometries of GE Data• Placemarks ~ESRI points• Paths ~ESRI polylines• Polygons ~ ESRI polygons• Ground Overlays ~ESRI rasters• Screen Overlays - Usually serves as a legend• Photo Overlays• 3D Models
Eiffel Tower 3D Model created by Google in Google Sketchup
KML – Keyhole Markup Language
<Placemark> <name>Beowawe Power Plant</name> <description><![CDATA[<p>Beowawe Power Plant</p><p><a href="http://geoheat.oit.edu/directuse/all/dup0432.htm">Summary Statistics</a> </p>]]></description> <LookAt> <longitude>-116.6180078756207</longitude> <latitude>40.55517650229375</latitude> <altitude>0</altitude> <range>226.1473943623671</range> <tilt>2.210892478024477e-011</tilt> <heading>0.9500232593827314</heading> <altitudeMode>relativeToGround</altitudeMode> </LookAt> <styleUrl>#msn_geothermal</styleUrl> <Point> <coordinates>-116.6172302139466,40.55490949500392,0</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark>
Placemarks
Geothermal Power Facilities placemarks by GAR
Links to summary statistics from Geo-Heat Center
Helicopter Flight – October 4, 2006
Study of tidal wetlands on South Shore of Long Island
Oblique aerial photos geotagged, using GPS and EXIF time data
GE Pro can read GPX format
Paths
Data from http://www.unr.edu/Geothermal/datalist.html
Quaternary fault data from Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy
Vertical exaggeration of terrain layer set to 3.0
View tilted at 74o from vertical
Polygons
Volcanic Ash Beds:
Georeferenced original map image in ArcGIS
Digitized ash bed boundaries as ESRI shapefile
Opened shapefile in Google Earth, saved it as KMZ
Original map from http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm
Original map
Ground Overlays
Geothermal favorability overlay from the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy
Strain rate Models for Southern California
Map overlays for southern California topography and faults 2.5 million years ago, 1 million years ago, and at present, displayed on Google Earth, using a North American reference frame.
<Document><name>Faults 1,000,000 YBP</name><TimeSpan id=“1,000,000_copy0">
<begin>-1000000</begin><end>-500000</end>
</TimeSpan>…
From “Map Tools for EarthScope Science and Education”
Funded by NSF
Measuring Things
Using the Google Earth ruler to determine the length of the Garlock Fault from its eastern end to Tehachapi (203.50 kilometers), and the displacement of the fault trace that has occurred between 1 million years ago and now in the vicinity of Tehachapi (8.79 kilometers).
Timespan of visibility
Geotagged Photography and Video
Panoramio GigapixlGigapanYouTube
Gigapixl: Half Dome
<Camera> <longitude>-119.563980631603</longitude> <latitude>37.7368192419472</latitude> <altitude>944.111136843754</altitude> <heading>49.3460456808784</heading> <tilt>84.6781418208252</tilt> <roll>-2.30590214406105e-014</roll> <range>3862.06629851875</range></Camera>
Panoramio: Mono Lake Sunrise
YouTube video: Old Faithful
Gigapan <PhotoOverlay>s<PhotoOverlay id="gigapan_7_copy0"> <name>Kaibab Trail (Grand Canyon)</name> <Snippet maxLines="1"><![CDATA[<a href="#gigapan_7">Enter panorama</a>]]></Snippet> <description><![CDATA[<div align="center">
<Camera> <longitude>-112.091274</longitude> <latitude>36.095424</latitude> <altitude>35</altitude> <heading>276</heading> <tilt>90</tilt> <roll>-1</roll> </Camera> <styleUrl>#panoramaStyle</styleUrl> <Icon> <href>http://gigapan.org/getGeTile.php?id=7&l=$[level]&r=$[y]&c=$[x]</href> </Icon> <rotation>-1</rotation> <ViewVolume> <leftFov>-64.2512</leftFov> <rightFov>64.2512</rightFov> <bottomFov>-26</bottomFov> <topFov>16.7751</topFov> <near>69</near> </ViewVolume> <ImagePyramid> <maxWidth>26857</maxWidth> <maxHeight>8940</maxHeight> <gridOrigin>upperLeft</gridOrigin> </ImagePyramid> <Point> <coordinates>-112.091274,36.09542400000001,0</coordinates> </Point> <shape>sphere</shape> </PhotoOverlay>
Gigapan: Kaibab Trail – Grand Canyon
Can rotate the camera’s viewpoint through the scene
gigapan.org
Google Earth Provs
Google Earth Free
Google Earth Pro can open:• GPS Data (GPX format)• ESRI Shapefiles (.shp)
• Also, better print quality for images
From Google Earth Pro, save the .shp or GPX data in KMZ format, so Google Earth Free users can open it
Tours
Start and stop tour through selected object (Folder, for example)
If folder contains a collection of placemarks, user will fly to the specified view for each one, in sequence.
New York Landscape Regions in Google Earth
http://www.bedford.k12.ny.us/flhs/science/geoscience/skluge/dlesege/
Google Earth offers a quick means of obtaining aerial imagery for a GIS.
Can capture images from Google Earth, and use the gridded image to georeference the non-gridded image.
The GridFlax Pond Tidal Marsh, Long Island
Learning about Google Earth: KML Gallery
Hurricane Katrina with Time Data
by Brian Flood
Google Earth Community Forums
Source of ideas and data
Forum for educators
The Geobrowsers Session at AGU 2007:Oral and Interactive Poster Presentations
Look for another Geobrowsers session at AGU 2008
From Declan DePaor: Embedding Collada Models in Geobrowser Visualizations: a Powerful Tool for Geological Research and Teaching
From Jesse D. Varner: Historical Natural Hazards Data in Google Earth
Where should we go from here?
Promote the practice of using Google Earth to foster an integrated Earth system perspective.
Need to:
• Identify useful existing datasets
• Develop new datasets, where needed
• Identify existing “best practices” in education
• Develop new educational materials
• Continue to use other tools