1. An Introduction to the Program and Resources for Educators

2. Google Earth Overview Provides a way to explore the world without leaving your computer Free software Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac Easy to use Google Earth Pro also available, which has a few additional features such as importing GIS data

3. Google Earth Overview Initially provided mainly satellite imagery of land Has greatly expanded datasets over time Photos, 3D Buildings, Ocean Data, Weather Data, etc. Resources available to help educators use Google Earth in the classroom

4. Google Earth Demo – Basic Basic Features View from Machu Picchu Built-In Weather Layers Clouds Gallery Tsunami Wave Height

5. Image Overlays and KML Users can add their own images to Google Earth Ability to accurately geolocate where objects are placed, including satellite imagery Using KML files users can share data

6. Sharing Data with KML KML follows an XML schema that defines what the tags in a document mean Using those tags, users can insert a multitude of types of data into Google Earth Sharing the data is a easy as a user downloading a KML or KMZ file and opening it with Google Earth Issues with large image files Loading speed Quality can be degraded depending on video card

7. Tiling or Super-Overlays Cut original hi-res image into four tiles Resample hi-res original to make file size smaller Google Earth only downloads tiles in current view, reducing necessary data transfer Air Mass Product starts as 4096 x 4096 pixel image Tile size set at 256 x 256 pixels (for small file size), and create 5 separate zoom levels of tiles 341 image tiles in total per original image, each resampled to 256 x 256 pixels

8. Time Dimension KML 2.2 standard (released May 2008) added a time dimension Provides the ability to loop images as you would with most satellite data Can be combined with tiling to create user-controlled zooming of image loops

9. Google Earth Demo – Advanced SSEC MODIS Data http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/ RAMMB Real-Time Products http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/products/google_earth/ NWS Southern Region Headquarters http://www.srh.noaa.gov/gis/kml/ WDSS-II Data Bundle http://wdssii.nssl.noaa.gov/?r=products University of Illinois http://www.atmos.illinois.edu/weather/google_earth.shtml

10. Resources for Educators Easy to use in the classroom, as well as for students at home or in a computer lab Visually interesting way to look at many types of data Finding interesting KML files Search for filetype:kml search_terms in Google User Guide http://earth.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide_toc.cs Educator resources available, including Teacher to Teacher forum for sharing lesson plan ideas, etc. http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/