When I was growing up, my parents and I would take a road trip at least once a year. Sometimes we'd drive to the beach, sometimes the mountains, and sometimes just to somewhere we'd never been before. Regardless of destination, I was sure we'd pack at least one thing: a map.
More specifically, a very large map that my parents bought before I was even born: Rand McNally's Complete Road Atlas of the United States (and Surrounding Territories). Wherever we found ourselves, we knew we'd be somewhere on our map, that we'd never be completely lost.
Same destination, different tools
Today, I'd be surprised to find that same map in my parents' car. Not because it's totally useless, but because they've found something much easier: Google Maps.
Google Maps is a free online map from Google. It's accessible through your web browser or as an app for mobile devices. You can use Google Maps to get step-by-step directions, find information about local businesses, and a whole lot more! For example, ever wondered where we create the content for our website? Check it out on the Google map below!
Google Earth Pro with the Volcanoes layer visible, and tectonic plate boundary data from USGS displayed
Google Earth is a geobrowser that accesses satellite and aerial imagery, topography, ocean bathymetry, and other geographic data over the internet to represent the Earth as a three-dimensional globe. Geobrowsers are alternatively known as virtual globes or Earth browsers. Google also refers to Google Earth as a "geographic browser." Other examples of geobrowsers are NASA's World Wind, ESRI's Explorer for ArcGIS, and GeoFusions's GeoPlayer. Google Earth Pro is available to download for desktop use for free. Google Earth for Web is a browser-based version and Google Earth on mobile is an app; both are also free of charge. Although the browser-based version has a certain ease of use (since it does not have to be installed as a desktop application), it does not have as many features that are helpful for educational activities. While it is possible to load kml files, to search for locations, and to use the Voyager for exploring various locations, there are some limitations to Earth for Web that do not exist
Google Earth Pro with the Volcanoes layer visible, and tectonic plate boundary data from USGS displayed
Google Earth is a geobrowser that accesses satellite and aerial imagery, topography, ocean bathymetry, and other geographic data over the internet to represent the Earth as a three-dimensional globe. Geobrowsers are alternatively known as virtual globes or Earth browsers. Google also refers to Google Earth as a "geographic browser." Other examples of geobrowsers are NASA's World Wind, ESRI's Explorer for ArcGIS, and GeoFusions's GeoPlayer. Google Earth Pro is available to download for desktop use for free. Google Earth for Web is a browser-based version and Google Earth on mobile is an app; both are also free of charge. Although the browser-based version has a certain ease of use (since it does not have to be installed as a desktop application), it does not have as many features that are helpful for educational activities. While it is possible to load kml files, to search for locations, and to use the Voyager for exploring various locations, there are some limitations to Earth for Web that do not exist with the Google Earth Pro desktop version. For example, creating a kml file in the browser-based version requires a work-around, this is mentioned in the User Guide section of this tutorial. The Google Earth Pro desktop version offers numerous features that are useful in educational settings, and offers additional capabilities such as higher resolution printing and saving of images and the ability to open ESRI shapefiles. Several versions of Google Earth are available for free download on Google's Google Earth Versions page.
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