Introduction to Google Earth

Transcription

1 Introduction to Google Earth Assignment: The goal of this assignment is for you to become familiar with Google Earth. You may work alone or with a partner but you must turn in your own individual work. When finished with the assignment, please turn in your Google Earth file and a your answers electronically (see details below). This assignment is due before class on Friday, Jan 29, Getting Started with Google Earth: Follow the instructions below and answer questions as requested: Download the latest version of Google Earth to your laptop: Go to the Google Earth website at: Download either Google Earth or Google Earth Pro. Follow the instructions and prompts to load the software to your laptop. (If you have trouble downloading the software, please try to troubleshoot first before contacting me. The whole process shouldn t take more than five minutes to complete!) If you are having trouble with any parts of the exercise, you can try troubleshooting here: Or come and meet me in office hours for help. Start up the Google Earth program, and follow the instructions below: Navigating Google Earth: There are two main ways to navigate in Google Earth: 1) Note the control panel in the upper right corner of your screen (see attached figure). It appears when you move your cursor over the window. You can use this control panel to zoom in and out (+/- on the bottom), tilt up and down (top circle), and otherwise navigate (middle circle). This way of navigating is quite cumbersome and I suggest experimenting with the following: 2) Whether you are using a touchpad or proper mouse, you can fully navigate with different combinations of finger commands. Practice playing with these controls and get familiar with whatever your preferred mode of navigation is! While navigating around, there are several handy shortcut keys: N resets the orientation of the planet so north is up. R resets both the north orientation and any oblique tilt. Layers and Featured Content: Note the panels on the left side of the screen (Search, Places, Layers). You can search Google Earth in the Search panel, just as you would conduct searches using any other online mapping software. The Places panel is where you can store your own files and folders, and where you can save downloads. Finally, the Layers panel allows you to turn on and off other features, such as place names, roads, boundaries, and featured content.

2 Note that there are a lot of icons shown when you zoom in for a closer look at Earth s surface. Each of these icons represents part of Google Earth s Primary Database this is obviously content that comes with the program (although you must have an internet connection). A blue icon with a check mark means that the layer is visible, whereas a blank box means the layer is not displayed. Click the box beside the Gallery folder in the Layers panel so none of the gallery material is displayed. To start this exercise, make sure all of the Layers are turned off. Click the triangle next to the Gallery folder to open this folder, then check the box next to Gigapxl Photos this is simply only turning on this layer. Find the Gigapxl photo at Lassen Peak National Monument in northeastern California. Double click on the icon. A description will open automatically. Click to fly into the ultrahigh resolution photo. Note that you can zoom into, out of, and around this photo. 1. In what direction is this photo taken? (i.e. which way is the camera pointed - west, northwest, southeast, etc.) When you are done being amazed by the beauty of Lassen Peak and resolution of the Gigapxl photo, exit the photo and turn the Gigapxl layer off (uncheck the box in the Layers menu). Zoom out until you can see the summit of Lassen Peak. Try clicking the Terrain layer in the Layers menu on and off. Ultimately, you want the Terrain layer to be on. 2. How does the Terrain layer change what you see at Lassen Peak? Use the control panel in the upper right of the screen (or your mouse) to navigate so that you are hovering over the summit of Lassen Peak. Saving Your Own Content: Click on the Add menu at the top of the Google Earth window, and add a folder. Name this folder with your last name. Once added, you will see the folder in your Places panel. Be sure that your folder is inside the My Places folder and NOT inside the Temporary folder simply drag and drop to rearrange the folders or right click -> Save to my places. Click on the Tack icon at the top of the window (or Add -> Placemark) to add a Placemark to your folder. Name the Placemark Lassen Peak. Don t close the Placemark window yet! Position the Placemark (by clicking and dragging) so that it is on the summit of the peak. Give the Placemark the following description: Lassen Summit. Click on the yellow tack in the upper right-hand corner of the pop-up window, and choose the volcano icon for your Placemark. Click OK. Note that your new Placemark has appeared inside your folder in the Places panel. (If not, drag and drop until it does.) Right-click on the Placemark you just created and select Properties. This is how you can edit a Placemark and see some of the properties. 3. What is the elevation at the summit? What is the latitude and longitude of your Placemark on the

3 summit of Lassen Peak? We haven t talked about these yet so if you re confused, check out this page: Now let s practice using some of Google Earth s other Add functions: Find the USC campus, either by searching or by using the control panel to fly to it. Find Tommy Trojan and add a Placemark on him. Give the Placemark a name, description, and an interesting icon. Be sure the Placemark appears inside your folder in the Places panel. Add a Path showing the most likely route from your icon on Tommy Trojan to the Coliseum via the Rose Gardens. Click on the Path icon at the top of the window (or Add -> Path). Give the path a name and a description. To create the path, click at your starting point and then drag or click along the desired route to your ending point. When finished, choose a bright color for your path so it shows up clearly. Now we re going to turn the Coliseum into a 3-D structure. You ll use the Polygon tool to show where this building is located. Click the Polygon icon at the top of the window (or Add - > Polygon). Create the polygon by clicking around the perimeter of the Coliseum. Be sure to close the polygon by connecting the first point to the last point. Now, in the Properties window for the polygon, give the polygon an area color and a different line color. In order to still see the structure underneath, make the area opacity 50%. Under the Altitude tab, give the polygon an altitude of 50 meters, and extend the sides to the ground by clicking the lower box (note that to adjust the altitude of the structure you may need to select Relative to the ground from the drop down menu to the right). Use the navigation control panel to tilt the view to show the 3-D view of the polygon. In the View box for the polygon, click on Snapshot View. This means that whenever someone clicks on your polygon, they will be shown the same view that you have just designated. 4. What is the length, in kilometers, of your path from Tommy Trojan to the Coliseum? 5. What the approximate area (in square meters) of the Coliseum footprint? 6. Is this satellite image of USC current (showing what the campus looks like now)? How do you know? Give at least two lines of reasoning (hint: check the date of the image in the lower left-hand corner). Locate your hometown. It is not necessary to mark precisely where you live. Save this location as a Placemark, giving it a name, description, and interesting icon. 7. Using the Ruler tool (blue ruler icon on the top toolbar), measure the distance, in kilometers, between your hometown and USC. Record the distance. Importing KML (Google Earth) Content: KML files are able to be imported/exported and displayed in Google Earth. We ll quickly go through importing a KML file: Go to the website for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program at: Find the link on the right side of the screen M2.5+ Earthquakes in the past 30 days (continually

4 refreshed), colored by depth. Download the link and then load it in to Google Earth by selecting File -> open and locate your newly downloaded.kml file, then open it. The newly loaded file should load into your Places. If it s under temporary places, drag it up or right click -> Save to my places. Note that beside the locations and magnitudes of current/recent earthquakes, this file contains a number of layers, including various tectonic boundaries. Look through the folders and try turning on and off the different layers. In the Layers panel, find and turn on the Borders and Labels layer. 8. About how many earthquakes have occurred in the Los Angeles area in the past 30 days? What is the depth range of the deepest earthquake? What is the magnitude of the strongest? (hint: look at the legend bar to the left). 9. Which U.S. state (lower 48) has had the most earthquakes in the past 30 days? I know we haven t talked about earthquakes or plate tectonics yet, but do you have any guesses why there were so many earthquakes here? Lastly, we ll take a look at some of the National Parks in California. Under More -> Parks and Recreation Areas in the layers menu, turn on the US National Parks. Open the US National Parks list to ensure all four boxes are checked. Zoom out so you can see the entire state of California. Note that it may be helpful to turn off some of your other inactive layers to declutter the imagery. If you don t already have the Borders and Labels layer on, turn it on. 10. What is the northernmost park in California? How about the easternmost? 11. When hovering over a park at less than ~70km altitude, you can see the park outline. Which California National Park is largest? Draw a rough shape outline over the park area. What is the approximate area in square kilometers? (hint: if you re stuck, look at the section on measuring the area of the USC Coliseum.) Tips for submitting the lab: Be sure that all of the placemarks, etc. created for this assignment are in your folder. Rightclick on your folder in the Places panel, and choose . The Google Earth program will save this folder as a.kmz file. This is the zipped version of the standard.kml Google Earth file type. Include the document with your written answers to the above questions in the same created in the previous step. The completed assignment should include one sent to alexanderdlusk@gmail.com with the following items attached: Google Earth.kmz file. Document with your answers.

5 GEOL115: Exploring California s National Parks Polygon tool Path Placemark tool tool Scale bar View past imagery Ruler tool Date of image Latitude/longitude, land elevation of your curser Navigation tools View altitude