Google Earth
You can refer to some of the Google Earth file (kmz) in the drive at the bottom of this page.
Google earth Web version is very similar to ipad's - https://earth.google.com/web/
You can download Google Earth free here: http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html
This is how the screen will look when you open up Google Earth app or plugin.
Perform searches from the search box at the top left side of the program. Let's visit Machu Picchu!
You can type a place name, zipcode or postcode, a town/city name, an airport or you can even try to type in a latitude-longitude location (in decimal format). Once you press the ↵ Enter key, you'll be "flown" to that destination. You can take a virtual holiday!
You can also drag the little yellow man icon to the map and you will get to see street view. I do this before I visit a place so that I can navigate the place easily when I am there!
Use the zoom out and zoom in options from the buttons on the right hand side of the screen.
Turn the wheel in the top right corner to spin the item to a better understood angle.
Why do you think that this place attracts many tourists?
Click on Exit Street view to go back to the map.
Look for the date the picture was taken from the bottom left hand corner of the screen.
Scroll through the dates to see all the satellite images from different days of the year.
Zoom to a place on the map where the satellite image has a date, click the "View" menu from the menu bar and click the "Historical Imagery" button to enable the feature.
Drag the location of the toggle slider switch in the top left corner to a different date and see what the area was like. e.g. you can see what New Orleans was like after Hurricane Katrina, or one of the many famous historical times that date back to 1990!
Utilize the Layers button from the bottom left hand side of the screen.
Turn on Weather view from the Layers button in the bottom left corner. Click the drop-down negative sign and next to Weather and click both the "Radar" and "Clouds" options. You'll be able to see rain and snow and clouds and sleet on this map, just like you were looking at a weather radar on a TV screen weather broadcasting channel. (Temperature data has been dropped in 2017)
Turn on other buttons for additional items to view about the location. You can turn on Panoramio photos from exact locations where others have taken pictures of landmarks worldwide, or even turn on YouTube videos when these videos have been placemarked. Look through that list, and see if you can turn on other very useful features that show the world from the eyes of other viewers.
Look at the locations of epicenters to recorded earthquakes by turning on the Earthquake feature in the Gallery drop-down.
I have attached some of the kmz files below which you can explore. There are also many kmz or kml files which you can use with Google Earth online.
2 of the coastal kmz files attached below were created by me - one on map reading which is the coastal area south of UK. The map was from one of the N level papers. The other is an extension on coastal studies with human activities and coastal management.
The other file is the Earth Tectonic plates. I have place marked the features or the plate boundaries you see the actual locations on Google Earth.
Earthquake around the world kmz - WWeqANSS.kml attached - Have you wondered where and when did earthquakes of magnitude 8 or 9 occurred? Open up the file and find out!
Open the earthquake focus file attached to see whether there is a relationship between the depth of focus and the plate boundaries.
Use the 4degrees file to investigate the areas where there are higher increase in temperatures.
https://earth.app.goo.gl/TxrxZH
A good Google Earth app to show how climate change can impact on coastal cities
Open up the Hurricane Katrina file to see the historical images on how the hurricane formed and moved over New Orleans.
Updated 28 Feb 2021
Latest Google Earth file I have created on Climographs attached below
3 types of climate
Mumbai, India -Tropical Monsoon
Why do places located on similar latitudes have different temperatures?
Quito, Ecuador vs Singapore - Equatorial
Fairbanks vs Anvhorage, USA -both are Cool Temperate
Updated 3 April 2021
Google Earth provides opportunities to explore geographical issues such as Climate Change.
Other than the Google Earth kmz file 4 degrees which shows areas most affected by global warming in terms of temperature changes (kmz file attached below) , students can explore cities which will be most impacted by the rise in sea level in the simulation with Voyager in Google Earth. The file on sea level rise and the fate of coastal cities can be found under the category Nature in Voyager.
Showing the spatial extent of impact of sea level rise with a 2 degree increase in global temperature as compared to a four degree increase on Mumbai in India.
Love the 3D enactment of the coastal flooding of the cities with sea level rise.
