1º British: Playing with Google Earth

We already know the cartographic projections and the different kinds of maps; we have also worked with coordinates and scales in maps of paper… Now we are going to work with Google Earth. Most of you surely already know it, so today’s exercise should be easy ;-)

But before start, we need to install it! You can do it quickly from this link to the free version:

• English: http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html
• Spanish: http://www.google.es/intl/es_es/earth/download/ge/agree.html

Have you finished? Now to start using it we need to know its different areas. Have a look to the next image and localize each area in your computer:

Have you find out what all the areas are for? Let’s work with them! All the activities are mandatory, OK? Make sure you write your answers in a Word document (making sure you save it with the .doc extension). You can include images from the exercises, using the option “Save image” from the “File” menu and pasting them into the Word document. Once you have finished all the work, send it by email to: blogeducativo08@gmail.com


Activity 1

Here you can see a list of coordinates… You have to find out what city each one of them belongs to. But take care with one thing! There is a condition when completing this activity: you cannot use the Google Earth searcher; that would be cheating! Remember that we are here to learn and not to compete, OK?

You must use the option “Lat/Lon Grid” from the “View” menu to display the meridians and the parallels and their numbers, and from there you must try to identify the element. For example:

You must identify almost five cities from the following list. Good luck!

Latitude	Longitude
43º.22’ N	5º.50’ O
40º.57’ N	5º.40’ O
40º.24’ N	3º.41’ O
41º.23’ N	2º.11’ E
52º.31’ N	13º.24’ E
47º.22’ N	8º.32’ E
40º.43’ N	74º.00’ O
10º.00’ S	55º.00’ O
33º.51’ S	151º.12’ E
35º.29’ S	62º.58’ O

Activity 2: The relief of Spain

Here we will try to identify several items from the Spanish relief (ranges, plateaus…) and their main characteristics. In fact, you should search for: Pyrenees, Teide, Peña de Francia, North Plateau and Guadalquivir’s Valley.

To “see” them you must follow the next steps:

1. Activate the “Terrain” layer (“Layers” section) that allows you to observe the relief in 3D (spite of a flat photography).
2. Change the terrain’s viewing angle to see the relief from another perspective, different to the normal top view.

Activity 3: Measure the Strait of Gibraltar

This exercise is the easiest one of all. It will help you to learn how to measure (in straight line) a distance with Google Earth.  To do that, you should allocate yourselves in the south limit of the Iberian Peninsula and measure the distance to the African coast. That can be done using the “Measure/Line” option in the “Tools” menu. For example: