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Dr. Alice Christie's GE Frequently Asked Questions

What can you measure with the measuring tool?

• The length or width of any physical object visible in Google Earth
  • buildings, ships, airport runways, tractor trailers, fields, forests, etc.
  • islands, rivers, lakes, or oceans
  • towns, counties, states, countries, continents
• The height of buildings
• The distance between any two points
  • as the crow flies
  • along established highways, roads, paths, or rivers
• More on the Google Earth Measuring Tool

How do I locate the different layers in Google Earth?

• The layers feature is found in the lower left panel of Google Earth. If it is not visible, go to View > Side Bar and it will appear. The Layers feature provides a variety of data points of geographic interest that you can select to display over your viewing area.
• To view a specific layer, click the box to the left of the layer name. That layer will appear on my Google Earth map.
• Many layers have sub-layers. To view sub-layers, click the down arrow on any layer to show the sub-layers. To view a specific sub-layer, click the box to the left of the sub-layer name. That sub-layer will appear on my Google Earth map. See examples below:

Example 1

• Layer: Geographic Web
• Sub-layer: Wikipedia

Example 2

• Layer: Gallery
• Sub-layer: Google Book Search

Example 3

• Layer: Gallery
• Sub-layer: NASA
• Sub-sub-layer: Earth City Lights

Example 4 - The following geographic features are available in Google Earth:

Volcanoes

• Layer: Gallery
• Sub-Layer: Volcanoes

Earthquakes

• Layer: Gallery
• Sub-Layer: Earthquakes

Geographic Features

• Layer: Places of Interest

• Sub-Layer: Geographic Features

• At this time, there is no layer on US cencus data, but new layers are added frequently as Google creates partnerships with various data-rich organizations and efforts.
• To get a "clean" map, uncheck all layers.
• More about Google Earth Layers

How do I locate and view Dr. Christie's Google Earth Videos/Movies?

• All of Dr. Christie's GE Videos/Movies are available online and can be viewed with QuickTime Player. Click here to view videos. A description of how she made each movie is found below each movie.

In what languages is Google Earth available?

In addition to English, Google Eath is availiable in the folowing languages:

Is there an archive of sample Google Earth lessons anywhere online?

Currently, there is no central archive of GE lessons. However, there are several collections of GE lessons at the following sites:

• Google Earth for Educators
• Google Earth Outreach Showcase
• Google Earth Case Studies
• Google Earth Lessons: An Educational Resource for Teachers
• COMING SOON: Dr. Christie's Online Database of Google Earth Lessons
  Send lessons or links to lessons to alice.christie@asu.edu and indicate content area/s and grade level using the chart below:

What is Google Sky and How Does It Work?

Google Sky can be viewed in both Google Maps and Google Earth.

• Google Maps: viewable through an Interent browser
• Google Earth: part of the most recent version of Google Earth
  • Video on Google Sky component of Google Earth
  • Navigation, zooming, clicking of icons, etc. are the same as in GE
  • Directions and options for the Google Sky component of Google Earth:

Click the planet icon to switch from Google Earth to Google Sky.

The Sky Layers panel will appear in the bottom left of your screen. Each of the layers shown at the right is expandable to sub-layers.

Our Solar System sub-layer is shown to the right. It provides an introduction, views and information about the earth's moon, and views and information about all of the planets.

The Featured Observatories sub-layer is shown to the right. Each observatory provides photos taken from that site.

More Questions and Answers Coming Soon!