Geocaching and Maps – Page 11 – Random Connections

Three Towers in Two Hours

February 18, 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Local

It was a beautiful day, so I decided to try to find some of these lookout towers I had been researching. I picked three that would be within driving range before it got dark. Since it was a quiet day I left the office at 4:00 and headed south toward my first target. 1. Hobbyville … Read More “Three Towers in Two Hours” »

Searching for the Towers

February 17, 2009 Tom 2 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, Local, Miscellaneous

You would think that something that stands 100′ high would be easy to find. Certainly, when you’re close enough they are very visible. However, locating lookout tower sites on maps turns out to be harder than I had thought. I knew of several definite locations such as the Duncan Tower, Glassy Mountain, Paris Mountain, and … Read More “Searching for the Towers” »

Google Earth Plus PowerPoint Mash-up

February 12, 2009 Tom 5 Comments

EdTech, Geocaching and Maps

In mid-March I will be heading to SCETV studios in Columbia for a week of workshops, teaching South Carolina teachers about Google Earth. I do this every year and thoroughly enjoy meeting educators from around the state. Each year I try to change things up a bit, and this year is no different.

I’m really tired of PowerPoint. Or, more specifically, I’m tired of the laziness of boring bullet points read to an audience. I try to keep these to a minimum in my presentations, preferring to demonstrate actual software rather than spend the entire presentation in PowerPoint. This time I think I’ve found a way to combine both PowerPoint and Google Earth for an effective presentation, and here’s how I’m going to do it.

More Disc Golf Resources

February 9, 2009 Tom No Comments

Entertainment, Geocaching and Maps

I realized that in yesterday’s post I didn’t get any maps or locations to the two disc golf courses I’d played. The easiest thing would be to see if the Upstate Disc Golf Club website had links to maps on their course list, but there were not even any written directions. I thought I had … Read More “More Disc Golf Resources” »

Google Releases Google Earth version 5

February 2, 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Geocaching and Maps

Today I found out from Frank Taylor’s Google Earth Blog that Google has released version 5 of Google Earth. I had to run out and update my copies of the program right away.

At first glance there doesn’t appear to be much different. The buttons are altered slightly but the overall user interface hasn’t changed. However, there’s quite a bit new in this release, most of it under the surface (literally.)

The brand-new flashier bits in this version are as follows:

Google Ocean – greater details of the ocean floor had already worked their way into the last release of version 4. However, now users can plunge beneath the water’s surface to explore. A new folder of points of interest has been added to accompany the new feature.

Google Mars – Now users can switch between Earth, Sky, and Mars. The imagery is quite impressive. However, make sure that you de-select any of your terrestrial layers. It was a bit disconcerting to see earth-bound geotagged Flickr images on Mars.

Historical Images – To me, this is one of the coolest new features. When activated from a button on the tool bar, a slider appears. If there are any historical images of that location, slide the bar to the left to view them. It’s great for tracking changes over time. For example, here’s a view of the Reedy Falls Park area from 1994, prior to construction of the Liberty Bridge and Falls Place…

Geohashing – A Game Based on a Comic

January 27, 2009 Tom 6 Comments

Geocaching and Maps

The XKCD comic seen above came out around Christmas of 2006, and formed the basis for a new GPS activity – not necessarily going to a random location and making out, but using random numbers to generate latitude and longitude coordinates. The process of generating the random coordinates is called Geohashing. These coordinates serve as a basis for adventure, not unlike throwing a dart on a map and then trying to reach that location. It’s a lot like Geocaching, but you don’t have to find a little container, and the coordinates change.

Google Earth Censorship for DC

January 19, 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Geocaching and Maps

Frank Taylor’s Google Earth Blog had an interesting post this morning about updated imagery for Washington D. C., what with the inauguration upon us and all. Frank’s focus was on the realistic 3D imagery now available for the Capitol Building and other locations. I was more interested in what he had discovered about censorship of … Read More “Google Earth Censorship for DC” »

Historical Marker Database

January 7, 2009 Tom 1 Comment

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy

When I’m out on one of my photo explorations there are three books thatI usually have with me – South Carolina: One Day at a Time by Caroline Todd and Sydney Wait, the Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer for South Carolina, and the South Carolina Highway Historical Marker Guide by Judith Andrews. The latter title has … Read More “Historical Marker Database” »

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