If you can bear with me until I get through next week’s workshops I’m going for SCETV, I’ll get off of this Google Earth/geotagging kick. I promise. Until then, here are a couple more Google Earth resources I stumbled upon while preparing my materials for these workshops.
First, when one thinks of geotagging, it’s usually in reference to images. Occasionally events and news items get geotagged. However, sounds have been fairly neglected – until now, that is. The Freesound Project sponsored by the Musical Technology Group of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Freesound solicits ambient sounds from contributors, many of which are geotagged. I really wish that the old "Lost and Found Sound" series and the current "SoundClips" series from NPR could have made use of this. Knowing the location of of a sound would really enhance one’s understanding of why and how that sound was generated.
The next two discoveries were made via the Ogle Earth blog. A teacher in Canada has put his students to work creating Google Earth files with locations found in classic literature. Google Lit Trips features titles such as The Aeneid, The Oddyssey, Macbeth, Candide, and The Grapes of Wrath. It looks like there are plans for more books. Most of these files include just the locations with very little accompanying information, but it looks like a great start on a neat project. For now, the information is targeted toward high school.
As with many things, one discovery often leads to another. Google Lit Trips had a link to resource by another teacher in Tucson, Arizona. His site, Google Earth Education Community, highlights the best of the postings to the Keyhole Community for educators. There are also some tutorials and tips for teachers on the site.
[tags]Google Earth[/tags]
Hi. I’m a teacher that helped create Google Lit Trips. My friend Jerome Burg came up with the idea and started the site and I made the trips for The Aeneid, The Odyssey, and Macbeth.
Just thought I’d let you know that some of them actually have quite a bit of accompanying information. My Aeneid trip has tons of photos at each stop, links to sites on the dig at Troy, Punic War history, archeological digs at the oracle spot in Italy, and more. Just click on the arrow for each stop and see what comes up.
Another way to do this is to have students fill out the info boxes. Googlelittrips is a good way both to present and guide and to assess and build.
Thanks for featuring us. We hope more people use these and get on board, and we’d love to have more people making the trips and submitting them to us. Please visit the site to tell us what you think.
Thanks, Matthew. The Aeneid was one that I didn’t get around to viewing, but I’ll do that now. I plan to use the site as a demonstration for my workshops next week. I think you guys are doing some great work!