Tuesday, December 30. 2008

Quote of the Week

"Geography is the study of patterns—be it that of precipitation, migration, or economics. None of those patterns are evident in a satellite images of the planet. Google Earth has a clear place in the classroom. But it cannot replace maps. It cannot give you an idea of the land relief or climatic patterns of Europe. It does not give you a snapshot view of indigenous nations or internal conflicts throughout Africa. Nor impart the sense that Nevada’s mountaintops sport subalpine forest surrounded by woodland."

- Daniel Rirdan, Director of Product Development at the Exploration Company arguing against Google Earth for classroom in a press release. He favors use of his company's DVD based interactive maps priced at $50-$180 per title.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google at 06:48 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) |

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Yes (Google Earth directly out-of-the-box without adding any new content to it) and no. Where he misses the boat is in that content, such as what he publishes, can easily be overlaid on Google Earth (or other similar platforms) - and combined with other dataset to actually EXTEND understanding by augmenting one with another. Google Earth (and similar geobrowsers) essentially just provide a framework - and through overlay of thematic data layers, animated temporal visualizations and so on, much of the capability he promotes can be realized.

#1 Dave Smith (Link) on 2008-12-30 07:33 (Reply)

It would be even better if these maps were in Google Earth so that students could overlay other data in order to help draw conclusions.

#2 Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne on 2008-12-30 08:38 (Reply)

"Nor impart the sense that Nevada’s mountaintops sport subalpine forest surrounded by woodland"

Ha. So that green stuff here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tahoe&sll=38.892091,-77.024055&sspn=0.286991,0.615234&g=Washington,+DC&ie=UTF8&ll=39.104489,-119.655533&spn=0.273343,0.87616&t=h&z=11

...is what? Grass? Look closely, oh certain-one, at what must surely be forests that are, ummm, surrounded by woodland.

#3 Archie Belaney on 2008-12-30 12:17 (Reply)

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In reply to	[ Top level ]#1: Dave Smith on 2008-12-30 07:33 #2: Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne on 2008-12-30 08:38 #3: Archie Belaney on 2008-12-30 12:17
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