Google Maps for Educators - How to Get Started

This morning I ran a short workshop on Google Maps for educators. As I do for most workshops, I promised to post the how-to slides here. Here are the basic directions to get you started creating placemarks in Google Maps.



By the way, if you're interested in having me run a workshop or give a keynote at your school, please see my work with me page.

3D Buildings and Tours of the Amazon in Google Maps

In the last two days while I was busy traveling and hiking in Alberta (hike pictures to come on Saturday) Google released two great updates to Google Maps.

On Tuesday Google released updates to the 3D buildings that can be viewed in Google Maps Streetview. Now you can see some famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower and the White House, as 3D models in Google Maps. I've embedded the 3D model of the White House below.


View Larger Map

Yesterday, Google released new Streetview imagery for the Amazon. Now you can go on a virtual Streetview tour of the Amazon. Some the imagery is absolutely stunning. A video introduction is included below.



Applications for Education
The new imagery and 3D buildings could be a fantastic way for your students to explore all kinds of famous and interesting places around the globe. Whenever I teach a place-based lesson I like to have my students create simple stories using My Places in Google Maps. I've found that compared to using a basic paper map by exploring the imagery and pinning placemarks in Google Maps, my students have a greater recall of where things are and why they are important.

If you have never created a map in Google Maps, I have posted directions to get you started here.

NCAA Geography Game

This is an idea that I got from listening to the Dan Patrick Show today (I love radio on the Internet). Today on the show the host (wasn't Dan today) quizzed the producers on their knowledge of where some of the schools in the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament are located. Quick, where is Murray State? Where is Lehigh? As I listened to this I thought that it could be turned into a quick, fun classroom geography activity. Ask your students to find out where some of the lesser-known schools are located (city and state). Take it a step further and ask your students to research a few important facts about that school. If you need a list of all of the school participating in this year's tournament, Team Rankings has a free printable bracket (PDF). After the classroom activity is completed you can show students this Google Map of all of the schools.


View 2012 College Basketball Tournament in a larger map

Here's an NCAA math activity that I proposed last year.

Here's a TED Talk from the greatest men's college basketball coach ever, John Wooden. (Apologies to fans of Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Calhoun).

Old Maps Online - Find Historical Maps for Your Area

Old Maps Online is a good use of Google Maps that I recently learned about through Google Maps Mania. Old Maps Online is designed to help you find historical maps of where you live or any other location that you enter into the search function. By default Old Maps Online searches for maps near your location. You can refine your search to a specific time using the timeline slider on Old Maps Online.

Old Maps Online doesn't host the maps that you find through their search box. Old Maps Online refers you to the host of the maps. One of the frequently used hosts is the David Rumsey Historical Map collection.

Applications for Education
There are other ways to find historical maps online, but Old Maps Online makes it very easy to do. The maps that you and your students find could be used as overlays in the Google Earth layers. You might also use the maps for a local history comparison activity by comparing your students' current vision of where they live with what it looked like in the past.

Explore Russia With the Russian Street View Gallery

Earlier this week Google added Street View imagery of Russia to Google Maps. Now you can explore historic landmarks in Moscow and St. Petersburg from a ground level perspective. Using the Google Maps API, Keir Clarke at Google Maps Mania has pulled together many of the Street View images to create the Russian Street View Gallery.

View Larger Map


Applications for Education
Just as with other Street View images, the Russian Street View Gallery is a step or two better than having students just look at static pictures of the places that they're learning about. The next time you're teaching a lesson about the Russian Revolution use the Street View imagery to them explore the grounds of the Winter Palace.

Novels on Location

Novels on Location is neat use of Google Maps designed to help you find fiction works according to their geographical settings. When you visit Novels on Location you can find novels by clicking on the placemarks that you see or by using the location search bar in the upper, right corner of the site. If you want to contribute to Novels on Location you can do so very quickly by simply entering a location then entering the title and author of your favorite book set in that location.

Applications for Education
Novels on Location is a little lean on titles right now, but it has the potential to be a good place to find your next favorite read. You could have students contribute to Novels on Location. Or create your own classroom version of Novels on Location by creating a shared Google Map to which your students make their contributions. If you do develop your own version of Novels on Location, ask your students to include a short book review in the placemarks that they add to the map.

H/T to Google Maps Mania. 

A Google Maps Lesson Idea - Seasonings Around the World

On Wednesday morning I came across a neat article on NPR titled A Trip Around the World, By Way of Seasonings. The article is part of a series of recipes that call for using spices from places all over the world. The article gave me an idea for a Google Maps project in world history classes.

As any history teacher knows, discovering new travel routes for the spice trade was one of the motivations for early explorers. The idea I had was to have students research where those spices came from, which explorers went where, and plot that information on a Google Map or in Google Earth. Students using Google Earth could create a narrated tour of the world using the information that they include in their placemarks.

For directions on creating placemarks and tours in Google Maps and Google Earth, please visit my collection of Google tutorials.