Texas Bluebonnet Writing Project Blog

Thursday, March 08, 2007

What on Google Earth?!


No, we have not been so overrun by Google that we are now renaming our planet...yet.

Thanks to a post by Will Richardson, I am excited to share with you a website dedicated to mapping (or offering maps of) literature; GoogleLit Trips. Studying the Odyssey? Great! Have your students visit the places traveled within the novel using FREE Google Earth. MacBeth? Covered. Aeneid? Good to go.

The only downside is there are only a few right now (targeting high school students), but the great news is that it is wide open for us to create our own and add to the literary experience for students.

The files (KML) do not seem that difficult to create, so if you feel lucky (or confident or skilled or just plain rebellious) map out your favorite piece of literature and share it with everyone. You can even upload images to go with each location as well as your own descriptions/explanations for each location. Just Google some phrases like KML tutorials or KML how to and find a tutorial you like to help get you started. Once you create a file, all you have to do is open Google Earth and then go to File and Open. Browse to your file and there you go.

Make sure you use this blog to share what you find, what you create, and best of all, the process you went through to get there. It is how we all learn.

Individually, we can read a book. Collectively, we can live it.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

6 Comments:

  • At 3/08/2007 4:43 PM, Blogger Jeannine Hirtle said…

    Hey, this is fantastic! I would have LOVED to have had this to use with my American and Brit lit classes when I taught at McCullough High in The Woodlands! I'm sure just given a few moments of time, I could come up with applications for my current university students.

    Ok--Scott, I started the tutorial and went to look at the samples, and I can't get my MAC to open the kml files. Any suggestions?

     
  • At 3/08/2007 4:51 PM, Blogger Jeannine Hirtle said…

    This is the MOST INCREDIBLE quote--

    ndividually, we can read a book. Collectively, we can live it.

     
  • At 3/09/2007 10:00 AM, Blogger Scott S. Floyd said…

    My Mac does it just fine. All I did was download the KML or KMZ to the desktop (only difference is Z stands for zipped, nothing else) and then opened Google Earth. Once that opened, in Google Earth I went to File, Open, and then browsed to the file on the desktop. Worked great from there. What exactly will not open for you?

    By the way, thanks for the comment on the quote. It came into my head once I saw what could be done with literature through the use of this tool. Apple is working hard with us right now to get our new server equipment ordered and installed. It is just the beginning of what these kids are going to experience next year. I am so excited for them!

     
  • At 3/14/2007 7:32 PM, Blogger Katherine said…

    Great Quote, I'll be sure to quote you sometime!

     
  • At 3/19/2007 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Grins --
    I used Google Earth with the St. Patrick's Day Project and had over 38 teachers send me their KMZ files.

    Sadness is -- I can see it just fine -- but when I try to save the file for all to see -- they see only 1 or 2 names.

    Help --
    Jennifer W
    http://www.technospud.com

     
  • At 3/19/2007 8:29 PM, Blogger Scott S. Floyd said…

    I wonder why that is. I could really use a primer for Google Earth from someone who knows it inside out. It can be an awesome tool for us all.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home