Google Earth Community: Using GEPro at the Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech is using Google Earth Pro as both a research tool in The Center for Geographic Information Systems and as part of an introductory GIS course for undergraduates in the College of Architecture.

In the introductory GIS course (City Planning 4510 - Intro to GIS), students are exposed to Google Earth (Pro), generally for the first time, through one lecture and one lab. The lecture portion of the class covers the basics of Google Earth (adding placemarks, navigation, fly throughs, image overlays, KML generation, etc) and GE Pro (importing GIS data, creating movies, exporting high resolution screen shots, etc). Basic tours of Google Earth are performed by the instructor, with emphasis on some of the well known KML files (Darfur, UNEP, etc) and 3-D buildings. The lab portion of the class is completely hands on. First, using ESRI’s ArcGIS software, students are asked to create shapefiles (point, line and polygon) of areas they are familiar with (their house, a local park, and a trail from their house to the park, for example). The students then import these datasets into Google Earth Pro and examine the results. Maintenance of symbology and shapefile integrity are discussed and examined. Then, using Erdas Imagine software and air photo or satellite imagery provided by the instructor, students extract their area from the imagery, reproject it to WGS84 and then import the imagery into Google Earth Pro. Map projections properties are discussed in depth, with importance given to map distortion. Google’s import process of converting an image to a .png file and storing it in temp files is also discussed. Finally, students are shown how to take the work that they’ve done and convert it to a KML and/or KMZ file, with specific emphasis on creating a KML that references their imagery from an external site (their personal webspace) so that it can be distributed without problem. The differences between KML and KMZ generation are discussed in depth.

At the Center for GIS (CGIS), researchers and student assistants are working to develop custom 3-D models, image overlays and fly-throughs to be used as visualization tools for various projects around the world. For example, researchers have taken declassified satellite imagery and overlaid it onto Google Earth to better understand mangrove loss in Angola. To see the Angola post, go to http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?...true#Post888725

CGIS students have developed 3-D models of the College of Architecture and The Center for GIS. These models were recently submitted to the 3-D warehouse and entered into Google’s “Map Your Campus” contest. To see and download the models, please visit
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/c...amp;prevstart=0
The same students have also created a manual to help new users create models in SketchUp and bring them into Google Earth.

More to come. Thanks, Google Earth!!