GoogleEarthHowTo

http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html Google’s educator page

http://www.google.com/educators/6_12.html Grade 6-12 suggested activities

[|http://www.googlelittrips.com] - Literature Virtual Field Trips using Google Earth

Getting to Know Google Earth
The following diagram describes some of the features available in the main window of Google Earth:


 * 1) **Search panel** - Use this to [|find places and directions] and [|manage search results]. [|Google Earth EC] may display additional tabs here.
 * 2) **Overview map** - Use this for an [|additional perspective] of the Earth.
 * 3) **Hide/Show sidebar** - Click this to conceal or the display the side bar (Search, Places and Layers panels).
 * 4) **Placemark** - Click this to add a [|placemark for a location].
 * 5) **Polygon** - Click this to [|add a polygon].
 * 6) **Path** - Click this to [|add a path (line or lines)].
 * 7) **Image Overlay** - Click this to add an [|image overlay on the Earth].
 * 8) **Measure** - Click this to [|measure a distance or area size].
 * 9) **Email** - Click this to email a [|view] or [|image].
 * 10) **Print** - Click this to print the current view of the Earth.
 * 11) **Show in Google Maps** - Click this to show the current view in Google Maps in your web browser.
 * 12) **Sky** - Click this to [|view stars, constellations, galaxies, planets and the Earth's moon].
 * 13) **Navigation controls** - Use these to tilt, zoom and move around your viewpoint ([|see below]).
 * 14) **Layers panel** - [|Use this to display points of interest].
 * 15) **Places panel** - Use this to [|locate, save, organize and revisit placemarks].
 * 16) **Add Content** - Click this to import exciting content from the [|KML Gallery]
 * 17) **3D Viewer** - View the globe and its terrain in this window.
 * 18) **Status bar** - View coordinate, elevation and imagery streaming status here.

Creating a New Placemark
Follow these instructions to add a new placemark to any spot in the viewer. >> The //New Placemark// dialog box appears and a //New Placemark// icon is centered in the viewer inside a flashing yellow square. Position the placemark. To do this, position the cursor on the placemark until the cursor changes to a pointing finger and drag it to the desired location. The cursor changes to a finger pointing icon to indicate that you can move the placemark.
 * Tip** - Follow a tutorial on this subject: [|Marking Locations]
 * 1) Position the 3D viewer to contain the spot you want to placemark. Consider zooming into the best viewing level for the desired location. Choose any one of the following methods:
 * Select //Placemark// from the //Add// Menu.
 * Click the Placemark icon on the toolbar menu at the the top of the screen



You can also lock the placemark position or set advanced coordinates for its position. Set the following properties for the new placemark: Your placemark appears in the 3D viewer and as an entry in the selected folder. Once you save this placemark, you can always change its position and properties. See [|Editing Places and Folders] for more information. 
 * **Name** for the placemark
 * **Description**, including HTML text (see [|Writing Descriptions])
 * **Style, Color** - Choose a color, scale (size) and opacity for the placemark icon
 * **View** - Choose a position for the placemark. For explanation of terms in this tab, mouse over each field. Click //Snapshot current view// to apply the current view (altitude and camera angle) to this placemark.
 * **Altitude** - Choose the height of the placemark as it appears over terrain with a numeric value or the slider. Choose //Extend to ground// to show the placemark attached to a line anchored to the ground.
 * **(Icon)** - Click the icon for the placemark (top right corner of the dialog box) to choose an alternate icon.
 * 1) Click **OK** to apply the information you entered in the placemark dialog box.

Writing Descriptions
The description field for places and folder can contain a lengthy amount of text, sufficient for detailed descriptions. When you click on a placemark icon in the 3D viewer, the description for that place appears in the information balloon that pops up. A scroll bar appears when the description is too long to fit in the entire balloon.

Keep in mind the following points about text in the Description field: When you email that placemark to another person, local images are included.
 * **Valid web URLs** are automatically converted to HTML and can be clicked on from the info balloon to produce the related web page in the web window.
 * **Many HTML tags are respected,** such as font, style, and table tags. If you are familiar with HTML, you can be quite creative in how your descriptions are formatted! All HTML tags should be properly closed.
 * **You can include images in your description** using the IMG HTML tag to refer to either:
 * Images stored on your computer's hard drive (e.g., ****)
 * Images on the internet (e.g. ****).
 * Note** - While theoretically the amount of text that you can enter into a description is unlimited, an extremely lengthy description can negatively impact the performance of Google Earth.