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Application of Virtual Globes in Education Geography Compass 2/6 (2008): 1995–2010, 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00165.x Application of Virtual Globes in Education Rahul Rakshit1* and Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger2* 1Graduate School of Geography, Clark University 2Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University Abstract The advent of virtual globes and online mapping has generated interest in spatial representations of data among many non-geographic communities, including educators and researchers who have very little to no expertise in geospatial technologies. In this article, we give a state-of-the-art survey of existing virtual globes and review the existing teaching applications related to them. We focus on the four most popular virtual globes (Google Earth; NASA World Wind; Microsoft Virtual Earth Earth; and Skyline Globe), illustrating their various applications and comparing their capabilities, with a particular emphasis on educational aspects. We also explain the distinction between the virtual globes and various online mapping applications, such as Google Maps mash-ups. Introduction The introduction of virtual globes has led to great interest in spatial representation of data among many educators and researchers who had very little to no expertise in geospatial technologies. In fact, these com- munities are now actively engaged in adding geographic content to the virtual globes in the form of user-created files. Earlier, the display of satellite images and aerial photos, the animated flyovers, and three-dimensional display of the landscape were restricted to those who had access to and expertise in geographic information system (GIS) software and expensive datasets. Today, with the help of virtual globes, any computer literate person can do all these tasks with relative ease (Goodchild 2007). Thus, with minimal technical ability and a few mouse clicks, virtual globes can bring the varied geography of earth into one’s computer. The associated animations and overlays can be used to visualize hurricanes, wildfires, floods, dust storms, real-time stream gauges, and many other types of data which can be overlaid with satellite imagery (Patton and Hinkley 2006). Since the release of Google Earth in 2005, virtual globes have become one of the hottest topics within the professional geographic community © 2008 The Authors Journal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1996 Application of virtual globes in education – several conferences organized separate sessions on this topic (Association of American Geographers and American Geophysical Union meetings; ESRI [Earth System Resources, Inc.] User Conference; International Symposium on Digital Earth). In addition, a conference devoted solely to virtual globes was held in Colorado in 2006 (earthSLOT 2008). Virtual globes provide a lot of new avenues for spatial education both for teachers and students. This review explores the use of virtual globes as an educational tool in geography. We aim to give a state-of-the-art survey of virtual globes and a review of the existing teaching applications related to them. All of our tutorials concern visualization of spatial data and patterns, but none of them require GIS software. We also address the confusion between virtual globes and user-created online maps, and talk about the limitations and issues related to virtual globes. This article focuses on the four most popular virtual globes: Google Earth, NASA World Wind, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and one of the most recent additions to the virtual globes scene, Skyline Globe. In an effort to increase the use of geospatial technology in the classroom, we also provide a list of Internet resources that aid in using virtual globes as a tool in education. What Is a Virtual Globe? Virtual globes are similar to desk globes but they have the additional capability of simultaneous representation of many different thematic views of the surface of the earth. They show spatial data at multiple scales and in multiple ways, including photos and videos (World Wind Central 2008). The user can seamlessly zoom into the data, rotate the view, and tilt the image to see the terrain in three dimensions. Virtual globes display satellite imagery at various resolutions, aerial photos, topographic maps, elevation data, along with GIS layers like roads, administrative boundaries, points of interests, and place names overlaid on each other using a Web interface. The entire planet is covered, with around one-third of all land depicted at such high resolution that individual trees, cars, and the homes of 3 billion people, can be seen (The Economist 2007). Virtual globes are very helpful in finding a visual relation or a spatial pattern (Butler 2006). For example, if we superimpose a layer of earth- quake activity with that of the population, we can see how many people live in earthquake zones and are likely to be affected in the case of an earthquake. This example demonstrates how virtual globes can be used as a disaster prevention and response evaluation tool. Virtual globes also act as an integrating medium to various Web services, as users can collaboratively view, share, and publish their own data for a location. For example, users can attach geotagged photos (photos with spatial coordinates embedded into them), videos, location points (called placemarks) or link Wikipedia articles about certain geographical locations © 2008 The Authors Geography Compass 2/6 (2008): 1995–2010, 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00165.x Journal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Application of virtual globes in education 1997 using geotags. It requires two main components: the virtual globe software package and an Internet connection. The installed program works at the local (host) computer and the images (most of them not in real time) are streamed over the Internet to this host computer. These image data sets are very large (with resolution less than 1 m in many places); therefore, a fast broadband Internet connection and a computer with a fast processor are absolutely essential (Kerski 2006). Most of the virtual globes are available as a free download but some have high functionality (‘professional’) versions for a steep price. There are more than 30 virtual globes available on the Internet but for this review we chose four most popular ones: Google Earth, NASA World Wind, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and Skyline Globe, due to the availability of the data, ease of use, and advanced functionalities in them. While these virtual globes have many features in common, each of them has some unique characteristics and capabilities which we will review. Google Earth is the most popular globe application currently available. It is a free but closed-source application; thus, users cannot modify the software as per their specific needs. It is available in three versions: Google Earth (free), Google Earth Plus (US$20) and Google Earth Pro (US$400). Google Earth is aimed at the general public, primarily as a search and browse tool, but has attracted a large community of people, including scientists, who have used the application for a very wide range of purposes, primarily because of the ease of visualizing data through KML (Keyhole Markup Language). KML is a simple, open source language that is sup- ported by many virtual globes and is therefore already becoming a de facto standard. KML’s unique strength is that geometry, styling, display behavior, and feature attribute information are all contained in a single file that can be compressed using standard zipping technologies (Blower et al. 2007). The user can download KML that others have created, load them into Google Earth, and explore. NASA World Wind is a free, open-source cross-platform (i.e., based on OpenGL and Java), application that is part of NASA’s Learning Technol- ogies program. It was developed specifically as an educational and research tool to explore earth and it provides access to a wide range of NASA satellite imagery. Data can be imported through servers, Open Geospatial Consortium Web Services, and there is limited support for KML. World Wind’s focus is toward scientific users, so it has a more specialized community than that of Google Earth. World Wind’s functionality can be enhanced by using one of many add-ons (small extensions) and plug-ins that are created by users. Microsoft Virtual Earth is one of the latest big entrants in the virtual globes domain. It is also a free application primarily focused on providing geographical services and visualization tools to businesses and to the government. It includes Application Program Interfaces (APIs) to allow organizations to build their own applications that integrate Virtual Earth © 2008 The Authors Geography Compass 2/6 (2008): 1995–2010, 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00165.x Journal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1998 Application of virtual globes in education Fig. 1. Coors field in Denver, CO, showing the high-resolution imagery available in MS Virtual Earth. Fig. 1A shows the high-resolution vertical image and Fig. 1B–E show oblique very high- resolution images from four different angles. imagery, features, and functionality. It is written in NET Framework and provides limited support for KML. It is a closed application like Google Earth, so the users can not alter it in any way. Virtual Earth provides the highest-resolution images called Bird’s Eye as compared to Google Earth and NASA World Wind (Figure 1). These images have a vertical view and © 2008 The Authors Geography Compass 2/6 (2008): 1995–2010, 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00165.x Journal Compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Application of virtual globes in education 1999 Fig. 2. Live traffic webcam in Washington, DC, available in Skyline Globe. four side views – from the north, east, south, and west (Google Earth Blog 2007a). Its two-dimensional version can be accessed online, and the three-dimensional version can be downloaded for free from Internet. Skyline Globe is another recent addition to the virtual globes scene.
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