VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS AND TOURS

This is a contribution to the Pardee Keynote Symposium entitled “Digital Geology Speed Dating.” At Table 7 we will demonstrate Google Earth Tours. Google Earth enables a rich visualization medium with excellent 3D topographic rendering, excellent remotely sensed data and the ability to zoom in for a closer detailed view. However, this richness creates its own problem: navigating around the globe is complex for most ordinary users. Google Earth Tours are a way of flying the user around the globe and controlling their view. It is very easy to create simple versions of tours so there is no serious technical barrier to use. Narration, overlays, and popup boxes can easily be incorporated into tours and can be utilized in a variety of ways to enhance tours.

In this presentation, we will look at the basics of how to create a tour and also cover a number of best practices for creating them in different situations including: as a presentation tool instead of PowerPoint; as a web outreach tool; as a classroom tool, and as a tool to introduce a set of Google Earth layers that the user then explores for him or herself. We will also discuss pitfalls encountered by novice users as they create their own tours.