ENHANCED GOOGLE EARTH WEB (EGEW): GEOTRIPS AND GEOEXPLORATIONS

The development of Google Earth is increasingly focusing on the platform's web version, instead of the stand-alone desktop version. Today’s desktop version still offers greater functionality, but also requires full downloads of all linked materials and places a heavy demand on computer resources. In contrast, the more agile Google Earth Web (GEW) version is browser based (Windows and PC) and loads material as needed. Thus, it is much faster and can also be used on smaller portable devices, like tablets and smartphones. However, the functionality of standard Google Earth Web is limited, restricting its educational applications. In response, we developed two approaches that offer enhanced Google Earth Web functionality: GeoTrips and GeoExplorations. In GeoTrips, we replace the default information panel with functionalities that include multiple images and embedded animations/videos, StreetView and GigaPan, and descriptions that include voiceover, images and hotlinks. The GeoTrips application allows a mix of standard GEW and enhanced GEW, and is illustrated by a geological fieldtrip example (“Maryland Appalachians”, at https://bit.ly/2E8vqSt). GeoExplorations adds additional functionality to the GEW environment by allowing points, lines and image overlays on the default globe that support embedded information and hotlinks. Point overlays (like latest earthquakes), line overlays (like plate boundaries) and image overlays (like geologic maps) can be used. For example, locations on a hotlinked geologic map or a specific earthquake event can be queried and offer jumps to more detailed information on the web. Because both the info panel and the globe are affected, GeoExplorations requires that all steps in a module are modified. An example GeoExplorations module that we created is the “Geology of the United States”, at https://bit.ly/2OR8ZDu.