Novice question regarding Google Earth Education tools' accessibility and longevity

[Mason Miller]

Hello, everyone,

My name is Mason Miller. I'm an archaeologist with an environmental consulting company in Austin, Texas. 

I have an idea to develop a virtual tour of a now-abandoned Cold War-era missile testing facility in Utah for the general public (including students) to access. It would include kmz structural footprint outlines as well as photos (both more recent and during its heyday), supporting text, and links to YouTube videos, etc. I was hoping that the "Tour" could potentially be visible on Google Earth if someone happened to be viewing the vicinity. It might also show up in the Google Earth Education page examples (or something like that). I'm a novice with these tools but see some real promise.  

Our client is concerned about such a tour's open accessibility (he would like it to be as accessible by as many people as possible) and its longevity. I honestly don't know how to figure out how I'd actually answer him. 

Does anyone on this community have any past experience that might shed some light on the broad access possibilities of the different Google Earth platforms for education. 

Is there a way to measure how 'popular' content is? 

I'm presuming that any content that's generated for Google Earth education is hosted through Google, but I suppose I could be wrong on that. Does anyone have a more definitive answer?

Also, does anyone have examples of new versus old Google Earth Education content? How long could something like this be available?

Are there any recommendations for the best tools to use to build the tour I had in mind? 

Any help would be certainly appreciated.

Thank you,

Mason

[Josh Williams]

Hello Mason,

Pleased to meet you. I’m a high school teacher here in Austin, TX.  I’ll try to answer some of your question, but please keep in mind I don’t work nor speak for Google. That stated, I’ve created a few Google Earth files and a Google Maps API website used in education.

 

Our client is concerned about such a tour's open accessibility (he would like it to be as accessible by as many people as possible) and its longevity. I honestly don't know how to figure out how I'd answer him.

If the audience is K-12 you will want to make sure that the kml works in Google Earth for Web. This will increase the likelihood of the file working for PCs, Chromebooks, Android, and iOS.

 

You might think about using either Google Drive or <NetworkLink>s ; allowing you to update the file. https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmlreference#networklink

 

Please note that Icon images, <GroundOverlay>s, <Networklink>s requires CORS headers to be adjusted; allowing the domain earth.google.com/web to access “get” the files. https://enable-cors.org/index.html

 

There are less than documented kml tags that Earth for web support. (ie. <gx:displayMode>panel</gx:displayMode> ) Feel free to look at my kmls linked in this blog post (All designed for 'new' Earth...Google Earth for Chrome): https://geteach.com/blog/2018/07/30/inner-earth-with-google-earth-and-geteach-com/

 

 

Does anyone on this community have any past experience that might shed some light on the broad access possibilities of the different Google Earth platforms for education.

Not sure what you are asking here. I’ve created edu sources using these google geo tools.

Google Maps API: https://geteach.com (4min YouTube Overview)

Google Earth for web (link to my kml files): http://bit.ly/jwilliamsKMLs

Google Earth Engine: Blog Post with link and video

 

Is there a way to measure how 'popular' content is?

I don’t do this myself, but you might try to embed a Google Analytics tag into an info window.  Not sure if the sandbox will block the scripts, but worth a try. If you are using an image from your server, you could track the number of views from that image url. If you use a <NetworkLink> from your server, you could track that.

 

I'm presuming that any content that's generated for Google Earth education is hosted through Google, but I suppose I could be wrong on that. Does anyone have a more definitive answer?

Yes, you are correct

 

Also, does anyone have examples of new versus old Google Earth Education content? How long could something like this be available?

Everything I’ve built for Google Earth these past two years focuses only on Earth for Web. I love the desktop version and know it currently has more features. However, I don’t believe PC applications are the future for education…or any enterprise. Again, my opinion; I don’t work nor speak for Google.

 

Are there any recommendations for the best tools to use to build the tour I had in mind?

I build files two ways.

a.       Hand script with Notepad++; using <Style> templates for single images, carousel, YouTube.

b.       Create a Google Sheet that creates the kml. (Used when I have a lot of point data and/or complicated kmls like Quizzes)

 

I am happy to help more. You can find me on Twitter @geteach

 

Hope this helps,

Josh

[Mason Miller]

Hello, Josh!

A fellow Austinite! Excellent!

Thank you very much for taking the time to be so thorough with your answers. There's a lot of information for me to look through here. Thanks so much.

Regarding my question about "broad access possibilities", I suppose I was trying to get a sense of how readily and easily someone could find, view and interact with the 'tour'. Which tool, or tools, would produce a product that would result in the least amount of hoop-jumping for the viewer? Essentially the most bang for the buck.

Also, as far as my use of the term "tools", I suppose I was thinking of the basics e.g. "Tour Builder" vs. "My Maps" vs. Geo VR. That sort of thing.

Also, I didn't realize you were actually on their resources page. Bravo!

Thank you again,
Mason