Introduction to Google Earth
Name____________________
Goals
1. To become proficient at using the basic features of Google Earth.
2. To recognize differences in coastal features between the east and west coast of North America.
These direction refer to version 5.1
Part 1 (DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU ARE USING AN MPC COMPUTER; GO TO PART 2):
- If your computer has Google Earth installed already, skip to Part 2
Download Google Earth: Going to this URL will allow you to download the latest version of Google Earth.
http://earth.google.com/
- click on Download and follow the steps from there
Part 2
- Open Google Earth and wait for it to load.
1. Tool Bar on Left of screen
- At the upper left is the “Search” box. Enter a place name in this
box, and Google Earth will take you there.
-Enter “980 Fremont St, Monterey, CA” into the text box and press
Enter.
Where are you? Please answer with a phrase other than “980 Fremont
St, Monterey, CA”.
-Now the screen should look like the one to the right.
What happens when you click the “x”?
2. Enter “Point Lobos State Reserve” into the Search box and press Enter.
3. Located on the right hand side of the screen is a control panel that is hidden until you scroll your
mouse over it (see image below).
If the control panel does not show up, go to View>Show Navigation and click “Automatically”.
Play with all the controls to learn what they do.
4. Find the “Layers” box on the lower left.
Turn on the Borders and Labels box (check it) in the lower left. Zoom in and look around until you find
“The Pit” and “Whalers Cove”. Use the controls to change the viewpoint so that looks towards the South
and is inclined enough so that you can see
water on the other side of the Pt Lobos
peninsula. Your eye altitude (number shown
at the far lower right) should be about 500
m. Show your instructor and have him/her
sign off here.
The location of the “N” indicates the
direction of view. In this case, the view is
towards the south.
5. Note the dark translucent strip cross the bottom of the screen. It shows information about what you
are viewing in Google Earth
Starting from the left it shows the date that the digital image was taken of that area.
Moving towards the center it shows the latitude, longitude, and elevation (respectively) of the
location where your mouse is located.
On the far right is the eye altitude, i.e., the distance above sealevel of an eye seeing the view.
-Move the mouse around. Which of the following numbers change as you move your mouse around
(You may want to circle more than one)?
a. date of digital image b. latitude
c. longitude
d. elevation
e. elevation of viewpoint
6. Manipulate the screen so that you can see down the Big Sur coastline a few kilometers.
Let’s play with a few of the options in Google Earth.
Press Tools>Options….
In the box that opens, make sure that the 3D View tab is pressed.
In the Show Lat/Long area, experiment with switching between “Decimal Degrees” and
“Degrees, Decimal Minutes,” pressing “Apply” each time.
What changes? Which one is the same as the Monterey Bay Chart we worked on?
Leave this one in Decimal
Degrees.
In the Units of
Measurement area,
make sure that Meters,
Kilometers is clicked.
Experiment with the
Elevation Exaggeration,
changing it from 0.5 to
1.5 to 3, clicking Apply
each time. Leave the
Elevation Exaggeration at
1.5.
Now open the Options box again (Tools>Options…) and press the Navigation tab.
In the Navigation area, turn on the “Do not automatically tilt while zooming” button.
Turn on the “Gradually slow the Earth when rotating or zooming” button.
Set the settings shown on this page each time we use Google Earth.
7. Note the toolbar across the top of the screen:
Scroll your mouse across them to read about what each of them do. Note the ruler.
In what general area do you live? _______________________________
Manipulate the screen so that you can see your house.
Use the ruler to measure the distance from your house to MPC____________________
Be sure to use metric units (don’t use smoots ).
Note that when the Ruler box opens up, there is a Heading listed. This is the same as a bearing. You
should know all about this.
How far is it from the tip of Fisherman’s Wharf to the MPC football field in km?___________________
What is the Heading from the tip of Fisherman’s Wharf to the MPC football field?_______________
What is the elevation of the MPC football field (metric units)?________________________
8. Fly to “36.421959N, 121.915078W”. This is Garrapata Beach.
Manipulate the screen so that the view is highly inclined, the eye altitude is about 2 km, and the view is
towards the south-southeast so that you can see Garrapata Beach and Highway 1 extending southwards
along the coast.
Note the terrain that generally lies between highway 1 and the top of the seacliff. What are these
landforms called?
__________________________________
How did these landforms form?
Now zoom out so that your eye altitude is about 10km. You’re looking at the Santa Lucia mountains.
Based on your answer to the previous question, why do you think there are such big mountains so close
to the shore?
9. Fly to Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is located on the banks of the Cape Fear River.
Scroll southwards so that you follow the river to where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. You’ve found
Cape Fear, which Wikipedia tells me was originally named Cape Fair.
Use control panel to manipulate the view to investigate the coastal region both north and south of Cape
Fear. Zoom in and out so that the eye elevation is similar to what you used to investigate the Big Sur
Coast, i.e., between 2 and 10 km.
What are the coastal characteristics of the Cape Fear region (you are encouraged to look up the term
“barrier island” to help answer this question)?
How do these coastal characteristics differ from those of the central California coast?
How do the tectonics differ between this east coast region and the central California coast?
How do you think this tectonic difference influences or controls the differences in coastal characteristics
you described above?
10. Let’s travel about 270 km up the North Carolina coast to Cape Hatteras, location of one of the most
famous lighthouses in the United States. Fly to 35.252568N, 75.525000W. For the remainder of this
section, do not scroll the view at all. We’ll zoom in and out, but don’t move the view anywhere.
Without moving your view, zoom out to about 350 km or so, so you can see where you are. Cape
Hatteras is on one of the best examples of a barrier island that you’re likely to find anywhere.
Without moving your view, zoom back in to about 1 km. Press the “X” in the lower right of the Search
box to get rid of the lat and long in the middle of the screen.
Without moving your view, where on the screen is the lighthouse (look for its shadow)?
a. in the middle
c. northwest area
e. southeast area
b. northeast area
d. southwest area
In the toolbars across the top, turn on the historical imagery by pushing the clock icon in the toolbar.
Without moving the view, put the curser on the Mar 1, 1993 imagery, as shown above left.
Where was the lighthouse in 1993 (look for its shadow)?
a. in the middle
c. northwest area
e. southeast area
b. northeast area
d. southwest area
Use the ruler to measure the distance from the lighthouse to the landward edge of the beach.
What is the distance in meters? __________________________________
Why do you think the lighthouse was moved? See page 294 in your book, OR
see http://www.nps.gov/caha/historyculture/movingthelighthouse.htm and read the first two
paragraphs and the last paragraph, and look at the pictures. Why was the lighthouse moved?
Now put the curser on the Feb 19, 2004 imagery, as shown above, right. Note the groin (or groyn).
Google this word if you don’t know what one is. Or look up the term in your book.
What changes occurred near the groin in the decade between 1993 and 2004? Draw a picture to help
you explain.
11. Now let’s go back to the Monterey area on the west coast.
What differences do you see between the Monterey Peninsula and the Marina—Sand City area. Focus
your efforts in terms of the Emergent/Submergent and Erosional/Deositional coastlines we talked about
in class and are defined in chapter 10 in your book
Summarize your analysis here:
Monterey Peninsula
Evidence of Emergent coastlines:
Marina – Sand City
Evidence of Emergent coastlines:
Evidence of Submergent coastlines:
Evidence of Submergent coastlines:
Evidence of Erosional coastlines:
Evidence of Erosional coastlines:
Evidence of Depositional coastlines:
Evidence of Depositional coastlines: