When in Rome...teach!

This week we introduced the new Ancient Rome 3D layer in Google Earth, a groundbreaking collection of 6,700 3D buildings modeled as leading scholars determined they stood in the year 320 A.D. 

While we hope that teachers are already pretty excited to incorporate Ancient Rome 3D into their lessons, we wanted to go a step further and issue an open challenge to educators to harness the power of this new tool in the classroom. Today, we're proud to announce the launch of the inaugural Google lesson plan contest for K-12 educators in the US, the Ancient Rome in 3D Curriculum Competition. Whether you teach art history to high school students or geometry to fifth graders, the new visual tool can spice up lessons old and new. From a comparative architectural study using the ancient 3D models and modern Street View imagery to a new LitTrip of Virgil's Aeneid, the only limit is your imagination!

From Caesar to Augustus, the Roman Forum to the Arch of Constantine, it's time to get those creative juices flowing. Register and upload your original curriculum at earth.google.com/romecontest by February 9th for the chance at fame, glory, and an awesome prize package! 

Posted by Anna Bishop, Google Earth Education Team

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Tip of the week: Know before you go

We've featured some of the most stunning pictures found in Street View on the blog, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Parthenon (well, a replica) in Nashville, but there are also countless practical uses of Street View. Here's one of them: use Street View to take some of the stress out of parking. 

When you're going into a city or to a new part of town, you probably don't want to waste time circling blocks to find areas where you can park. Here are some ways Street View can help:

• Take a look to see if there is street parking available at your destination.
• Try zooming in on signs to read restrictions. 
• Find out which areas require parallel parking and which don't, in case your skills are a bit rusty.
• Find designated motorcycle spaces. 
• Take a look around for parking lots. When you see parking lots, you can sometimes zoom in and read the rates so you can find the lot with the best deal. 
• Look for parking meters so you know if you need to bring a handful of quarters.
• If you're tying to avoid all this hassle by biking somewhere, look for bike racks. 

Google Maps may not be able tell you where you'll find a free space (unless you're in Santa Monica -- in which case we can!) but Street View should save you some time and hassle.

Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, Lat Long Blog Team

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Roman history comes to life in Google Earth

Were you someone who struggled to stay awake in ancient history class? If so, perhaps this was due to those uninspiring "artist renditions" in your textbook. Reading countless pages that described how a monument, building or city may have appeared at the time can be pretty difficult to imagine.

Well, today we introduced a new approach to learning about ancient history: the ability to go back in time and explore Rome as it existed in 320 AD -- in 3D!

All of this is possible through the new Ancient Rome 3D layer in Google Earth. To activate the layer, simply open the "Gallery" folder in the "Layers" panel and select "Ancient Rome 3D."

The new layer, produced by the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) and based on its Rome Reborn model, contains over 6,700 3D buildings and 250 Google Earth placemarks that allow Google Earth users to explore and learn about this fascinating period of history.

This is the first time that we have incorporated an ancient city in Google Earth. Going back in time presented some new challenges, such as how to handle the ancient terrain which was clearly different than modern day. We needed to ensure that modern day imagery, terrain and buildings didn't interfere with the ancient Rome model so we opted for a simple overlay.

This exciting new layer also serves as the inspiration for the Google Ancient Rome 3D Curriculum Competition, a first-ever Google contest geared towards K-12 educators in the US. Whether your lesson plan involves teaching geometry through Roman architecture or re-imagining ancient history with this new visualization tool, there's fame and an awesome prize package waiting for you! The submission deadline is February 9th, so get those creative engines revved up soon!

So go ahead, fly down to the Roman Forum and experience what it may have felt like to stand on the Rostra of Augusta and make a political speech. Or, if you've fantasized about being a gladiator in the Colosseum, go for it. Simply fly there in Google Earth, enter through the ground level door and envision the crowds cheering you on! Take a look at this video to see what adventures await:



Omnes viae Romam ducunt (all roads lead to Rome).

Update @ 12:15 PM: Rome wasn't built in a day! The Ancient Rome 3D layer will be available soon. We're sorry for the delay, and we'll post here when it's live.

Update @ 6:15 PM: The layer is now live in Google Earth, in the Gallery folder of the Layers panel. When you zoom in on Rome you will see yellow Ancient Rome 3D icons. To load the terrain and buildings, click on any icon and then click the links at the bottom of the bubble.

Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager, Google Earth

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Create cool KML, win cool prizes

The KML in Research contest deadline is Dec 1st.  For those of you working on KML already, make sure you check out the judging criteria and submit your file before the contest deadline.  For those of you new to KML, there is still time to get a quick start using some of the tools and examples highlighted on the KML tools page.

We are looking for KML that uses Google Earth to display data, describes academic research work, or provides educational content for students and teachers.  We know there is a lot of really fantastic cutting edge work going on out there and we would love to see it shared in Google Earth for everyone to see. There is also a separate category for students, and students can enter in teams of up to three.

If you need any additional motivation, the top 5 entries in both the student and professional categories will win a prize pack that includes a Garmin GPS to help with future KML projects, an Apple iPod Touch to keep you from working too hard, and a Google Earth tote bag just for fun. The top winners will have their work showcased on the Google Earth Educators site and at the Google booth at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco.

Posted by Ryan Falor, Systems Engineer

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Apps of maps

Seeing the diversity and creativity of what people are doing with our geo tools continues to surprise and enthrall all of us working on these very tools. Intrepid software developers worldwide are taking the initiative by building unique applications to demonstrate that Google Earth and Google Maps aren't just places to plan a route or see your house (though are still great for doing that!), but places to view all forms of information in their geographical context. Here's a small selection of some of the tools that I have enjoyed using and that represent the variety of things that have been done when people have "thought outside the map".

First up is a really clever and fun Google Maps app called geoGreeting. Software engineer Jesse Vig happened to notice that certain buildings took on the appearance of a letter of the alphabet when viewed from above. By entering your message on the send a geoGreeting page, characters matching your message will be generated and played as an animation that you can send to your friends and family. Ah, the number of times this site has bailed me out when I have forgotten to send a real card!

The next one is PlanePlotter. Aviation enthusiasts who enjoy spotting aircraft, whether up close or virtually, turn to tools that facilitate their understanding of the skies around them. One of the ways that PlanePlotter displays information is via Google Earth; when location, direction

and altitude information are plotted, you can get a pilot's eye view of the terrain around them.

Last, but by no means least is iLoveMountains. Under the umbrella of the non-profit group Appalachian Voices. Appalachian voices are a Google Earth Outreach grantee that engages in campaigning against mountaintop removal used in the production of coal. The iLoveMountains.org project lets people see their connection on Google Maps or Google Earth to mountaintop removal based on their U.S zip code. From there, people can learn about what involvement their local supplier may have in buying coal supplied using mountaintop removal techniques - and what action they can take. These kinds of "story-telling" KMLs & mashups stimulate the senses by giving a real feeling of connection to the place, illustrating the issues.

Hopefully you'll have some fun with these various apps, and perhaps you'll get inspired to create your own. If so head over to the Google Code - Geo page, where you can learn how to create all kinds of wonderful tools. These could range from a simple maps mashup through highly complex dynamic KML files. 

I'll leave you with this parting message... 

Posted by Phil Verney, Google Earth Community Development

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Street View elects DC, Baltimore, and Seattle

Whew!  It's been a busy last couple weeks for the Street view team.  After our recent launches in France, Spain and Italy, Street view is now available in 6 countries. But to help celebrate Election Day, we thought we'd head back to the US and launch imagery of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

While you're waiting to hear who the 44th president will be, you can take a look at the Washington Monument, built to commemorate the first president:

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You can also check out the Capitol -- in a few months, many new Congresspeople will occupy it: 

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If you haven't been to Washington since your high school class trip, you can see the new National Museum of the American Indian:

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Along with DC, we're also launching Seattle and Baltimore -- these have been our 3 most highly requested cities, but I hope you'll agree it was worth the wait. 

In Baltimore, take a look at the National Aquarium:

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And in Seattle, you can view head to the Seattle Center to view Frank Gehry's Experience Museum Project with the iconic Space Needle rising behind it:

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To give you even more of a reason to explore Street View, we've hidden another special surprise somewhere in our US imagery so keep your eyes peeled. Need a hint to get you started? It's in the home state of someone whose name you'll see on the ballot today.

Posted by Stephen Chau, Product Manager

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Geo tools for election day

Today, citizens across the country will vote -- and be antsy to find out how everyone else voted. Today you'll be able to access voting results as they occur with our 2008 Election Results Map. You can follow along in our Google Maps Elections Gallery or embed the results onto your own site. Real time results will begin in just a few hours, so stay tuned!

While you wait for results to come it, we want you to find as much information as you'd like concerning this historic 2008 election. Here are a few of our latest geo tools for getting the full scoop:

• Catch a glimpse of the best political map mashups in the Google Maps Elections Gallery 
  
• See historical voting results dating back to 1980 on Google Maps  and Google Earth (KML)
  
• Find out where to vote on our U.S. Voter Info site (on your mobile phone, head to m.google.com/elections). 
  
• Bring a video camera with you to the polls to capture your voting experience on YouTube's Video Your Vote channel. We're using Google Maps to track these videos across the country -- and to see where polling problems might be occurring during the day. 

Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Google Elections Team

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